You're a MLB closer... pick your entrance song

The Royals serenaded Noah Syndergaard of the Mets this spring with "American Woman" for throwing over the head of one of their batters last season. He of the long, flowing locks, even got a kick out of that.

 

Wild Thing - The Troggs. I can picture the whole stadium singing to it.

 

After much consideration, I rejected works by Carl Orff, Giuseppe Verdi, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Basil Poledouris, John Williams and my usual go-to pop/rock acts. Instead, the rights to a little-known song from the mid-1980s by the band NRG and heard in The Transformers: The Movie will be needed. Gentlemen, I give you "Instruments of Destruction":



If that's not available, then I'll have to borrow both glasses and music from Rick Vaughn of the Cleveland Indians.

 

"Big Gun" - AC/DC

 

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J or Institutionalized by Suicidal Tendencies

 

Reminds me of Zack Greinke last year while playing for the Dodgers. His walk up music for his at bats was "Careless Whispers" by Wham. So ironic and funny.

For my closer them I'd probably go with "Sweat Loaf" Butthole Surfers

From where the dialog starts and ends and the music comes in full force. Maybe not family friendly, but it would sure pump me up!

 

Whipping Post from Fillmore East. Berry starts er off.......

Bill

 

Hit That--The Offspring

 

Last Time Around the Del Vettes

 

Being a former starter and closer on the sandlots I'd pick Shut Down by The Beach Boys.

 

Wow, I see we have some regular "dodgeball targets" on this site.

 

Tom Waits, "Step right up"
Scandal "Goodbye to You"
Herbie Hancock "Headhunter"

A friend of mine once mocked a closer mercilessly for coming out to the synth-heavy single mix of "Here I go Again" by Whitesnake.

 

Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls. The bells could start chiming before the bullpen gate opens. Then emerges the the relief pitcher. Slowly walking to the mound like the Undertaker from WWE. Thereby striking fear in the hearts of the batters.

 

"Theme From A Summer Place", Percy Faith.

 

So to add a spooky element, how about "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield? Updated for a modern era--"Get your tongue out of my mouth, I'm kissing you goodbye" or "Lightning Striking Again" by Lou Christie?

 

Haha. Actually, I was scoring tons of girls by growing my hair long and playing in rock bands. No time for sports.

 

Thunderstruck, by AC/DC

 

Search & Destroy by the Stooges.

How pumped up would you get trotting in from the pen while Iggy growls

I'M A STREETWALKIN CHEETAH WITH A HEART FULL OF NAPALM!

 

"Inka Dinka Doo" by Jimmy Durante; he'd have two strikes on the first batter before his eyes could focus again.

 

How a Johnny Cash song became a hit with MLB pitchers

When Johnny Cash's version of "God's Gonna Cut You Down" was released posthumously in 2006, Cash fans probably wouldn't have predicted that the traditional folk tune would become a ballpark staple. But since Seattle Marinersreliever Joe Beimel began using it as his entrance music in 2007, several MLB pitchers have also adopted the song as their personal anthem as they stride to the mound.

• "I've always liked the song, and it wasn't your typical entrance music," Beimel says. "I wanted something a little different; the song made me feel badass when I came into the game."

Even non-pitchers took note. While pitching for the Colorado Rockies, Beimel entered games on three consecutive days and faced Lance Berkman each time. On the third day, Beimel ran to cover first. When the two met at the bag, Berkman looked at Beimel and asked what his entrance song was. Beimel told him; the next year, Berkman stared using it as his walk-up song.

"I was like, 'Really, dude?'" Beimel says.

Washington Nationals reliever Drew Storen used the song in high school but gave it a "grace period" before using it in the pros this year, in deference to Beimel. "It's a little of everything -- the lyrics are great, it's Johnny Cash, it's different, it's not the in-your-face rock reliever music," Storen says, in explaining his song choice. "I like the tone it sets."

In other instances, team staff members have chosen the song for their pitchers, as is the case with the Indians' Cody Allen.

Leland Patton, Cleveland's director of in-game experience, approached Allen in spring training about developing a closer entrance video; he suggested using Cash's version of the song because "we felt the drumbeat, the clap and the drama of the track would work well to make for this dramatic entrance," says Patton. Allen agreed, and the song is used in the first part of his entrance sequence (another song, Eric Church's "The Outsiders," is played during his actual warm up).

New York Yankees pitcher Andrew Miller also uses the Cash version of the song, and credits a Red Sox staffer who selected it for him during his Fenway days. "They had been playing some goofy circus music, so I asked them to change it," says Miller. "They suggested 'God's Gonna Cut You Down.' I liked it; it's a great song."

Yankees teammate Nathan Eovaldi used the song in Miami but says someone "overruled" him when he tried to import it to New York. Miller denies being the over-ruler, but says: "You know what's funny? This year I've heard it used three or four other times."

Given how superstitious -- and territorial -- baseball players can be about things, would any of them consider changing their song now that's it's become a hit among their peers?

"I'm sticking with it," Beimel says. "I'm more likely to change my socks than my entrance music."

 

Sultans of Swing is a great one for a batter. How about that other Closing Time by ??? ( I know ....want to take me home to")

 

Another one Bites the Dust

 

I really wish they'd do away with "walk-up" music. Mascots, too . . . and giggling morons in the booth. One guy is enough.

When I watch a ballgame, I want to see and hear baseball. When I want to go to a circus . . . well, I never want to go to a circus.