Songs and Images from the Early Years of America’s Favorite Pastime, by Jerry Silverman. Alfred Publishing Company, 2007.
Fans of both old-tyme baseball and music will enjoy this one. Part-music book, part-collectible (for the reproduction of the sheet music covers), part-historical analysis, The Baseball Songbook is a collection of more than 40 tunes (mostly heretofore unfamiliar to me) from the mid-19th century to the early 1920s.
A welcome bonus is a CD of all the tunes as interpreted by the author, who has a sweet folk song-ish voice. His decision to employ his guitar as the sole backing instrument was probably a fiscal one, but it adds to the simplicity and innocence of the early game. While Silverman doesn’t perform every song in its entirety, he certainly gives the reader/listener a good feel for the changing musical styles. Many of the early contributions may very well remind you of the soundtrack from Ken Burns’ Civil War miniseries and rightfully so, since they were written just after that period.
The book introduces each song with a bit of pop culture and/or baseball info. Some tunes herald the greatness of the game in its infancy and the growing “mania” of the fans. Others praise the talents of a favorite Major Leaguer, such as Christy Mathewson, Nap Lajoie, Rube Marquard, and Babe Ruth. A few propound the baseball park as a great place to bring that special gal (in the parlance of the day), while still others suggest showing one’s displeasure with the umpire.
It’s rare — and welcome — to see such a publication. The only thing that could improve it would be a full-color reproduction of the sheet music covers, which I’m guessing that would have been prohibitively expensive.
is available on Amazon.com,
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