“Harvey Haddix”, The Baseball Project

This way: Harvey Haddix

Jeff Twiss baseball songs takeover continues: 

An alternative rock supergroup united in their love of the Great American Pastime, the Baseball Project features members of a handful of celebrated bands who write and sing songs about baseball. Playing smart, energetic rock with pop accents and a rootsy feel, the group features members of R.E.M., the Dream Syndicate, and the Minus 5, and their material focuses on the outsized personalities and legendary tales of the great game's history. The act started after a casual conversation backstage at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame event in 2007, and within a year they put out their debut album on Yep Roc Records.  It was entitled ‘The Baseball Project, Vol.1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails’, and includes the song “Harvey Haddix”. “The facts themselves are simple enough: Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a perfect game for 12 innings before giving up a hit in the 13th and losing the game. But singer Steve Wynn is a storyteller, and knowing how to tell a story is the key to the success of ‘Harvey Haddix.’ 

Without pushing too hard, Wynn sets the scene and then ratchets up the tension as much as the light, freewheeling folk-rock backing allows. As the pressure mounts, Haddix — let down by both his teammates' inability to break through the opposing pitcher's shutout and his own physical endurance — finally hits a wall when the crushing weight of a 0-0 tie becomes too much.”  —Marc Hirsh, NPR Fellow baseball fan David Letterman invited the group to appear on his Late Night chat show, and they played a handful of live dates in support of the LP. In 2010,the cable sports network ESPN invited the band to do a "real time commentary" project where they would write and record songs relating to that year's baseball season. The songs were made available as downloads on the network's website. The ESPN tracks and some outtakes from the band's studio sessions were issued on a digital EP, 2011's ‘The Broadside Project’. The same year a second proper album appeared, ‘The Baseball Project, Vol. 2: High and Inside’. It included more baseball-centric tunes done in an alternative rock and roots fashion. The group's post-release touring included a string of dates in cities that were hosting major league spring training camps, as well as a performance at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

[Spotify] Harvey Haddix