Tag Archives: mel allen

Warm Thoughts for a Cold Winter

Warm Thoughts for a Cold Winter: Mel Allen for Atari + “Gathering Crowds”

Mel Allen, longtime Yankees broadcaster and the voice of This Week in Baseball, did many a commercial in his day. Enjoy this one from the early 80s, in which Mr. How ‘Bout That shills for an Atari baseball game with an unhealthy amount of reverb on his voice. Realistic graphics!

Speaking of This Week in Baseball, I have several episodes of it from the late 80s and early 90s in The Vast and Dusty Scratchbomb VHS Archives. I would love to digitize and share them with all of you, really I would. But as I’ve said many times, MLBAM would come down on me like a ton of bricks for doing so.

As a meager substitute, please accept “Gathering Crowds”, the TWIB end credits theme song used for, oh, about 900 years. This song actually makes me mist up a little bit. DON’T JUDGE.

Also, don’t ask me to explain the assemblage of still images in this “video”. I am not responsible for its visual content, but I am grateful for the audio.

Olde Holy Goddamn, Podcast

Holy Goddamn! 005: Spring Is Here, I Hear

lasorda2.jpgHoly Goddamn! celebrates the impending baseball season! I hoped to have Sean from Massapequa in studio to discuss his trip to spring training, but he bailed for various reasons that will be discussed in his online interview later today.

Fear not! There is plenty of audio goodness in this here episode! Listen as Skip “Wheels” Slater discusses guts, John Sterling honors great moments in Yankee history, and Gary Cohen and Bob Murphy call the best friggin game ever. And also, hot music. And also, karate.

An audio quality note for those who care: the last few episodes were output at lower bit- and sample rates to reduce file size, but in my humble opinion, that resulted in them sounding like they were recorded in a shark tank. So this week, I’ve upped the quality back to previous levels. The file size is bigger, of course, but I think you will appreciate the difference. And if you don’t appreciate it, do your own podcast. Jerk.

Holy Goddamn! 005 Setlist:

Monorchid, “X Marks the Spot: Something Dull Happened Here”, Who Put Out the Fire?
Ricky and the Impressionables, “Baco Walk”, Black Cherries (v/a, 2008 WFMU/Cherry Blossom Clinic Premium)
Mel Allen says play ball!
Brian Wilson, “Trying to Say to You/Baseball”
Carla Thomas, “The Next Ball Game”, Saturday Night Fish Fry (v/a)
Skip “Wheels” Slater and the importance of guts
Buzzcocks, “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”, Singles Going Steady
“Outside, ball four, the game is tied!”
Ted Leo, “Army Bound”, Living for the Living
Elvis Costello, “King Horse”, Get Happy!
Bill Murray, “It just doesn’t matter!”
Mountain Goats, “Cubs in Five”, Nine Black Poppies
John Sterling presents Great Days in Yankee History
“And if he ever completes his trip around the bases…”
Bill Evans, “Spring Is Here”, Bill Evans at Town Hall Volume 1
Harry Caray, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”