Special Feature: Talkin' Baseball with Terry Cashman

by Sharon Chapman

On September 21, 2001, many of us were watching the Mets play the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium - the first baseball game to take place in New York following the terrorist attack on our nation ten days earlier. Still reeling from the magnitude of our loss, we struggled with whether it was even proper to watch baseball in our strange new world. But after the Mets swept three games in Pittsburgh, wearing caps commemorating the New York City agencies that lost personnel in the attack, we were ready for the weekend series at home against the Braves. With a 2-1 Atlanta lead in the bottom of the 8th and Edgardo Alfonzo on base, Mike Piazza hit an awesome home run to give the Mets a 3-2 victory over their division rivals.

One New Yorker watching these events at home on television was Terry Cashman. Best known for his hit Willie, Mickey & "The Duke" (Talkin' Baseball), Cashman found the evening both inspiring and cathartic. "I was having trouble getting into the game because I was thinking of the policemen and firemen - those who were there and those who were gone. I wasn't sure I should be into baseball at that time. I was sitting there and watching it when Piazza came up. I was just thinking about what a clutch hitter he is and how he's come through so many times and then he hits this blast! I started crying, and I told my wife, 'This is why I love this game'!"

The next day, Cashman started thinking about how Piazza's home run allowed him to release so many emotions, and he realized that others must have experiences similar feelings. "In terms of significance after the attack, and to New York City specifically, that home run will go down as one of the most significant and important in baseball." With that inspiration, Cashman wrote A Tattered Flag in the Breeze (Michael's Song), a ballad about that game and that home run. Cashman describes it as being "about the healing process that has to take place and that began taking place that night. Baseball is an important part of our heritage, and seeing that ball head towards the flag was such a strong image."

Cashman describes himself as a "huge Mets fan." He grew up in New York rooting for Willie Mays and the New York Giants. When Mays returned to New York in a Mets uniform in 1972, Cashman became "a full-fledged Mets fan."

More than just a baseball fan, Cashman played minor league ball in the Detroit Tigers organization in 1959 and 1960. He was also making records as the lead singer of a group called The Chevrons, and even appeared with the group on American Bandstand at the time he was playing professional baseball. Cashman later composed songs with Gene Pistilli and Tommy West, recorded songs as part of the team of Cashman & West, and he produced all of Jim Croce's records.

With such passion for both baseball and music, Cashman was inspired to write and record Talkin' Baseball. The song was recorded in 1981, an it was arguably the only good thing to happen to baseball that year. During the second half of that strike-shortened season, he was invited to come to stadiums to sing Talkin' Baseball and the National Anthem "because I was the only person in baseball that the fans wouldn't boo."

Talkin' Baseball is probably the second best known baseball song after Take Me Out To The Ballgame. It's an homage to New York baseball of the 1950's, when New Yorkers would debate whether the best centerfielder was Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle or Duke Snider. With the rise of Talkin' Baseball's popularity, the Atlanta Braves organization approached Cashman and asked whether he would write a version of the song for them. Other teams followed, and now there are versions of the song for virtually every team. Cashman best enjoyed writing versions of the song for the older franchises who haven't changed cities, because he could write about the full histories of those teams. He found it harder writing for the newer expansion teams, which didn't have all that much material to work with. He has also written versions of the song for minor league teams, and he came out with a special Subway Series CD in 2000 featuring updated songs about the Mets and the Yankees. He wrote one version of the song for the Toms River Little League World Series championship team, using the players' names in the song - "I did that one for free, just for the gratification of making the kids happy."

You know that you have truly made it when your work is parodied, and that happened for Cashman in the early 1990's when The Simpsons' writers penned Talkin' Softball for one of their shows and asked Cashman to come to Los Angeles to record it. He describes the experience as being "a lot of fun."

While Talkin' Baseball is Cashman's best known tune, he's hoping that Michael's Song will catch on and be played at ballparks this year. The song is just beginning to receive radio airplay, and people are reacting to it positively. "It's a patriotic song, and if there's ever a time to be patriotic, this is it."

Michael's Song, Talkin' Baseball, and Terry Cashman's other current recordings can be ordered here - by clicking here or or by phoning 201-750-7198.