Songs of the American League Central
Songs of the American League Central
The fifth in a series looking at team songs in Major League Baseball by division.
Perhaps no sport lends itself to music than baseball, as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” has become the official anthem of the seventh inning stretch. However, most teams have their own songs written specifically for them and this does not include the series of songs recorded by Terry Cashman who after did special editions of “Talkin’ Baseball for most of the Major League Baseball teams.
Chicago White Sox
“Lets Go, Go-Go White Sox”
As the Chicago White Sox perused their first pennant in 40 years, during the 1959 season, former White Sox farmhand Al Trace and his friend Walter “Lil Wally” Jagiello penned a rallying song. The song was based on the team’s nickname the “Go-Go Sox” which was created for the way the team aggressively ran the bases led by MVP Nellie Fox. The song was performed by popular jingle singers Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, who later became famous for jingles for Roto Rooter and Green Giant. The song which was rarely heard for the next 40 years became popular again when the White Sox won the 2005 World Series.
“Na Na Hey Hey, Winning Ugly”
Originally recorded by Steam, the song “Na Na Na, Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” became popular at White Sox games in 1977, when it was first used after White Sox home runs and opposing pitchers leaving the game. When the White Sox, made their run to a division title in 1983, a local radio station re-created the song, with a White Sox theme to it, highlighted by the season’s slogan “Winning Ugly”, which was for their hideous uniforms and the way they won games in every way imaginable.
Cleveland Indians
“Indian Fever”
Like the Red Sox with “Dirty Water” and the Yankees with “New York, New York”, the Cleveland Indians get a lot mileage out of the “Cleveland Rocks” by the Presidents of the United States of America.” However, this list is for songs written specifically for the team’s use. The Indians had a pair of jingles from the 80’s called “Indian Fever”, which came out at time when Major League Baseball had a slogan, “Baseball Fever Catch It”.
1982 version of “Indian Fever”
Detroit Tigers
“Go Get Em’ Tigers”
As the Detroit Tigers made their run to the 1968 World Series, Detroit which had been a city in tumult united behind their baseball team. To catch the spirit the team released a rallying song, that was composed by Arite Fields called “Go Get Em Tigers”.
“Bless You Boys”
The 1984 Detroit Tigers jumped out to the best start in the history of baseball, winning 35 of their first 40 games, as seemingly every player had a career year to lead the Tigers to a wire-to-wire World Championship. Along the way the team’s rallying cry was “Bless You Boys”, which came from a catchphrase by local sportscaster Al Ackerman. The rallying cry led to WDIV creating a jingle for the team based on the catch phrase which was sung Curtis Gadson and Loren Woods.
Minnesota Twins
“We’re Going to Win, Twins”
The melody for “We’re Going to Win, Twins” was originally intended for use by their chief beer sponsor Hamm’s Beer. However, the company already had a popular jingle and did not need it so, Ray Charles, not the famous one and Dick Wilson turned it over to the new baseball team that was moving from Washington in 1961. The song originally recorded by the Ray Charles singers, has been modernized several times and re-recorded with different takes over the years, but the lyrics have remained mostly unchanged. In another side note, years after Hamm’s Beer went out of business the Twins again took from their ads, by designing their mascot after the animated bear that appeared in Hamm’s commercials.
1980’s Version
1990’s Version
The Kansas City Royals use “Going to Kansas City” by Fats Domino but the song was not written for the team, and they have yet to have a song written specially for the team’s use.
Update from a Twitter Fan
The series will continue tomorrow with songs of the American League West.
Frank Fleming is the creator of the Sportsecyclopedia.com