The Lineup Card

Our Closer Entrance Songs

by Baseball Prospectus

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1. Favorites from Colin's Playing Days
Here are a few of my favorites from back in the playing days that were pretty funny:

As Good as I Once Was by Toby Keith
After a nice 10-year minor-league career and pitching in his last season, Ryan Cameron of the Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre Phillies would come out of the bullpen to this song.

Bootylicious by Beyonce
Former Colorado Rockies prospect OF Dan Phillips used to come to the plate to “Bootylicious.” Not one to shy away from attention, Phillips provided some great theater in his at-bats, including some painted-on pants and flashy-pink, Mizuno Rickey Henderson-model batting gloves.

Sandstorm by Darude
Former Rockies outfielder Greg Catalanotte would come up to bat to the techno hit, “Sandstorm.” If you were in the crowd circa 2001 for a Salem Avalanche game, you could see the home bullpen and the visiting bullpen “dance off” to his plate appearances.

Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue
The song I entered the game from the bullpen to was “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue. The grinding of the guitars like a chainsaw at the beginning of the song set the tone for anger and attitude to close out a game…….. or get high on speed or skydive naked from an aeroplane. —Colin Young

2. La Grange by ZZ Top
It starts slow, as I make my way to the mound and kick at the dirt. By the time I'm throwing my warmups, zipping them in there at 102 with late movement, I like to imagine the entire stadium will join in for a rousing chorus of "Ahauw hauw hauw hauw"s. —Rian Watt

3. Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix
I'd go with the first 1:04 of this one as it is pure badass and lets everyone know you are coming out to blow their doors off. I always liked when Mariano Rivera came out to "Enter Sandman," as that is a favorite, but personally that one would get me a little too amped up. This is perfect for a nice stroll of controlled chaos out to the mound, and then it is nothing but heaters down everyone's throat a la Ricky Vaughn against Clu Heywood. —Chris Mellen

4. General Admission by Endless Boogie
I get down with the Wu and Biggie, but the ninth inning? That's time to overheat the tubes and crank up the danger, son. Think of some great entrances: Everyday Eddie's "Thunderstruck," Kevin Gregg's "TNT," Zach Britton's "For Those About To Rock," and of course, Hoffman's "Hell's Bells." Wait, those are all AC/DC songs. Okay, how about something that sounds like your needle found a mystery groove in High Voltage and out came a more-perilous, less-trite version of those standbys. Imagine Angus and Malcom Young were German, or Iggy and the Stooges were from Alabama, or ZZ Top wasn't a weak-ass composite of the worst things your local FM station has on repeat. Add a guitar to any of those. And now another, this one ripping off one fried solo after the next. By the time the patrons remember they're at a baseball game and not a rehearsal for the Air Guitar World Championships, they'll be in such a goddamned tizzy that the visitors won't be able to think, much less hit, and we'll all go chooglin' into the night. —Greg Wellemeyer

5. Da Rockwilder by Method Man and Redman
For the majority of my college career I entered from the bullpen to this song. It was the perfect blend of familiarity and comfort that allowed me to get into the song and avoid distractions or the gravity of the moment I was walking into, while also having the necessary elements to get the juices flowing before the first real pitch. If I still played, I would still use it, as dated as it may be. —Mark Anderson

6. Wish by Van Canto
RIDDLY DIDDLY RIDDLY DIDDLY RIDDLY DIDDLY —Craig Goldstein

7. Bring Da Ruckus by Wu-Tang Clan
The park is quietly waiting for the final inning to begin. They hear “Shaolin shadowboxing, and the Wu-Tang sword style….” playing softly through the speakers. They know what’s coming. The intro fades out, the beat starts, and Matt Collins emerges from the bullpen. He walks to the mound (running from the bullpen is for nerds) as RZA’s voice booms through the park. Teens cheer, parents cover their children’s ears. It’s a tradition unlike any other. Collins immediately gives up back-to-back solo home runs and blows the save. —Matt Collins

8. Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold
A pump-up intro with catchy lyrics is the preferred closer cocktail. —Brendan Gawlowski

9. Dias Irae e Tube Mirum by Giuseppe Verdi
Putting aside any personal connections I have to this music, just imagine striding in from the bullpen in the ninth inning, the stadium speakers shaking apart with bass and drum, full choir singing, "The day of wrath, that day/Will dissolve the world in ashes." Ain't much more wrathful than a properly angry closer.

