Jun 10, 2004

Vital Organ: Kansas City Royals organist Sam Beckett

From The Pitch:

"Sam Beckett plays the organ at Kauffman Stadium. Nine innings a game. Eighty (or so) games a year. "Charge" and the Mexican hat dance and a little bit of Usher. When pitching coach John Cumberland is talking Brian Anderson down, maybe Beckett will play "With a Little Help From My Friends" with two-handed jazz chords. When first baseman Mike Sweeney hulks into the box, maybe a crazy nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-Batman! ... the nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhs are played live, as are those grace notes after a crisp double play and the percussive tap-tap-taptaptaps that make you clap without thinking, along with the thousands of people around you. Fact is, everything organ at the K is live, uncanned, improvised, not beamed in from some Clear Channel satellite."

Read the article...

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