A Seven Nation Army

7 NATION ARMY & OTHER WALK-UP SONGS

Right now, the coolest walk–up song is when Jose Iglesias comes to the plate in Detroit and the Comerica Park DJ plays “Seven Nation Army” by Detroiters White Stripes. Iglesias is a Detroit Tiger and he bats to a Detroiter’s song. I’m not sure when the walk-up song came about in the Major Leagues. Derek Jeter used to get pre–release songs from Puff Daddy in the mid–90s when he arrived on the scene, according to Newsday. That’s not the point of this thought process, though. I think the walk-up song is a cool happening in baseball.

The Kid from Kalamazoo

The one thing that I think would make sense would be for a local baseball player to have a local rock ‘n’ roll, rap, or country star create a customized walk-up song. If you play for the New York Yankees, why not contact Billy Joel and see if he would write and record a custom walk-up song? Imagine Derek Jeter walking up to the plate to the song “Kid from Kalamazoo” or something like that. Apparently, Puff Daddy used to give songs to Jeter prior to their release. Tom Petty recording “California Kid” for Evan Longoria (Florida singer, California athlete, Florida player …)

Kid Rock Got Me Thinking About This

This thought goes back to the Superbowl XL in Detroit in 2006. I could not understand why the National Football League did not use Kid Rock as an ambassador; it would have made TOTAL sense for him to do the halftime show. This comes up with National Anthems played at World Series sites, as well. I continue to think, though, as much as Kid Rock gives to the metro Detroit area and the State of Michigan, how cool would it be for Miguel Cabrera to walk up to the plate to a piece of a track that Kid Rock recorded for him? “Slugger” could also end up as a hit song or something … As a Tigers fan, I can think of a number of local artists who could contribute: Eminem, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, etc. Imagine if those artists were able to record songs for our baseball players as they bat. I think there should be more interaction between entertainers.

Copyright

I’m sure that there would be copyright issues involved as well as record company concerns and other things I’m not thinking about right now. In the modern age of the MP3, it would seem that the copyright issue would be null because the record company could immediately release it on iTunes or Amazon and it would be available for purchase. And baseball fans would likely purchase exclusive walk–up songs.