Baseball season is music to my ears

The start of baseball spring training means it’s almost spring, and when spring finally arrives, it means it’s baseball season.

It’s time to hear that exciting call, “play ball,” signaling the end of the long winter.

So to get in the mood for the great American pastime, I’ve compiled a list of nine great baseball songs. There are hundreds more, but here is a collection of my favorites.

I have included links to all of them, and they worked when I tested them (a couple begin with brief advertisements). But if they don’t work for you, Google them and you’ll find various versions.

1. “Right field”

Playing right field, it's easy, you know.

You can be awkward and you can be slow

That's why I'm here in right field

Just watching the dandelions grow

This is my favorite baseball song, although many people may not be familiar with it. When you look past the big business and outrageous salaries, this is real baseball – a kids’ game that is played for fun.

It is based on a tale written by author Willie Welch and was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary.

The version from their 25^th anniversary concert is my favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zslUua_jGy4

Here is a link to the song performed by Welch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_ECF-x8hU

2. “A dream”

There are two men out

And it's in the ninth

And the score is four to three

There's a man on first

And a man at bat

And the man at bat is me

This song, number 2 on the list of my favorite baseball songs, is from “Diamonds,” an off-Broadway musical review that ran for less than four months, ending in early 1985.

In the musical, the song, which was written by Craig Carnelia, was sung by Scott Holmes.

I heard it for the first time at a Boy Scout dinner several years ago when Jarrod Miller of Sinking Spring sang it.

Here is a powerful video by Brett Rigby:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-600JBVuFDk

3. “Cheap seats”

We like our beer flat as can be

We like our dogs with mustard and relish

We got a great pitcher what's his name

Well we can't even spell it

We don't worry about the pennant much

We just like to see the boys hit it deep

There's nothing like the view from the cheap seats

The song was written by Marcus Hummon and Randy Sharp and became a hit by the country band Alabama in 1993.

Here is the video by Alabama:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh3GU5K5Fvo

4. “The baseball song”

Life's a fastball, belt high, coming right down the middle

Don't stand there, and let it go by

Swing hard and aim for the stands

This baseball song by Corey Smith from 2012 has good advice that can be applied to life in general: Keep your eye on the ball.

Corey Smith’s song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LkFm6BV2eg

5. “Centerfield”

Oh, put me in, coach – I'm ready to play today

Put me in, coach – I'm ready to play today

Look at me, I can be centerfield

This popular 1985 song was written and sung by John Fogerty, formerly of Creedence Clearwater Revival. It’s an upbeat song inspired by his childhood memories.

Fogerty in concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqY7e4bP9PQ

6. “Talkin’ baseball”

We're talkin' baseball

Kluszewski, Campanella

Talkin' baseball

The Man and Bobby Feller

The Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc

They knew ’em all from Boston to Dubuque

Especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.

This song, written and recorded by Terry Cashman in 1981, often is referred to as “Willie, Mickey and the Duke.” It is a tribute to many of the great names in the game.

Here’s Cashman’s song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWKA9Zi5-_Y

7. “Love is like a baseball game”

Love is just like a baseball game

Three strikes you’re out

Whether you win or lose

Love is just like a baseball game

Three strikes you're out

Everybody's got to pay some due

The song was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and was a hit for The Intruders in the 1960s.

Their song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4mJhvHI8I

8. “Say Hey (the Willie Mays song)”

Say hey, say who?

Say Willie

Say hey, say who?

Swinging at the plate

Say hey, say who?

Say Willie

That Giants kid is great

The Treniers recorded the song in 1955, along with the great Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid.

Here is their song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UduDreaZq6c

9. “Take me out to the ball game”

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out with the crowd

Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack

I don’t care if I never get back

Let me root, root, root for the home team

If they don’t win, it’s a shame

For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out

At the old ball game

What list of baseball songs would be complete without this classic? It still is sung by fans during the seventh-inning stretch at many ballgames. It was written by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer in 1908.

Here is a recording from that year by Edward Meeker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-gsdLSSQ0&list=PLC85AADE6F6BBD82A&index=1

10. Extra inning

If you need an extra inning, enjoy this famous “Who’s on first” dialogue by Abbott and Costello. It’s not music, but it’s music to my ears when thinking about baseball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg

A solution for my puzzling addiction

Jigsaw puzzles are burdens when you have even a mildly obsessive-compulsive personality, which I do. You can’t leave the unfinished puzzle.

