Major League Baseball (MLB, has a rich tradition of incorporating music into the game as a way to enhance the fan experience and to honor the players and teams. Songs ranging from “Take Me out to the Ballgame” to “Sweet Caroline” bring people together as they watch the game of baseball.
The music of baseball is not limited to the songs played throughout the game but also includes walk-up songs, chants, and much more.
Georgia’s MLB team is the Atlanta Braves, who play at Truist Park with about three million people attending in one season. Compared to another pro league like the NFL, the attendance is significantly greater, with the Atlanta Falcons having only around six hundred thousand attending in one season.
This difference could be due to the fan experience that not only the Braves give but all of the MLB teams.
“I don’t necessarily like to watch other sports, baseball is what I like to watch,” said Emma Hardy, a senior nursing major. “I initially want to say that music incorporation wouldn’t make me watch the NHL or the NFL, but maybe it would.”
Music incorporation in the MLB likely started after the song “Take me Out to the Ball Game” written by Jack Norworth took off and became the hit song of the seventh inning stretch. It is an important song in American culture like “Happy Birthday” or “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
As for the Atlanta Braves, nothing is as famous as their tomahawk chop. Braves fans have been doing this for generations as it is said to have caught on in 1991 when the Braves started winning more games. The tomahawk chop is a motion that fans do with their arms or with their foam chop, in order to cheer on the Braves.
The tomahawk chop is not only a motion that surfaces the crowd; there is, in most cases, the tomahawk song that goes with it. The majority of fans agree that the motion without the music would not have the same effect.
Walk-up songs are a huge part of the music of the MLB. Each player who comes up to bat has their own walk-up song that they choose as they get ready to hit the ball. They can range from rap songs like “Work Remix” by ASAP Ferg to rock songs like “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin.
“I don’t think it [walk-up songs] influences me much, I’m not like, ‘Oh I don’t like this song so I don’t like this player,’” Hardy said. “I guess in a way it gives me insight to the player and their background.”
Besides walk-up songs, famous hit songs like “Knee Deep” are played throughout the innings and are sung aloud by the entire crowd.
“My favorite baseball crowd song has to be ‘Chicken Fried’ by Zac Brown Band,” said CG Renner, a senior nursing major. “It’s really just a country song but since we are in the south, everyone knows it and sings along.”
GCSU political science professor Cliff Wilkinson agreed that there is nothing like singing along in a baseball crowd.
“I would attend, mostly the Braves games, and there would be someone actually playing, you know, years ago, and it would be fun,” Wilkinson said. “But when I first thought of the music of baseball, I thought of the claps, and the chants and the individuals trying to make a new pitcher nervous.”
The music goes beyond the songs played throughout the game, it is the music that is made traditionally that impacts most fans. These musical traditions help to give each ballpark its unique atmosphere, and they contribute to the overall experience of watching a live baseball game.