Baseball Leadoff Songs

Nothing beats a day at the ballpark watching your favorite major or minor baseball team preparing to take the field. As you settle into your seats, you find yourself humming the tune playing on the loud speaker. Each baseball team and several of its players has its own selection of baseball leadoff songs to engage fans and signal the start of the game or inning.

  1. "Centerfield"

    • Baseball Almanac considers "Centerfield" by John C. Fogerty, which debuted in 1985, one of the top baseball leadoff songs for the sport. In fact, the Baseball Hall of Fame honored the song at an induction ceremony in July 2010. Fogerty performed the song live at the ceremony using a guitar shaped like a baseball bat that is now displayed in the Hall along with his tribute. The song's light-hearted, uplifting lyrics make anyone who has ever played baseball as a youth reminisce about the days spent on the baseball field.

    "Glory Days"

    • "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen is a popular baseball leadoff song played to rally the home team as they prepare for their turn at bat. It's used by both major and minor league teams. The song makes a reference to a baseball player in its opening verse and uses him to recall a story about life's good old days through a conversation that takes place years later.

    "Who Let the Dogs Out"

    • One of the popular baseball leadoff songs of the New York Mets and the Seattle Mariners is "Who Let the Dogs Out" by the Baha Men. Each team regularly played it at home games in 2000 when the song first came out. The Baha Men played the song live at Safeco Field (i.e., the Mariner's stadium) in 2000. However, the group modified the song's lyrics later that year to "Who Let the Mets Out" that included the names of the Mets' team roster. The song played during post-season games in Shea Stadium.