Sam McDowell, a hopeless drunk
And except for one no hitter
Bo Belinsky mostly stunk
John Rocker was a dumb ass
Ty Cobb was filled with bile
Samy Sosa had his cork
Joe Niekro had his file
Yeah, it’s on file
But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball
Dick Allen had detractors
Matt Stairs, his ups and downs
Ron Leflore had Jackson State
St. Louis had the Browns
Durocher had his lip
And Bob Welch his grapey wine
Piniella had his temper
Mendoza had his line
Oh, and it’s a fine line
But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball
Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball
Scott Spiezio went psycho
Milton Bradley couldn’t take the stress
LaMarr Hoyt was a coke dealer
Poor Steve Howe was just a mess
And Barry Bonds had a swollen head
Cesar Cedeño may have killed
When Jose Canseco reached deck 5
I admit to being thrilled
Brooklyn called their own team The Bums
Mantle had his bum knees
The White Sox threw the Series
Lou Gehrig got his own disease
His own dang disease
And we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball
Now Mark Reynolds has his strikeouts
Delmon Young could be a boor
Ryan Braun’s confessing
And A-Rod, well he’s a, he thinks he’s a centaur
No need to idolize them
Or cut them too much slack
You take the bad times with the best
And keep on coming back
I’ll keep coming back
But someone loved them all
Someone loved them all
’Cause they played baseball
Yeah, we cheered for them all
We cheered for them all
’Cause they played baseball
--"They Played Baseball" words and music by Scott McCaughey, copyright 2014
To hear the catchy tune that accompanies these lyrics on The Baseball Project album, 3rd, click on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccqm2Bbj2Lc
