In 1981 Stan wrote Baseball (America’s National Pastime) a joyful, innocent tune, stamped in vinyl. The song was to be on the “A” side of a 45-rpm record and was produced by Terry Cashman and was sung by a group called The Mudville 9.

Stan had high hopes for his song but another song was needed for the “B” side. So Cashman came up with something, another baseball song for the B-side. That song was inspired by an Old-Timer’s Day photo taken at Shea Stadium in 1977 that featured Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider and Joe DiMaggio.

That song was called *Willie, Mickey and the Duke (Talkin’ Baseball).

In a simple twist of fate, Cashman’s B-side song quickly became an anthem for the game, especially in New York and in ballparks all around the country, and was a wild hit, while Stan’s song was lost to history.

But now is the perfect time to bring this happy, fun song out of mothballs because baseball is once again going through a most difficult time in this Coronavirus Era. Our spirits can be lifted by those uplifting voices in his wonderful song: Baseball (America’s National Pastime) including the voice of his son Ari, who was 11 years old at the time.

This very brief summary was adapted from a great article by Kevin Kernin, highly recommended if you’d like to read the entire backstory, plus a lot more about Stan the songw,riter.

And now, click below to enjoy “Baseball (America’s National Pastime)”…