Suggested soundtrack: “Wilson,” Amsterdam ‘97 box set
Never before have the worlds of baseball and Phish experienced the heady intersection that occurred on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 when Washington Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle dropped this tweet.
The Phish world lit up when Doolittle posted this tweet, the story making the rounds on all the usual places including Jambase, Relix, and Reddit, where users had previously spotted occurrences like Doolittle wearing a Phish shirt in the documentary about the 2019 World Series.
Now, there’s a lot to unpack here.
First of all, Doolittle and wife Eireann Dolan (who’s a highly recommended follow on Twitter) are legit amazing people. In 2015, when Doolittle was with the Oakland A’s, he and Dolan bought up tickets for the A’s Pride Night to donate to area LGBTQ youth while Dolan simultaneously raised over $38,000 for Bay Area LGBTQ organizations.
(If you’re looking for a good cause to donate to, consider SMYAL, a DC-based organization supporting LGBTQ teens where Dolan is a board member.)
The pair’s support for LGBTQ causes have continued with their move to DC. And their good work extends even further, from their support of Syrian refugees to the military community, especially the cause of veterans’ health care.
Again, they’re amazing. Just look at this.
Yes, that’s Doolittle replying with a Phish reference.
Dolan/Doolittle 2020.
(Even if Dolan has the same pointed criticism of Phish as my wife.)
So a two-time All-Star and World Series-winning pitcher who has worked hard with his partner to bring good in to this world is a Phish fan? You can see why we’re ecstatic to have him as part of the family.
Now. Back to the glove. What makes Doolittle’s Phish shout-out on his new Wilson glove isn’t just the simple fact he references Phish. It’s the references he makes.
If you’re a Phan, you know the following already. If you’re not, well, *pushes glasses up nose*…
While Wilson is a very popular and successful sporting goods brand, it also happens to be the name of the villain in Trey Anastasio’s Gamehendge saga, the same one that featured the Lizards I went on about in Edition 1 of this newsletter. As with that edition, I’m not really going to delve much into explaining Gamehendge because to do so in any concise way is impossible. If you’re unfamiliar, all you really need to knows is that Wilson is the bad guy and is mentioned in several songs throughout the saga.
How bad is Wilson? Well, as the Phish.net explainer puts it, “Wilson is an embodiment of many things, including but not limited to abuse of power, greed, selfishness, corruption, and even fascist domination.”
Which leads us to the villain’s titular song featured in the Gamehendge saga, a version of which is included way up above at the beginning of this edition. The song includes the line, “Wilson, Duke of Lizards,” which explains the first of the two lyrics on Doolittle’s glove.
The second phrase, “Punch you in the eye,” is both a line from and title of another popular Phish song. This song isn’t part of the Gamehendge cycle but references Wilson and events from the saga, most notably, "Oh Wilson, someday I'll kill you 'til you die / Oh Wilson, Punch you in the Eye.”
(Look, if you’re confused, I get it. But this is also pretty straight-forward given some aspects of Phish lore.)
Okay, so now that we’re caught up on the references of Doolittle’s glove, it’s worth taking this one step further and pointing out how the song “Wilson” has been one way in which Phish has bled over into the sports world.
If you listen to the above version of Wilson (or most any version since, say, 1994), you’ll hear the crowd chant “Wiiiiiiiiilsoooooon” in response to Mike’s opening bass notes. This chant was, as Phish.net notes, a part the band performed in early versions. When the band eventually abandoned the chant, fans picked it up and a tradition was born. This, itself, is one of the great things about Phish: the interaction between band and fans and the lore and traditions that carry on through the band’s history.
(Well, except the wooing. I’m not sure where I fall on wooing yet, Tahoe Tweezer or not.)
This leads us to 2013. As I remembered it (and my memory has proven to be faulty on a regular basis) there were two Trey performances in the Seattle area that year — a solo show in Seattle and a Phish show at The Gorge — in which Trey implored Seattle Seahawks fans to pick up that “Wiiiiiiiiilsoooooon” chant for star Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. For that Gorge performance, Trey was even wearing a Wilson t-shirt.
Well, they did it. And the whole thing has worked so well that NFL Films even did a fun 15-minute piece on the Seahawks version of the chance, complete with a chat with Trey (who is a *shudder* Jets fan) on the whole thing. Fun!
This connection even got a shout-out from NBC’s Mike Tirico during a game in the 2019 season (which isn’t his first time referencing “Wilson,” either).
Phish and the NFL have something of a fun, cozy relationship thanks to a producer at Fox Sports being a big fan and occasionally playing the band when Fox broadcasts go to commercial, including TWICE during Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV broadcast.
Hell, Phish even appeared in the pre-game hype video for Super Bowl LI which was the game in which the Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots, a feat that warms my cold, dead New Orleans Saints fan heart.
You want to bring things full circle? The offensive coordinator for that infamous Atlanta Falcons team was Kyle Shanahan. The head coach for the San Francisco 49ers who lost Super Bowl XLIV a few nights again? The same Kyle Shanahan. It’s like he has his own Phish curse!
ANYWAY.
This is where I finally bring things full circle to Doolittle and baseball.
The “Wilson” chant has actually managed to find its way over to MLB. At least two players have had the opening to “Wilson” used as their walk-up music at some point - the Mets’ Wilson Ramos and my beloved Cubs’ Willson Contreras (yes, with two “L’s” in the first name). In fact, “Wilson” is listed as one of two songs for Ramos’ walk-up music.
Here’s a video of Contreras getting the “Wilson” treatment during a walk-up at Wrigley in 2019.
(Whether or not these players want that music played for their walk-up, I don’t know.)
I spent a few hours digging for more baseball players who have entered games to Phish and came up with a few references but little evidence. Reliever Koji Uehara allegedly occasionally came out to Tweezer Reprise and former pitcher Matt Morris was an admitted Phish fan who one Phish.net poster claimed came out to Weekapaug Groove but I couldn’t find any evidence or clips.
And now let’s turn the corner to home, if you’ll forgive the pun, to Doolittle. Currently, his entrance music is listed as Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls.” Which is a very metal, very good choice.
But what if… what if he picked a Phish song?
Every Phish fan would have their own suggestions and they would span the entire length of the band’s song list. But I’m thinking of songs that can accomplish three sings: 1) get the player pumped, 2) get the crowd pump, and 3) has a recognizable opening riff or notes so it becomes immediately recognizable to the crowd.
And I think I have three options.
Tweeprise (aka “Tweezer Reprise”) -
Look, if it’s good enough for the Super Bowl pregame, it’s got to be good enough for MLB, right? Plus that opening Trey riff would certainly become recognizable while it has the feel of a song that could get the crowd hyped when pumping from a stadium’s sound system
Carini
This is as heavy as you’re gonna get from Phish in an opening riff, with the exception of maybe two or three other songs. It’s kind of a loud, dissonant cousin of “Wilson” but I’m not sure if it’s gonna be enough to hook the crowd. Especially with the nonsensical lyrics, so maybe just an instrumental?
Axilla
Truth be told, I would put this even with Tweeprise in terms of getting us PUMPED, catching the attention of the crowd, and just being, in general, awesome. It’s about as “heavy” as Phish gets (not to be confused with “heady”).
I’d say either Tweeprise or Axilla. But that’s me, typing at a keyboard and not coming in to pitch in a tense situation in the final innings of a one-run game with a playoff spot on the line.
As it is, just having Doolittle on a Major League field with a Phish-emblazoned glove is a wonderful development heading in to the 2020 season and serves to remind the world: We are everywhere.
Even on the mound.
All typos and mistakes in this newsletter are purely intentional