There were five second bursts from the Hammond Tremolo organ, cow bells were clanging, there was fan-clapping on cue from the PA system, a lot of ‘charging’ chants from the fans in the stands and intermittent hawking of ‘Cold Beer, Peanuts’ from a vendor; but there was no infield chatter – just the sounds of a ball hitting a catcher’s mitt at 90 miles-per-hour and the crack of a bat hitting a ball.  With all this noise coming from the stands and PA system I thought back to the days when most of the chatter came from the ballplayers and couldn’t help but wonder who took ‘Hum Babe’ out of baseball?

I was sitting in a box seat at the Charlotte County (Fl) Stadium where the Charlotte Stonecrabs were playing the Tampa Yankees in game 3 of a Championship round in the (high) Class A Florida State League.  I was only three rows back and at times close enough to touch, Luis Sojo, Manager, and third base coach of the Yankees and a renowned major league utility infielder in a day when chatter more commonly came from the infield than the stands.

Sitting in front of me were a few regulars including a woman who knew all the chants, songs and clapped on cue.  She had so much chatter and hustle she could have been playing third base for managers in the 50′s and 60′s.  For those were the days when managers believed that if a ballplayer was too tired to talk it up in the infield, he was too tired to play.

Sitting behind me was a Yankee fan who often got on the home plate umpire for calling balls he thought were strikes.  He cast his verbal abuse in Spanish, this works particularly well when you are telling the ump to ‘use his good eye.’

Players today step up to the plate with a signature song, often depicting where he comes from.  If you’re from the Dominican Republic you often step up to the plate with a few seconds of Latin or Salsa music.  And, if you hit a foul ball that might be heading toward a parking lot, the PA system resounds with a clunk and the sound of breaking glass.

The only songs we heard in the ‘old days’ was the National Anthem and in the 7th inning when fans took that stretch and sang “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”

Today there’s everything from ‘Centerfield’, ‘YMCA’ ,’Taking Care of Business’, ‘Cheap Seats’ and of course in the ‘Big Apple’, ‘New York, New York’.

If all this noise is not enough of a distraction, in-between innings we have games for the little kids and big kids, featuring on the field “Stoney” the Stonecrabs mascot.  They have games such as bowling for the kids and the dizzy bat contest, where one circles a bat 10 times and then tries to run to a finish line.  Of course many contestants are so dizzy they fall flat on their face, all of which is entertaining for the fans,  especially if the ball game is not enough.

Yesterday managers were free to suggest to their pitcher, ‘stick it in his ear’ .  I had this happen on a few occasions and to avoid having a ball permanently stuck in my ear I fell flat on my back.  This scene usually occurs after a batter hits a home run.  The pitcher doesn’t want him to feel too comfortable at the plate.  However, today if a manager says ‘stick it in his ear’ he is ejected from the game along with the pitcher.  It’s not to say it isn’t done today, it’s just done silently.  Kind of the unsaid words of a ‘brush back.’

‘Hum Babe’ should still be a part of the game along with ‘chatter’ because it is supportive of, in particular, the pitcher.  I don’t know if you know, but ‘Hum’ comes from the word hummer, fast ball.  And ‘Babe’ is an easy one – it comes from Babe Ruth.  A baseball team is just that, and words should play a role just as deeds.  Chatter shows others that you are alive, alert and hustling and letting members of the team know that you are with them.  It is not necessary to let the fans know, it’s your teammates.  The hand bump, which all teams do today, is congratulatory after a good performance.  ‘Hum Babe’ is supportive to the good deed that is to come.

When a pitcher fires the ‘heat’ and is up 0-2 in the count it is good to hear from the third baseman to waste one.  But today at the fields of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Stonecrabs, a cowbell is rung when the opponent batter is down 0-2.  I guess it’s a noise distraction to the batter who now has to protect the plate.  In fact in Tampa they came up with a cow bell day where free cow bells are given to all. On other days they sell the cow bells in the stadium store.

Baseball today is all about the noise, some ballparks have fireworks when one hits a home run,  others have fireworks on July 4th.

As one who enjoys the game for what it is without all the distractions of a circus, I would love to hear the chatter return to the infield, get a feeling that the players are alive and I would tone down the Hammond Organ and the playing of ‘YMCA.’

Oh, the game.  The Yankees beat the Stonecrabs 3-1.  The Yankees had 7 well placed hits, the Stonecrabs had 8 miss placed hits.  The noise won out, the chatter did not.