[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the best record in the American League and the AL’s win in this year’s All Star Game, the Boston Red Sox will enjoy home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That means the Olde Town Team will have quite a few chances to show off their personalized at-bat and warm-up music at Fenway Park this October.
But since the Sox don’t start their playoff run until Friday, we killed some time this morning digging up the team’s Ballpark Music, as identified by MLB.com. The league pulls the song selections from each team’s in-house reports, and showcases them at Major League Baseball’s homepage with artwork and purchase links. Many at Fenway might just chalk up the at-bat music of David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia to simply “hip-hop,” but a closer look at the actual tracks reveal some pretty hilarious selections — and maybe some subliminal messages?
There are some obvious choices — Mike Napoli’s “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk; Mike Carp’s “Badfish” by Sublime; and Ryan Dempster warming up to Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” — but others are surprising, given the lyrical content. Shockingly, only one player, Jonny Gomes, went with the Dropkick Murphys (firing up “The Boys Are Back” each time he steps into the batter’s box).
Here are a few of our personal faves. For the entire roster, and a whole lotta country, click here.
1. David Ortiz: “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit,” by Jay Z featuring Rick Ross
Not surprising Papi rolls with Jay Z, but pretty funny he goes with “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit” while hitting bombs into the Fewnway bleachers. The opening lyrics — “Little over a year ago I was in bondage/And now I’m back out here reaping the blessings” — could be poignant commentary on Ortiz’s stints on the Disabled List.
2. Dustin Pedroia: “No Vaseline,” by Ice Cube
Really? Pedey’s at-bat music is this raw Ice Cube diss track against the rapper’s former N.W.A. crew, pulled from 1991’s Death Certificate? We’re told that all the “mothafuckers” are edited out and the song drops before Cube goes on about “Living with the Whites, one big house/And not another ni**a in sight.” But we can’t get past the overall message of “No Vaseline,” which is, of course: “Cause you’re getting fucked out your green/By a White boy/With no Vaseline.” Quite a slippery slope for a professional athlete, ya know?
[Side Note: This is only one of two songs, with Clay Buchholz’s “Lunatic Fringe” by Tom Cochrane’s Red Rider, that MLB.com does not allow you to buy directly off iTunes. Out of 32 total. LOL.]
EDIT 12:06am EST: Some fans have emailed in to say they’ve heard Pedroia come to to the plate to Easy E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin’ Gs.” We had the Cube track verified by MLB and the Fenway Park DJ, so we’ll note the possibility that both have filled the Fenway air this summer and just acknowledge Pedroia’s love of gangsta rap.
3. Jacoby Ellsbury: “Ni**as In Paris,” by Jay Z & Kanye West
Let’s just hope it’s not “Ni**as in Chicago” or “Ni**as in Texas” by the time Christmas rolls around.
4. Matt Thornton: “Livin’ In Sin,” by Godsmack
Props to the left-handed reliever for going local with Lawrence’s favorite metal sons. But why “Livin’ In Sin”? Is Thornton sharing an apartment with a girlfriend? Does his wife Emily know about this? [Disclaimer: We’re just joking on the song title; we’re sure there’s no infidelity going on with this Red Sox team. This isn’t 2004.] Lefties are pretty odd people (I’m one of them) and relief-pitchers are even weirder, so we’re kinda surprised he didn’t go with “Voodoo” here. That would have been pretty cool.
[Side Note II: Remember Bon Jovi’s 1988 ballad of the same name? Now that was a music video.
5. Xander Bogaerts: “Beautiful,” by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell
Awww, they’re so cute when they’re rookies. Love that “big fat booty,” X-man.