Kenny Rogers: “The Greatest”

A modest baseball song by Kenny Rogers, “The Greatest,” offers a heartwarming lesson.

Kenny Rogers Greatest Baseball

Anyone who was not an all-star in Little League Baseball will have to appreciate Kenny Rogers’s ode to the hopeful optimism of childhood with “The Greatest.” Released in 1999, it is one of the more heartwarming baseball songs, turning the strikeout tale of “Casey at the Bat” on its head.

Kenny Rogers always had a talent with story songs. If you discount his talent as being too pop, just compare his version of his greatest hit “The Gambler” to the recording of the song by Johnny Cash. Both versions were released in 1978, and while I think Cash is one of the all-time greats, there is a reason that Kenny Rogers’s version of “The Gambler” is the one we remember.

Rogers never had a story song surpass “The Gambler.” Around a year after that song’s release, his revenge tale “Coward of the County” became a top-ten hit in 1979. It is a catchy tune and became a TV movie in 1981, but it has not aged as well as “The Gambler.” The Chipmunks also covered “Coward of the County,” of course not near as well as Rogers, although their version has the advantage of being more chipmunky and deleting the rape.

“The Greatest” did hit the country charts in 1999, but was not much of a hit. It did spawn a book but no movie. I’d never even heard the song until very recently. That’s probably okay, as the song seems not to be trying to hard. It presents a modest tale about a young kid, with no life-and-death events as in “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County.”

Like “The Gambler,” the song “The Greatest” was written by Don Schlitz. Schlitz also co-wrote Randy Travis’s “Forever and Ever, Amen” and Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All” (also recorded by Alison Kraus).

Three Strikes!

“The Greatest” tells the tale of a young boy one afternoon tossing a baseball in the air and trying to hit it. Alas, he misses three times, striking himself out. Like many young children, the boy was dreaming of being “the greatest” while playing with the bat and ball We imagine his disappointment at striking out.

But a twist comes at the end. “The greatest” realizes he can still call himself “the greatest” as the greatest pitcher.

It is a sweet message about adjusting one’s perspective to see the best in ourselves. Check it out.

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    Roberto Clemente: Twenty-One Feet Tall

    Clemente PNC Park Hall-of-Fame baseball player Roberto Clemente was born in Puerto Rico on August 18, 1934. He grew up into one of the greatest players of all time, completing eighteen seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before his untimely death. In addition to his greatness on the field, Clemente is also remembered for his humanitarian work.

    Clemente did charity work during the off-season in Caribbean and Latin American countries. And he died on December 31, 1972 in a plane crash when he was traveling to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

    At the time of his death, Clemente had exactly 3,000 hits. He was wonderful in all aspects of the game and a joy to watch. Clemente had a lifetime career batting average of .317 and 240 home runs.  And many remember his speed and defensive play in right field, as he won the Golden Glove for twelve seasons. He helped the Pirates win two championships, in 1960 and in 1971, winning the World Series MVP Award in the 1971 series.

    Posthumous Honors

    In addition to his induction into the MLB Hall of Fame, Clemente received many honors during his lifetime and after his death. A statue of him that once at Three Rivers Stadium now stands outside the Pirates’ current home PNC Park, and a bridge near the ball park is named after him. As an additional honor for the player who wore number 21, the right field fence at PNC Park stands at twenty-one feet tall.

    Major League Baseball honors Clemente’s work each year by giving the Roberto Clemente Award to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.”  And finally, reportedly a feature film based on the book Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero by David Maranissis in the works.

    Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via public domain.

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    Say Hey: Willie Mays and “The Catch”

    Say Hey

    On September 29 in 1954, Willie Mays made one of the greatest and most famous catches in baseball history.  During the eighth inning of Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Cleveland Indians player Vic Wertz hit a drive that centerfielder Mays chased toward the wall of the Polo Grounds to make an over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track.

    “The Catch” prevented two runs from scoring in a tie game.  Mays’s throw also kept the runners from advancing.  And the Giants went on to win the game in the tenth inning.  Then, the team completed a sweep of the World Series.  The win was the Giants’ last championship in New York.

    The Season

    Mays’s catch and the Series helped cap a great season for Mays.  During the year, he hit 41 home runs and led the league with a .345 batting average.

