Country music is very American. Baseball is the American pastime. Country music is about storytelling, dads and sons, simple pleasures, and the blue-collar way of rural life. So they do kind of go together. For that reason, we selected some of the best country music songs that celebrate baseball for your consideration. They are from leading country artists. They understand that baseball is deeply rooted in our culture, our love of creating sports stars to idolize, and the belief that anyone, on any given day, can step up to the plate and be a hero, if only for an inning.
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Being very familiar with the Boston Red Sox, I know first-hand the thrill and the heartbreak that baseball packs. (If you recall the stunning sixth game of the 1986 World Series between the Sox and the New York Mets, you, too, know what I mean.) It's like a microcosm of life itself. Or like a great country song. Glory versus grimness.
'98 Braves' by Morgan Wallen (2023)
The 1998 Atlanta Braves were a very special squad. They seemed destined for greatness. No other team in baseball ever had five pitchers each strike out 150 batters during the same season. They won 106 games, a genuine feat. How could they possibly lose? Well, unbelievably, despite their fabulous season, the Braves fell with a thud to the superior efforts of the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series.
Leave it to Morgan Wallen to swoop in and turn baseball heartache into a song. His tune, "'98 Braves," from the terrific One Thing at a Time album, commemorates the collapse of this storied team and parallels it with a painfully flamed-out romance. Countrychord.com declared that the song "sticks out in the best way possible" on the LP. Wallen did not write it, but his interpretation is, like much of his work, brilliant. Pure country all the way. A country-style grand slam.
"...Yea, you win some and lose some
It ain't always home runs
And that's just the way life plays
If we were a team and love was a game
We'd been the '98 Braves
Had that whole town believin'
Damn girl, I even had that talk to your dad man to man
But just like that season
Girl, you and me didn't end with a ring on a hand...."
'The Greatest' by Kenny Rogers (1999)
In this song, Kenny Rogers sings about a little boy playing baseball solo. He fails to hit the ball. But when his momma calls him in to chow down, he cleverly flips the situation and chooses to see himself as a gifted hurler (pitcher), not a mediocre hitter. Per Dutch Baseball Hangout, "The song reached #26 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart."
What is the theme of "The Greatest"? Keep trying? Success is how you see yourself? Take failure and transform it into triumph? Listen to the song and you decide!
"...And the ball goes up when the moons so bright
Swings his bat with all his might
And the worlds so still as still can be
And the baseball falls and that's strike three
Now it's suppertime and his mama calls
Little boy starts home with his bat and ball
Says, I am the greatest that is a fact
But even I didn't know I could pitch like that!...."
'The Cheap Seats' by Alabama (1993)
This unpretentious song depicts the plain, time-honored pleasure of attending a game in the cheap seats, not ensconced in a fancy luxury box. Baseball Almanac called this tune "a true baseball classic. A song that talks about the cheap seats at a Triple-A ballpark and reminds us that baseball is far more than a win-loss record." It mentions beer, hot dogs, and the age-old, homespun fun of just being at the ballpark. That's what it's really all about. Love it!
"...We like beer flat as can be
We like our dogs with mustard and relish
We got a great pitcher what's his name
Well, we can't even spell it
We don't worry about the pennant much
We just like to see the boys hit it deep
There's nothing like the view from the cheap seats
The game was close, we'll call it a win
Go off to toast the boys again
That local band is back in town
They got a kinda minor league sound...."
