I walked over to the Knoxville Visitors Center during lunch today to hear folk writer and singer Chuck Brodsky perform on WDVX-FM's Blue Plate Special.A Philadelphia native, Brodsky spent his childhood rooting for the Phillies. His love for the team continued in adulthood, and he penned his first baseball song, "Lefty," for a 1995 album.
In 2002, Brodsky released an entire CD of cleverly-penned baseball songs titled "The Baseball Ballads." I bought a copy a couple of years ago when I first saw Brodsky perform on the Blue Plate Special.
I've got two favorites from the CD.
"Gone to Heaven" is a song about the life of baseball clown performer Max Patkin. (You'll remember Patkin from the movie "Bull Durham.") This song was meaningful to me because I had the pleasure of meeting and seeing Patkin perform at Greer Stadium in Nashville and at the former Tim McCarver Stadium in Memphis in the early '90s.
The other song is "Letters in the Dirt," which addresses the verbal abuse Phillies slugger Richie Allen endured from Philadelphia fans when Brodsky attended games as a child.
Tim Wiles, director of research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, has called Brodsky "baseball's troubadour poet laureate.
"Chuck combines his gift for lyrics and melody with his love for baseball history and culture, and in the process creates a new chapter in the folklore of our national pastime," Wiles said.
Photo by Darrin M. Devault (taken on Oct. 18, 2010)
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