    What makes the season even more amazing is that Mays had not played Major League Baseball the previous season or for most of 1952.  Mays, who started his professional career in the Negro Leagues, had his rookie year in Major League Baseball in 1951 after a short stint in the Minor Leagues.  But in May 1952, the United States Army drafted Mays during the Korean War.  He missed most of the 1952 season and all of the 1953 season, although he did play some baseball while in the Army.

    “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)”

    There is another reason 1954 was a big year for Willie Mays. Early in the season he became a part of one of the greatest baseball songs of all time, “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song).”

    When Mays returned from the army, a New York public relations man, Ted Worner, thought it would be a good idea to have a song about the player known as the “Say Hey Kid.” So Worner arranged for columnist Dick Kleiner to write some lyrics and then for Jane Douglass create the music and the chorus.

    Epic Records liked the song and gave it to the R&B group The Treniers, but insisting that Mays participate in the recording. Mays agreed, and he ended up adding some dialogue to the song. Quincy Jones produced the recording.

    “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)” did not become a hit that summer, perhaps because it had to compete with at least three other songs about Willie Mays. But like few other baseball songs, “Say Hey” would live on as one of the most popular baseball songs of all time.

    Say hey, say who?
    Say Willie,
    That Giants kid is great.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Early Baseball: The Glory of Their Times

    Early Baseball After Ty Cobb died on July 17, 1961 in Georgia, Lawrence Ritter realized that the full story of early twentieth century baseball was dying with the people involved in the game during that era. So, he came up with the idea to document that era of baseball and began a trip across the United States interviewing many of the legends of the sport.

    Ritter published the first edition of The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It in 1966. The book included interviews with men like Sam Crawford, Joe Wood, Fred Snodgrass, Chief Myers, and others. Other players, like Ty Cobb, were not around to be interviewed but they are brought back to life through the stories of the men who knew them.

    I discovered Ritter’s work when I was a child and happened to catch a documentary he made of The Glory of Their Times, which was produced by him and Bud Greenspan in 1977. The documentary used audio from Ritter’s interviews, accompanied by photographs and film. I loved the movie. I even recorded it with my childhood hand-held tape recorder and listened to the cassette over and over again.

    I have not seen the documentary since I was a child, and it does not appear to be available on video (and I have since lost the cassette). But in 1966, Ritter did release a record that included audio of many of the interviews that he used in his book and that appeared in the documentary. Fortunately, it is available through YouTube. It is a fascinating look at another era. Check it out.

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    Hammerin’ Hank

    I Had a Hammer Henry Louis Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama on February 5, 1934. Hank Aaron went on to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time.  Still, the first memory of the man that usually comes to mind is one swing of the bat on April 8, 1974.

    Aaron had started his professional baseball career with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1951. Aaron experienced the effects of racism during that time and throughout his career.  He endured, though, to became a hero to many people.

    Breaking Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record

    While playing for the Atlanta Braves late in his career, Aaron received a large amount of racist hate mail.  The mail came in response to his approach to Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record of 714 home runs.

    Aaron ended the 1973 season with 713 home runs.  On the cusp of the record, he endured various death threats in the off-season. Many others, though, voiced their support for The Hammer.

    Aaron persevered.  He hit home run number 714 on April 4, 1974 in his first at-bat in the 1974 season.  That home run came in Cincinnati off Reds pitcher Jack Billingham.

    Then, back in Atlanta on April 8, 1974, the 40-year-old Aaron came to bat against Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Al Downing.  This video shows what happened next.

    After Breaking the Record

    After his famous home run in 1974, Aaron continued to play baseball.  He continued to follow the motto that helped him through tough times: “Always keep swinging.”

    And, on May 1, 1975, now a Milwaukee Brewer, Aaron broke baseball’s all-time RBI record. Babe Ruth had held that record too.

    On July 20, 1976, Aaron hit his 755th and final home run.  Aaron’s record stood until Barry Bonds broke it on August 7, 2007. Despite the controversy about Bonds’s alleged used of steroids, Aaron graciously appeared on the JumboTron in the San Francisco Giants stadium to congratulate Bonds.

    Since his playing days, Aaron has worked as an executive with the Atlanta Braves, run his own business, and helped others through his charitable work. In 1990, he published his excellent autobiography, I Had a Hammer, which I listened to as an audio book years ago.  Aaron passed away on January 22, 2021.

    In 1982, Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His election came with one of the highest vote percentages ever. But by then, he had long been enshrined in our hearts.

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