Larry Brown Sports

Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth has one of the most recognizable beards in sports. If he ever signed a contract with the New York Yankees and had to shave, the amount of people who are able to identify Werth would probably decrease by at least 75%. That’s why the at-bat music he has been using during the Nats’ opening series of the year against the Miami Marlins is priceless.

As you can see from the video above that The Nats Enquirer shared with us, Werth strolled to the plate with Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves in London” blaring in the background on Wednesday. Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog pointed out that the music even led to some howling among Nationals fans on Opening Day.

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Since Justin Bieber burst onto the scene a few years back, his music and memorabilia have become an important part of Major League Baseball culture. As you can see from the video above that Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post shared with us, Bryce Harper strolled up to the plate on Tuesday night with Bieber’s song “Boyfriend” playing as his at-bat music. Now, the question becomes did Harper lose a bet or is he back to being the 19-year-old tool bag that we have grown to hate.

Harper has actually started to win us over since being called up to the majors with hilarious moments like this one and others, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. Either he lost a bet and was squaring up as Steinberg speculated, or he was trying the Troy Tulowitzki approach which worked magically at the beginning of last season.

Photo credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

Rangers catcher Mike Napoli went 0-for-4 Tuesday in a win over the Orioles. Even though he’s always been a hitter with a low batting average, his struggles that night may be attributed to a change in his at-bat music.

SI Hot Clicks informed us that Napoli lost a bet to FOX Sports Southwest reporter Emily Jones over the NBA Finals. She picked the Mavs to beat the Heat and the payoff was choosing Napoli’s at-bat music for the game.

Want to know her songs of choice? Shania Twain’s I Feel Like A Woman, Culture Club’s Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy. We have some grainy YouTube footage of the at-bats but you can’t hear the music too well.

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Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is a big Justin Bieber fan, as we’ve written here before. He’s one of a handful of ballplayers who are also teenie-boppers, as he, Cameron Maybin, and Nick Johnson have all used Miley Cyrus for their at-bat music in the past. Which brings me to Tulowitzki during spring training.

Tulo let Rockies fans vote to choose his at-bat music for the season, and Katy Perry won over Ke$ha, Bieber, and Chris Brown. Tulo unfortunately started off the season 0-for-8 and opted for a change over to Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”

The results have been magical.

Since the switch, Tulowitzki’s gone 3-for-7 with two home runs, three runs scored, three RBIs, and and a walk, and the Rockies have won both their games. As Rockies writer Troy Renck said on twitter, no way Tulowitzki switches away from Bieber with the way things have turned. Justin Bieber, good luck charm.

When it comes to sports pranks, NFL rookie hazing is pretty good, but nothing beats baseball pranks. I saw this story at Deadspin last week and meant to post it up the past several days but forgot about it until I saw it on Hot Clicks Monday. Apparently Diamondbacks first baseman Adam LaRoche had been planning a revenge prank on second baseman Kelly Johnson for quite some time and he finally got him back. Check out this hilarious, must-see video and get ready to laugh:

Sources:
At-Bat Music Is Ripe For A Prank [Deadspin]
Diamondback Gets Duped [SI Hot Clicks]

A recent blog entry I came across from Steady Burn, via Yardbarker, contains some interesting information about baseball players’ walk-up and warm-up songs (songs playing when hitters stroll to the plate and pitchers warm up on the mound).  The issue of at-bat music came up earlier in the season when we revealed that Marlins youngster Cameron Maybin selected Miley Cyrus as his tune. Steady Burn’s post mostly has information about Red Sox players, and I must say several of the players have songs that are questionable at best.  One that I found particularly hilarious was the song Dice K gets loose to — “My Time” by Fabolous.  I wonder if he used to bump Fabolous in Japan when he was pitching for the Seibu Lions.

Anyhow, I can only pray that the song Derek Jeter walks to the plate listening to is the result of some sort of dare that he lost.  The Sox players’ songs are pretty bad, but I expect that from most of them.  But Derek Jeter?  Major League Baseball’s Tom Brady?  Major League Baseball’s Dwyane Wade?  Major League Baseball’s….sorry I’ll get back to you later with an NHL comparison.  Here’s the song that Derek Jeter walks up to the plate with at Yankee Stadium, courtesy of YouTube via Steady Burn.

Source:
Red Sox players have discerning musical tastes [Steady Burn]

The Florida Marlins opened up the season taking two of three from the Mets in Flushing. It wasn’t until Friday night that they debuted in front of their home crowd in Miami against the Dodgers. Florida took two of three in that series as well, taking advantage of some Dodgers bullpen mismanagement. That’s not the concern here however. What is of concern is a little matter of at-bat music — the song that plays throughout the stadium as a player approaches the batters box to hit. As my co-worker Marcas Grant pointed out to me, the Dodgers announcers were having a ball joking about Cameron Maybin’s at-bat song which happens to be Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” The Palm Beach Post actually had an inkling that the song would turn some heads before the season began.

Pitcher Chris Volstad told them, “[The song] goes against that grain a little bit but I think more people will like it than won’t like it. It’s one of those popular catchy songs people like. It’s hardly the motivating-type song but maybe it puts him a good mood.’’

Either Maybin’s going to have to change up his song or wear some headphones at all times because he screwed up pretty badly on Sunday. Not only did Maybin misplay a ball in center field leading to the Dodgers first two runs but he also got picked off first base by pitcher Charlie Haeger. If he keeps playing that way there won’t be much more Miley Cyrus around Sun Life Stadium and that would just be a shame for everyone. Just for kicks because we kind of have to at this point, here’s the hit song:

Sources:
Florida Marlins walk-up hit: Cameron Maybin ready to “Party in the USA” [The Palm Beach Post]