Note: Proper music dork that I am, I did play this piece in high school. I did not hear it in any movies, recent or not. —Kate Morrison

10. Numbers on the Boards by Pusha T
Granted that the closer doesn't really want numbers on the boards:

It's only one God, and it's only one crown
So it's only one king that can stand on this mound —Jason Wojciechowski

11. Magick by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Just give me a guitar riff people can crank up, and a snarling sort of voice, and a little build. It's purely a fan-experience thing. Put them on their feet, get them ready to party. —Matthew Trueblood

12. A Song for the Dead by Queens of the Stone Age

I am a big fan of baseball, but I am an equally big fan of music, so I wind up thinking about potential intersections of the two quite a bit. And by quite a bit, I mean at least 25 percent of my waking minutes. If we were choosing entrance music for a batter, it would be Mastodon's March of the Fire Ants, starting about 15 seconds in. You didn't ask, but I answered.

But we're picking music for our hypothetical closer selves, which is a much more nuanced topic to explore. You want some pacing, maybe different tempos and moods, enough variation to keep people interested for the time you're warming up. So for this, I'll pick Queens of the Stone Age's A Song for the Dead.

I'd not take this entrance music business lightly. Before my appearances, the PA dude will start this the moment the last hitter is retired in the bottom of the eighth. I bide my time during the drum break, (Intro? Solo?) maybe get a pitch or two in, and then walk down to the bullpen door and wait. Once Dave Grohl's final fill finishes, I burst out and sprint to the mound, the song's breakneck pace propelling me and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. As the song's swaggering verse rolls along, I take my warmup pitches and get into a rhythm. I feel good. The hitters feel bad. I like this. The crowd buzzes, feeling The Power of Rock overtake them.

I them proceed to give up 10 runs and blow the game, because I haven't pitched since high school and probably can't crack 75 mph. —Ian Frazer

13. Hulk Hogan's Theme Song, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison, Ultimate Warrior Entrance Music, or Jump Around by House of Pain —Albert Skorupa

14. Dies Irae by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Lookout Landing asked this about walkup music, but I think it works far, far better as a closer intro song.

The lyrics (translated from the Latin):

Day of wrath and doom impending / David's word with Sybil's blending / Heaven and earth in ashes ending

Oh what fear men's bosom rend / When from heaven the Judge descend / On whose sentence all depend

It'll work even better when, after alerting the intellectuals on the other team that I intend to dissolve the world in ashes, I proceed to unleash my 85-mph Quisenberry submarine fastball. —Patrick Dubuque

15. The Last of the Famous International Playboys by Morrissey
“Monsters cannot be announced. One cannot say: 'Here are our monsters,' without immediately turning the monsters into pets.” -Jacques Derrida. —Stephen Reichert

16. Diamonds from Sierra Leone by Kanye West
I sold kilos of coke so I'm guessing I can sell CDs.

That's CD as in curmudgeonly dissenter Goldstein. —Ben Carsley

17. I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler
Because of this. —Mauricio Rubio

18. Pizza Cutter by Letters to Cleo
Because I did name myself after the song. —Russell A. Carleton

19. St Elmo's FIre (Man in Motion) by John Parr
It's this. And it's not even close. —Bret Sayre

20. Final Battle from Chrono Trigger —Matt Sussman

21. Hang You From The Heavens by The Dead Weather —Nick Shlain

22. The Outsiders by Eric Church —Daniel Rathman

23. Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue —George Bissell

24. Mairzy Doats by Leland Palmer —Mike Gianella

25. Yakety Sax —Harry Pavlidis

26. Assassins by Lightning Bolt —Tucker Blair