I’ve found a perfect solution: retirement.

One of the best things about retirement is that on most days I can choose my plan for each day. So now I can stay up into the early morning hours to finish a puzzle and not have to worry about getting up early for work. It’s one of the many benefits of retirement.

Since my wife and I set up a puzzle table in mid-November, we have completed more than 40 puzzles, even though we don’t do them every day. We have gained speed through a mixed approach of searching for colors and shapes. We usually do a 500-piece puzzle in 4-5 hours.

Initially we were working puzzles on the dining room table. Then we moved to a card table in the living room so we could enjoy the fireplace while we worked. Next, we got serious and purchased a puzzle table that rotates on a Lazy Susan. We also researched puzzle lights. We found a floor lamp that shines down onto the middle of the table and added an LED lamp that reduces glare on parts of the board.

Puzzling is a good winter activity. In the summer, we spend most of our days on outdoor activities – yard work, walking and biking. Our summer nights are reserved for watching the Phillies.

Now it’s puzzle time.

Doing puzzles keeps your mind sharp. Like most others do, we start with the border. Sometimes we work together on sections; most times we each concentrate on an area. There is silent communication through passing pieces that match the section the other is doing.

Neither of us wants to quit until a puzzle is finished, and sometimes we work until midnight or later. For the first time in many years I was awake when the new year arrived. The puzzle we started at 9 p.m. was finish before 2 a.m., with a momentary break for a New Year’s kiss.

The sense of accomplishment that comes with a finished puzzle doesn’t last for long. We usually tear it down within a day to start another one.

When we are finished, we separate the border pieces from the rest to make it easier for the people we pass it to – often my parents. Sometimes others do that for us. 

Sharing puzzles is fun, too. It’s better than just packing them away for years. Just make sure you have all of the pieces. One puzzle that was given to us was missing two pieces. When we mentioned it, we were told a bird had flown in and stolen a piece while it was being done on a porch. We couldn’t make that up.

We have done a couple of 1,000 piece puzzles, but they are spread over two days. They don’t fit easily on our 34-inch-square puzzle table. We’ve thought about 2,000 piece ones, but that would mean moving to the dining room table.

The toughest one we did had a large blue sky with no clouds and subtle shading changes. Another tough one was a thousand-piecer of the Coliseum.

Most puzzles lock together with what we call “ins” and “outs,” and many of the pieces have similar shapes, so learning to distinguish patterns and colors becomes important.

Recently our neighbors, who have loaned numerous puzzles to us, introduced us to wooden puzzles with special shapes. Those were the most interesting and fun. They also were the most expensive. Many of them cost about $75. Most of the puzzles we buy run about $10.

These two were made by Liberty Puzzles, which is located in Boulder, Colo. They range in price from $39 to $200 and in size from 7 x 7 inches and 106 pieces to 24 x 16 and 864 pieces. 

As described on the website libertypuzzles.com: “Liberty Puzzles are a throwback to the golden age of jigsaw puzzles. Each one contains dozens of hand-drawn 'whimsy' pieces intricately cut into the shapes of characters, animals, and geometric designs.  They are works of art within art. The puzzles are made with ¼” plywood and use advance print technology for eye-popping color.”

The website also provides some history of puzzles:

“The golden age of jigsaw puzzles was approximately the 1930s.  This was before the advent of die-cut (stamped) cardboard puzzles. Most puzzles were made of wood, and hand-cut using a scroll saw. Usually, the wood was approximately ¼” thick.  With the end of the Roaring Twenties and the onset of the Great Depression, people were looking for cheap alternatives for entertainment. A jigsaw puzzle craze exploded worldwide. Numerous companies sprang up to meet the demand.  Calvin Coolidge, King George V, and Benito Mussolini were all avid puzzlers. By the early 40s and the advent of World War II, the craze had died down and die-cut puzzles were now hitting the market. The art and popularity of the hand-cut puzzle subsequently waned significantly. Liberty Puzzles are a throwback to the golden age of jigsaw puzzles!”

It doesn’t matter if the puzzles are expensive or not. What matters is keeping your mind sharp and spending time with someone special. Especially when you don’t have to worry about getting up early to go to work the next morning.

I’m finding retirement is a perfect solution to many things in life.

