Aaron Judge, I Have Your New Walk-up Song
Yesterday my 8-year-old son Eric sent me an article that his favorite player, New York Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, is looking for a new walk-up song. For those who are not baseball fans, the walk-up song is the music that plays when a hitter walks up to the plate to bat. Players use it to pump themselves up and get the crowd excited. Some might use it to tell the fans more about themselves. I have noticed that my kids pay a lot of attention to these songs, even my 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth, who isn’t the baseball fanatic that my son is.
Unfortunately, 99% of these walk-up songs are garbage rap music. Many contain profanity, sometimes in the clip played in the stadium. I am pleasantly surprised when a player picks an 80’s rock song. Even the Cleveland Indians’ Oscar Gonzalez choice of the ridiculous Spongebob Squarepants theme song is better than the standard rap songs.
Over the past year, Aaron Judge became my son’s favorite player. Even though I grew up rooting against the Yankees, it is hard not to like Judge. He plays the game as you should play it. In an age where players arrogantly flip their bats and stand at home plate to watch their home runs, Judge instead looks up and points to heaven before jogging around the bases. He is one of the first players to greet a teammate with a fun, genuine smile when they return to the dugout after hitting a home run. My son charmed me into buying the MLB season package, and we watched the Yankees and Judge whenever we had a chance. The more I saw of Judge, the more I liked him.
I dug deeper, wanting to learn more about my son’s new hero. I read that Judge’s Christian faith was important to him, which aligned with everything I saw. I noticed his parents in the crowd and that “they didn’t look like him” (Judge’s words as he was growing up). The reason for that was because they adopted him – an incredible story.
So I was surprised when I heard his walk-up song – a rap called “Hello” by Pop Smoke. I had never heard the song before, I had no idea who or what Pop Smoke was. I started listening closer to the lyrics as Judge marched up to the plate during games. Was that the “b” word and the “a” word I was hearing? I figured my kids might not notice. But, sure enough, my son had looked it up on Spotify and had it blasting in our mini-van before I knew it. A slew of giggles followed from the back of our van.
The kids listening to this song was not the biggest problem in the world. And we will continue to cheer for Aaron Judge, the same as before. But it didn’t match up with what I knew about him. I told the kids that I wasn’t sure why Judge picked that song but that we wouldn’t listen to it. Not only because of the profanity but because it wasn’t good. You can’t even call it music. Unfortunately, this type of nonsensical noise is par for the course regarding walk-up songs.
Then last fall, I was talking to my mom, and she asked me if I had ever heard a song called “Keep Me in the Moment” by Jeremy Camp. She discovered it when my niece (Mom’s granddaughter) started using it for her walk-up song on her college softball team. I loved the song title, thinking it was appropriate for mentally focusing yourself as you came to bat.
The next time we were in the van, my son remembered Mom talking about it and played my niece’s song. As I heard the words, tears started streaming down my face. Since then, I have played it a lot while driving, especially when I am alone in the car during my short commute to and from work. And that has led to the song playing in my head more and more during my day, reminding me what really matters.
Dear Aaron Judge, you already made one terrific decision this off-season when you decided to stay with the Yankees. What about making another one and changing your walk-up song to “Keep Me in the Moment?” It is hard to argue with the record-breaking 62 homers you had last year with the crappy rap song. But what about using your fame to promote the real King to millions of fans instead of gibberish music that talks about being the “king of New York?”
We will be watching (and rooting for) you.
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