Centerfield - John Fogarty
Besides baseball’s folk tradition of songs (Take Me Out to the Ballgame, etc.), Centerfield is probably the best known baseball song. And there’s a reason for that: it’s catchy (no pun!) and fun and everything you want in a song about America’s past time. The song gets bonus points for it’s use in Bull Durham, my favorite baseball movie.

Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen
If Centerfield is full of hope and joy, Glory Days is its counterpoint. I imagine the wide-eyed player starting out in the first song found himself a bit jaded and nostalgic at the end of his career in this one.

Point of fact: despite the Boss’s infallibility, there is no pitch named the “Speedball.” Although, if Dice-K can invent the Gyroball, I suppose anything is possible.

Piazza, New York Catcher - Belle & Sebastian
This is definitely not a typical baseball song. The lyrics are more of a meditation on the problems of leading a public life. Mike Piazza, then catching for the New York Mets, is just a vehicle for this exploration. I love the line, “The statue’s crying too, and well he may.” “Well he may” sounds just like “Willie Mays,” the subject of a real statue outside the Giants ballpark.

Interesting fact: Cory Branan, whose typical wheelhouse is country/folk/rock, does an amazing live cover of this song.

Baseball - Ozma
A lot of folks call Ozma a Weezer copycat act. And while that may be true, it doesn’t make their songs any less catchy (still no pun!). That said, Baseball could be a Weezer song. The verses are sparsely accompanied (a la The Sweater Song) and build to crescendo later in the song. Still, it’s a good song dealing with the end of a relationship and the recognition of time passing. The line, “Every time I think I’m finished being young, I catch myself having fun” is particularly evocative.

Baseball here is a metaphor for life (heard that one before?), and the speaker and his former lover were the “best team in baseball” when they were together. It’s a solid effort from Weez… er… I mean Ozma.

Tessie - Dropkick Murphys
Here’s the story: in 1903, a bunch of hooligan Boston fans buoyed their team to an improbable victory in the first World Series by taunting the Pittsburgh Pirates with a song called Tessie (You Are the Only, Only, Only). Fast forward 100 years to 2004: the Dropkick Murphys, in an effort to break the Red Sox 86-year World Series drought, recorded Tessie, a song detailing those events. Somehow it worked, and this song has been a staple at Fenway Park ever since.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a die hard Red Sox fan, and the night they won the series in ‘04 was one of the best nights of my life. Let’s just say the room got a little dusty when that game was over. So this song has a special place in my heart.

1. The World’s Gone Mad - Handsome Boy Modeling School
Handsome Boy Modeling School is a collaboration between Dan the Automator and Prince Paul. This track is off their second album, White People, and it features Del The Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy, and Alex Kapranos (of Franz Ferdinand). It’s a really interesting mixture of genres: reggae, hip hop, rock.

2. I’m Going Slightly Mad - Queen
This was one of Queen’s last singles before Freddie Mercury passed away. According to Wikipedia, the song, though sounding jaunty and tongue-in-cheek, was written about spells of AIDS-induced dementia that Mercury was suffering from at the time. The video for this track is one of Queen’s best known.

3. Madman Across the Water - Elton John
Off his album of the same name, Madman Across the Water is one of Elton John’s heaviest rock tunes. From the off-kilter lyrics to the amazing instrumental break(down?) in the middle to Sir Elton’s creepy vocal, this track is among the best of his early work (which is the best of all his work).

4. Mad Tom of Bedlam - Jolie Holland
This track is one of those songs that I can listen to over and over again. When I hear this song with it’s haunting melody and it’s sparse instrumentation (just a drum kit!), I picture scenes from the 19th century. Jack the Ripper, maybe, stopping at the pub for a drink before he goes on his hunt. It’s a testament to the talent of Jolie Holland that she can rock a song like this with just her voice and a drum kit. One of my favorite songs of all time.

5. Our House - Madness
Know what isn’t one of my favorite songs? This one. But I couldn’t let a mix of songs about madness go without having a song by Madness. Seemed too apropos. That’s about all I have for this one. I’ll let the ’80s cheesiness speak for itself.