Baseball is the only sport that offers its players the opportunity to pick their own personal soundtrack. All players, pitchers and hitters, get to choose the song that plays over the stadium speakers as they walk to the mound or batter's box - every WWF fan's dream. Before each season, players search iTunes and YouTube for that perfect song, asking themselves: which song best fits me? Which song gets me goin'? Which song will bring the fans to their feet and have the players in the field thinking, "That's a pretty sweet walkout"? These are the thoughts a player runs through before finally deciding on a walkout. It could last all season, it could be changed weekly - it depends on the player - but no walkout is chosen without thorough consideration.
I'm always torn when deciding on a walkout. I do my best to think of a song that's original and has a unique sound: the impossible mission to discover a jam that's never been used before. I usually end up coming up with two or three good candidates, and figure I'll just use one for a month or so and then move on to the next one - or perhaps go the superstitious route and stick with whatever song has me hitting well. But then I think of the legends who have their whole career defined by one song - how cool is it that Mariano Rivera has pretty much monopolized "Enter Sandman," or the fact that no one can hear "Hell's Bells" without picturing Trevor Hoffman jogging out of the pen. It's that song-player recognition. I want that.
