2. "Glory Days" -- Bruce Springsteen: Bruce had few interests outside of baseball up until his early teens, when he discovered rock and roll and left baseball behind. The first verse in "Glory Days" is about a former baseball player longing for the old days, and the video plays up the baseball theme with Springsteen on the mound in search of the old form.

3. "Catfish" -- Bob Dylan: Actually cowritten with Jacques Levy, "Catfish" is a celebration of the pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who allegedly hated the song. It is unknown whether Dylan cares one wit about baseball, but my sources tell me that it is highly unlikely that he could add much to any discussion concerning the intricacies of the squeeze play.

4. "Night Game" -- Paul Simon: Having already celebrated Dimaggio in "Mrs. Robinson," Simon is clearly a baseball fan, but he's also poetically inclined, and here he uses the night game as a metaphor for failure, alienation, etc. Where have you gone, T.S. Eliot?

5. "Baseball Trilogy" -- S.F. Seals: Actually an entire EP about baseball players. S.F. Seals, led by Barbara Manning, are such dedicated fans of the national pastime that they named themselves after a local San Francisco semi-professional team. The songs on the trilogy include one about Denny McLain, a pitcher who won 30 games and later did time for gun running, and one about Dock Ellis, the only pitcher who ever admitted to throwing a no-hitter while tripping on acid. Play ball!

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