Liberty Puzzle of the Eiffel Tower 

Pieces in a Liberty Puzzle of a rural scene 

How pieces fit together in a Liberty Puzzle

Interesting shapes in a Liberty Puzzle

Not easy to overcome a puzzling addiction

I first published this column on Oct. 4, 2015. More than three years later, I’ve found a new approach to my addiction to puzzles. I’ll share that update next week.

The picture lies in pieces on the table, waiting for me to be drawn in. Every time I pass by, I’m tempted to stop and restore order to what is broken. It’s an addiction that is hard to resist, yet lately I’ve managed to avoid this puzzling obsession that can control my life and dominate my time. 

If I’m going to get anything else done in my life, I need to stay away from jigsaw puzzles. 

The truth is, working on puzzles is good for you. You learn to focus, pay attention to details and solve problems, and it’s a good time for concentrated socializing if you’re sharing the puzzling with others. 

The Child Development Institute reports that puzzles are good for a child’s mind and cognitive development. They help a child “learn to work directly with their environment and change its shape and appearance,” develop hand-eye coordination and fine-motor skills, learn to recognize shapes, enhance memory and set small goals by developing a strategy to work the puzzle faster and more efficiently. 

According to Social-psychiatry.com: “Human mind has two separate hemispheres or lobes called right and left-brain with each one dealing in different functions. Right brain deals with emotions and performs tasks holistically while the left-brain functions in linear fashion. When you are able to use both the sides of the brain, you will find that your mind power is harnessed to its best and gets better. Jigsaw puzzle helps you exercise both the parts of your brain.” 

That website also cites the MacArthur Study, which found that doing jigsaw puzzles can help to produce the chemical dopamine in the brain, which helps with learning and memory, and can increase life expectancy by lessening the chances of Alzheimer’s and dementia. 

I guess all of that makes sense, unless you have any degree of obsessive compulsive disorder. In that case, your obsession can outweigh the benefits. 

For me, it’s difficult to see the unfinished pieces and not stop to put together two, or three, or 100. Once I start, I lose track of time. Starting a puzzle in the early evening hours often would stretch into the early morning hours. Before I knew it, it would be 2 a.m. I knew I needed to stop and leave it for tomorrow, but then just one more piece, or two, or 100. 

So it was important for me to develop some self-control, which I’ve done through avoidance. 

It was bad enough when the unassembled puzzles were at home. Then a year or so ago some people in the newsroom started puzzles on a counter in the lunchroom. It’s a great idea for most of them. No doubt it helps them clear their minds for a few minutes before returning to writing and editing. Not for me. So as I pass by, I say hello but never stop walking. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this. 

Despite all of that, I have some great memories about puzzles. It’s fun to spend time doing children’s puzzles with my grandchildren, and those puzzles don’t require the con- centration or time needed to do 500 or 1,000 piece puzzles. 

When my wife and her brother were kids, sometimes they would take a piece and hide it so they could place the last piece. There’s something special about that honor. 

My mother loves to work on puzzles, so during visits many times there was a puzzle on the table. It always was a good way to have quality family conversations. My father, on the other hand, usually didn’t spend much time at the puzzle table, but he would stop occasionally, root around the pieces, finally place one and announce, “got one,” as he tapped on it several times to make sure it was firmly in place. 

Puzzles are great ways to spend time during rainy days and evenings at the shore. 

I’ve learned that it’s best to start with the border pieces, then group other pieces by color. The more challenging puzzles are borderless and have similar colors in various parts of the picture. It’s also more challenging if you put away the box that has the finished picture on the cover. 

As an experienced puzzler, I’ve also learned the importance of puzzle etiquette. You never reach across the table. You never work on someone else’s section unless you are invited. If you discover you and another person are working separately on the same section, offer your pieces to your fellow puzzler. Never move into another’s vacated spot unless you are sure that puzzler isn’t returning immediately. 

There is something satisfying about the puzzle when it finally is completed. Most times the finished puzzle sits on the table for a few hours or perhaps a day before it is broken into pieces and put back into its box for another day. For some, puzzles are a renewable challenge. 

Sometimes, however, we’ve taken completed puzzles, glued them with a special puzzle glue, and placed them in frames. 

For my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, 16 years ago, we had a puzzle made of their wedding photo. All of their children and grandchildren got together for a long weekend in cabins at a state park. No phones or television. Just quality family time. We all worked on the puzzle, which was then glued and framed as a memory of the weekend. 

So puzzles provide family time, memories, a sharper mind, a longer life and a distraction from work. Perhaps it’s time I set up the puzzle table again. 

On second thought, perhaps not.