PEANUTS & CRACKER JACK AT GRAMMY MUSEUM

The Grammy Museum’s Founding Executive Director and baseball enthusiast Bob Santelli, co-author of The Baseball Fan's Bucket List: 162 Things You Must Do, See, Get, and Experience Before You Die, has combined his two loves in a new museum exhibit, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Popular Music And The National Pastime.”

The Grammy Museum will celebrate the soundtrack of our national pastime beginning in the middle of spring training—it opens 3/14—and running into fall when the waiver wire is going crazy.

The exhibit starts in the 19th century when interest in baseball-themed music was fostered through the sales of sheet music, and runs up through music being a central part of players preparing to take the field. Included is Edward Meeker and The Edison Orchestra's original 1908 recording of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year.

“Baseball and popular music have been practically inseparable for the past century and a half,” said Santelli. “Hundreds of songs have been written about the national pastime. And today, with ballplayers personally selecting walk-up-to-the-batter’s-box-music and with retired players like Barry Zito and Bernie Williams actually launching music careers, the baseball-music connection is stronger than ever.”
Zito, the former Oakland Athletic and San Francisco Giant who came on strong to help the black and orange win the 2012 World Series, will discuss the history of music in baseball with Santelli at the opening on 3/14.

We just hope they recognize the greatest baseball song ever: