Home MLB Braves organist on the BBC website

Braves organist on the BBC website

by Matt Smith

Aside from the MLB on 5 Live Sports Extra coverage, it normally takes something historic, controversial or quirky for baseball to get a mention on the BBC.co.uk website.

The most recent example comes from the quirky pile.

The BBC News Magazine section recently highlighted the story of Matthew Kaminski, who plays the organ at Turner Field in Atlanta.

The feature is primarily focused on this as an example of crowd-sourcing, in which Kaminski uses Twitter to gain suggestions for songs he should play during Braves games.

Even without this social media aspect, it would probably surprise many Brits to learn that organ music can be heard at ballparks, so it could prove to be a fun eye-opener to one of the more traditional parts of the in-game festivities you can enjoy (or endure, depending on your viewpoint) at a ballgame.

And the three-minute video may also surprise some baseball fans by showing them that there is often a real person behind the music, even if the endless renditions of “let’s go [insert team], let’s go” and the “diddly de da deee” tune might make you doubt it.

 

You may also like

5 comments

Dave Hill May 9, 2012 - 2:25 pm

My wife is a church organist & for years I have been asking her to fetch a keyboard to the games at Cartmel to give us some genuine MLB big game atmosphere ! I haven’t managed to persuade her yet, but maybe one day – Coach Pearson says “Just get her to record some bits for us!”

Reply
Matt Smith May 9, 2012 - 9:33 pm

Recorded music is okay, but live is definitely best! Maybe this BBC clip will convince her of the fame and glory that may await!

Reply
Michael Jones May 9, 2012 - 4:03 pm

With the limitations on resources (i.e. we have no access to electricity), unfortunately the Redbacks aren’t in a position to do this just yet. But we’re working on it!

Mike

Reply
Matt Smith May 9, 2012 - 9:35 pm

I’m sure you are, Mike! Maybe we can start a Casio keyboard battery fund in the meantime…

Reply
Matthew Crawshaw May 18, 2012 - 1:24 pm

At the Blue Sox we have a battery powered amp and coupled with the “Baseball – Sounds of the Game” app on an android device, you can easily recreate the organ-based ballpark feel here in the UK!

Reply

Leave a Reply to Matt Smith Cancel Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.