Three Blind Mice and the Dodgers Sym-Phony
Slate has an article up about the history of ballpark organists playing “Three Blind Mice” in response to umpire calls (bad or perceived as such). The practice on both sides actually goes back to at least 1936, and I suppose that umpires have felt slighted since then. Personally, I find it a bit odd that umpires can, and do, eject organists for taking a pot shot. But that’s how it goes.
And the most interesting tidbit in the article:
The fan may have been a part of the Dodgers Sym-Phony, a ragtag band that kept up a running commentary on the on-field action with a rotating cast of horns and drums. “Three Blind Mice” was long part of the Sym-Phony’s repertoire, along with “The Hearse Song” (“The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out/ The worms play pinochle in your snout/ They eat your eyes, they eat your nose/ They eat the jelly between your toes”).
“The Brooklyn Sym-Phony used to be the worst for us—they would always play ‘The Three Blind Mice’ when we’d walk out on the field,” Beans Reardon said in a 1949 interview. “And that would eat up a feller like [umpire] Babe Pinelli. I said to the Babe, just ignore ’em, and he did and they stopped after awhile. Fans like you to growl back at ’ em.
What would a modern-day Sym-Phony look like?
- A 19 - 21 year-old playing dubstep on his MacBook Pro when Tim Lincecum pitches
- A jazz orchestra at every Red Sox game following Bobby with their rendition of “My Funny Bobby Valentine”
- A punk band called Anti-Skaggs
- A jam band that just, you know, improvises a bit, during rain delays at Mariners away games
- Jim Leyland sitting in the bullpen and listening to Lyle Lovett records because screw ‘em, that’s why
- A twelve year old girl with a powerfully angelic voice that Vin Scully brought on board, unbeknownst to Dodgers ownership
- Mike Clair, the proprietor of this blog, belting out Morrissey and The Smiths at every Pirates game for the rest of eternity
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Daily news, recaps, and ridiculous pictures from across the baseball world. Extra focus on stirrup socks, squeeze bunts, mustaches and old baseball cards. In other words, your exact interests.
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