Gene Honda Civic Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Ever since flame-thrower Ricky Vaughn emerged from the Cleveland Indians' bullpen to the strains of Wild Thing in the 1989 movie Major League, baseball's top relievers have been identified as much with their theme songs as with their on-field success. Here's the playlist for baseball's closers, a kind of bullpen Top 30: NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM CLOSER SONG; ARTIST Diamondbacks Matt Mantei Ice, Ice Baby; (Vanilla Ice) or Cold as Ice (Foreigner) Jose Valverde Big Poppa; Notorious B.I.G. Braves John Smoltz Thunderstruck; AC-DC Rockies Shawn Chacon Public Service Announcement; Jay-Z Marlins Armando Benitez Ruff Ryders Anthem; DMX Big Poppa; Notorious B.I.G. Astros Octavio Dotel Yeah!; Usher Dodgers Eric Gagne Welcome to the Jungle; Guns N' Roses Brewers Dan Kolb I Stand Alone; Godsmack Expos Rocky Biddle I Want to Rock; Twisted Sister Mets Braden Looper Hell's Bells; AC-DC Phillies Billy Wagner Enter Sandman; Metallica Padres Trevor Hoffman Hell's Bells; AC-DC Giants Matt Herges Tom Sawyer; Rush Robb Nen Smoke on the Water; Deep Purple Cardinals Jason Isringhausen Phenomenon; Limp Bizkit Steve Kline Shut 'em Down; DMX Note: Joe Borowski of the Chicago Cubs, Danny Graves of the Cincinnati Reds and Jose Mesa of the Pittsburgh Pirates have no particular song. AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM CLOSER SONG; ARTIST Angels Troy Percival Stay Away; Godsmack Orioles Jorge Julio E bueno, malo y el feo; Vico C. and Tego Calderon White Sox Billy Koch Fuel; Metallica Twins Joe Nathan Rock Star; Everclear Yankees Mariano Rivera Enter Sandman; Metallica Mariners Eddie Guardado Hell's Bells; AC-DC S. Hasegawa Hey Ya!; OutKast Mike Myers Theme from Halloween or Austin Powers Rangers Francisco Cordero Salsa con coco; Coco Band Blue Jays Terry Adams Thunderstruck; AC-DC Note: Keith Foulke of the Boston Red Sox, Rafael Betancourt of the Cleveland Indians, Ugueth Urbina of the Detroit Tigers, Arthur Rhodes of the Oakland Athletics and Danys Baez of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have no particular song; Kansas City Royals does not have a defined closer. ------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Honda Civic Posted May 18, 2004 Author Share Posted May 18, 2004 From BenMaller.com The morning after the Red Sox arrived at the Toronto airport for their flight to Tampa with two rookies -- Lenny DiNardo and Kevin Youkilis -- dressed like Hooters girls as part of a hazing ritual, US Customs officers were still getting a chuckle out of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flippedoutpunk Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 White Sox - Billy Koch: Do you really want to hurt me; Culture Club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aboz56 Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Percy coming out to Stay Away by Godsmack out in Anaheim has gotta be badass to witness in person...Great song and I like Percy's style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Nothing is sicker then Gagne coming out of the pen right now in LA. The fans absolutely go nuts and shockingly most stay till the end of the game now just to see him. However, I've never heard anything quite like Trevor Hoffman coming in to close out the NLCS back in 98 or 99 or whenever it was they went to the series. Him and Hells Bells is definately tops of any song and now it appears a lot of people use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnB Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Agreed, Hells Bells is the defining song, it's so eerie..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OfficerKarkovice Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Percy coming out to Stay Away by Godsmack out in Anaheim has gotta be badass to witness in person...Great song and I like Percy's style. He used to come out to Hells Bells...and it was insane. I have only been out to Anaheim for one game but right before the 9th, in between innings right before he came out that first bell rang super loud. The entire stadium just went silent. It played the next few bells and the music started with everyone just staring out at the bullpen door. All of a sudden the door flew open and Percival came sprinting out. It was surreal...like nothing I have ever seen before. It was awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Hoffman will always have the definitive closer look and song. Well said. It's funny that Borowski doesn't have a song because he isn't really a closer anyway. He's just a bum. When Hawkins starts closing...that's another story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHarris1 Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 He used to come out to Hells Bells...and it was insane. I have only been out to Anaheim for one game but right before the 9th, in between innings right before he came out that first bell rang super loud. The entire stadium just went silent. It played the next few bells and the music started with everyone just staring out at the bullpen door. All of a sudden the door flew open and Percival came sprinting out. It was surreal...like nothing I have ever seen before. It was awesome. That would be so awesome to have a dominating closer who came out to an awesome song and made the crowd go nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flippedoutpunk Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 That would be so awesome to have a dominating closer who came out to an awesome song and made the crowd go nuts. I had that dream once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 One of the most surreal moments I have experienced in baseball was the first time I saw Mariano Rivera come in for the Yankees. The stadium was full of chatter at the end of the 8th inning, followed by silent anticipation as the bullpen door opened in left center...then a silent pause...then the first chord of Enter Sandman blared over the loudspeakers, and the whole stadium erupted...50,000 people standing and going nuts to Enter Sandman, it was a neat experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxin' Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 From BenMaller.com Haha, the Red Sox stole that one. Dontrelle Willis had to do that last year for his hazing. It was in ESPN the Magazine this past issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 My friend loves Billy Wagner's song when he goes in (hell his s/n is sandman LoL) I love Koch's song (esp. back then when he was good and I like Metallica) Isringhausens and Benitez' are good too. Hoffman's song always was good for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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