Classical music pumps down WCHS athletes
Photo courtesy of Nathan Gumagay.
As the boys baseball team begins their spring season, they will now be able to choose their walkup songs, but with a twist; the songs they choose must be from before 1900.
April 7, 2022
It is the bottom of the 9th inning, tie game, two outs, runners on first and second base. The best hitter is coming up to bat, and the other team is nervous. But, as the hitter approaches the batter’s box, “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi plays.
“This year for the baseball season, we’re lucky enough to do something different than previous years,” Nathan Gumagay, starting senior infielder for the varsity baseball team, said. “This year we get to choose our walkup songs, but with a catch.”
The catch… the song that each player chooses must have been produced before the 1900’s. This may seem odd, but rules are rules, and if a player wants to have a walkup song they must oblige to the parameters.
“I haven’t chosen my song yet, but I think that I’m either going to choose something from the Nutcracker, or Beethoven,” Jack Danser-Anger, a senior on the team, said. “I think choosing that type of song will really get the crowd hyped and really strike fear into the other team.”
This is the first year that the varsity baseball team has had walk up music, so this easily could become a treasured tradition for the team.
The best part of it all… everyone is included! Each player gets two song selections that will be used when they come up to bat. This will help the player gain confidence and get the crowd hyped for the player coming up. Walkup songs are generally used in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the minor leagues.
“MLB players use songs like Enter Sandman for Mariano Rivera, and other songs that are loud and obnoxious, whereas I think classical music does the trick to really rile up the crowd, and put a fear into the other team,” Gumagay said.
Some of the more popular choices so far have been pieces by Bach, Beethoven and other musical geniuses of their time.
These songs are so intimidating to the other team that the opposing team might refuse to even show up for the game.
“We probably won’t play as well on the road because we won’t have our own music playing,” Danser-Anger said. “It has that much of an impact on our play.”