Marching to their own beat

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This article was published 07/08/2019 (2281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For decades, walk-up songs have been a designated hit with baseball players and fans alike.

You know one when you hear one.

Once it’s time for the home team to bat, a song will play before each batter goes to the plate. If you listen closely, you’ll notice that every player has a different song. No matter how many times a player goes to bat in a game, their personal “walk-up song” remains the same.

The tradition has become a staple amongst nearly all professional baseball teams in the past 20-plus years. The Winnipeg Goldeyes are no exception.

This week, seven players spoke to the Free Press about their walk-up songs and what it means to them.

Goldeyes infielder Dominic Ficociello says choosing a walk-up song is something most players take pretty seriously.

“It’s kind of a big thing to us ball players, the hitters. It’s one thing that I’m just about sure all of us think about over the course of an off-season on a daily basis when we’re listening to songs on our iPod or whatever. It’s always like, ‘Oh this may be a good walk-up song’ or not,” he said.

Depending on a player’s personality and style of play, they tend to lean in one of two directions. Some players enjoy a fast, upbeat song to get them pumped up on their way to the plate, while others will use a slow, cool song to calm them down.

Ficociello’s song You Be Killin’ Em’ by Fabolous is a rap song on the upbeat end of things.

“Everybody’s got their own thing. Usually I don’t like to get too fired up as I’m walking to the plate, so usually I go with something like reggae, where it just kind of keeps me calm and whatever. But I started the season with a reggae song and it wasn’t working for me, so I switched it up and this one has worked a little bit better,” Ficociello said.

For the past handful of games, the Goldeyes have been wearing their blue batting practice jerseys, all because they’ve been playing well in them. Just like they’ve been superstitious in their game wear, they’ve been superstitious about their walk-up songs, too.

In general, it’s not uncommon for a player to change their song if it hasn’t been working for them, especially after a prolonged period of time.

Goldeyes catcher Kevin Garcia recently changed his. He started the season with SOS by Avicii, but changed to a Latin song in July. After a rough month, Garcia changed it back for the team’s most recent homestand.

“I don’t know, I feel like I started really good (with SOS). Then I changed it to something else and it hadn’t been working out, it was time to get something going. Anything helps,” Garcia said.

In Garcia’s first game back with his original walk-up song, he had three hits and two RBIs.

“I just like the beat (of SOS). I’ve always done Latin music, so I thought maybe I’d do something different for a change. I heard the song and immediately liked it.”

Garcia isn’t the only player who usually strays away from mainstream music. Adrian Marin’s walk-up song is the Spanish La Romana by El Alfa. This is the second year in a row Marin has had a walk-up song by the artist. For Marin, his walk-up songs have always been a way to show off his Hispanic roots.

“I’m Hispanic, my parents are both Cuban, so I have Hispanic roots in me and I enjoy the Spanish music a lot,” Marin said. “Plus, El Alfa’s beats are different from all the other Spanish artists and I really like that.”

Across the board, Goldeyes players chose their songs for a varying range of reasons. Ficociello says the diversity in music selection represents the diversity in the clubhouse and that’s something he loves to see.

“For a lot of guys, it helps a lot. It kind of gets them amped up and ready to go before they get into the box… Everybody’s got their different flavour, their different type of music they like.”

 

devon.shewchuk@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @devonshewchuk