The Baseball Project
Grand Salami Time!
Omnivore Recordings
Steve Wynn muses about the state of baseball, “When did it get so serious, son? Having fun (messin’ around in the sun).” It’s a theme examined from many angles on this, the fourth album by indie-rock super group The Baseball Project.
I think that refrain applies to the band as well as baseball. The band is made up of Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five), Linda Pitmon (ZuZu’s Petals, Filthy Friends), and Mike Mills and Peter Buck (R.E.M.). They don’t do the Baseball Project because they think it’s their ticket back to the top of the alternative rock charts. They do this because they’re big time baseball fans getting together to have some fun and tell stories about their favorite game.
Like their three previous albums, Grand Salami Time! Is full of baseball lore and love of the weirdoes and eccentrics who played the game. There is a wistful nostalgia to a lot of these songs. “Screwball” is an ode to both a pitch that has fallen out of favor and the oddball players who gave the game color. “Uncle Charlie” is an arcane term for a curve ball. Mike Mills gets all spooky with his ode to pitchers doctoring the ball with “Stuff.” The spiky energy of “The All or Nothing” celebrates the sluggers who had “three true outcomes, walk, fan, or hit home runs.”
Two of the tunes on Grand Salami Time! are dedicated to the people who call the games. The title track, “Grand Salami Time,” has a lyric made up entirely of announcers’ catchphrases. “Hey! Dying quails and frozen ropes or a can of corn.” I’m not enough of a baseball fan to know what most of the phrases mean, but my brother remembers hearing “get out the rye bread and mustard Grandma, it’s Grand Salami Time!” “The Voice of Baseball” is a heartfelt tribute to Vin Scully, (the voice of the Dodgers) by a lifelong Giants fan.
My favorite song on Grand Salami Time! is the melancholy “Journeyman.” The song sounds like a lost ’70s radio hit about a left-handed relief pitcher. “Journeyman” is the baseball version of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page.” Wynn paints a picture of a man drifting from town to town as a hired gun. “Always keep my bags packed, never get to close to anyone, long as there’s someone who needs me, down the road I go.” There is a certain resonance to the life of a journeyman ball player and a gigging musician eking out a living playing one-night stands.
I’m not a big baseball fan, but I love hearing this band sharing their love for the game. They do this because they like it, and it gives them an excuse to hang out, play music with their friends, and go to some ball games.
