Baseball Project (Wynn, McCaughey, Buck, Pitmon)
(Yep Roc)
If you think a three-bagger sounds kind of kinky and wouldn’t be able to pick Daryl Strawberry out of a lineup, you probably couldn’t have written the lyrics to “Ted Fucking Williams” or “Jackie’s Lament.” But you could still get caught up in the magic of this ‘60s-flaovred tribute to a dying pastime by a group of left-field all stars — Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.), Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate fame, Peter Buck of R.E.M and Linda Pitmon of Wynn’s band, the Miracle 3, on drums.
And you’ll know more about the game before they’re through. In “Harvey Haddix,” for instance, you’ll learn that on May 26, 1959, in Milwaukee, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a perfect game for 12 straight innings but his teammates couldn’t score, depriving Haddix of his rightful place in the history books as one of 18 men who’ve thrown a perfect game. And then, there’s “Broken Man,” the album’s most infectious song — a touching, sympathetic look at Mark McGwire’s date with infamy, in which McCaughey points out how “no one seemed to care when it brought back the fans.”
But before digging deep in the history of everyone from Satchel Paige to Big Ed Delehanty, a wistful tribute to the game called “Past Time” sets the stage, guitars chiming away as McCaughey runs down a laundry list of baseball memories, including Oscar Gamble’s afro, before giving voice to the question no fan wants to ask: “Are you past your prime?”
In a perfect world, this unassuming treasure of an album would bring back the fans the way McGwire’s little homerun derby did – both to the ballpark and the record store.
Standout Tracks: “Past Time,” “Broken Man” A. WATT
