Get Pumped for Baseball

Cincinnati is rightly proud of its heritage as a baseball town and as a music city. Every so often, those worlds meet in the most magical ways.

One of the purest sounds of summer is the bamp-bamp-bamp of the organ at a baseball game. In a game that prides itself on tradition, ballpark organ music only goes back to 1941, when the Chicago Cubs organist first played at Wrigley Field. Other teams, including the Reds, picked up on the trend, with organ music becoming as much a part of the game as peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Since 2010 John Schutte has served as the organist at GABP, where he plays everything from the traditional cheer of “Chaaaarge” to Punk Rock Girl to the delight of Reds fans.

Annette Januzzi Wick is one of those fans. She is also a board member of the Friends of Music Hall (FMH), referring to that esteemed building as her #iconcrush in social media posts. Combining her twin devotions, she wondered if Music Hall’s 1927 Mighty Wurlitzer could somehow be featured at Great American Ball Park.

She presented the idea to Mindy Rosen, FMH executive director, who knew just what to do. She connected Annette and Holly Brians Ragusa, who leads the Wurlitzer programming for the board, to the Cincinnati Reds marketing department. Excited about this proposal, the Reds went to work and created a video, based on a recording by Mark Herman, in time for the opening of the 2021 MLB season. 

“Thanks to my former position at Downtown Cincinnati Inc. where I was fortunate enough to work with the marketing staff at the Cincinnati Reds, I knew they would be receptive to our idea to share the Mighty Wurlitzer with a wider audience,” says Rosen. “And what better audience than the crowds at Reds games?”

On days Schutte isn’t playing at GABP, baseball fans will experience the Mighty Wurlitzer playing during the seventh-inning stretch.

“I love it when my passions for both the arts and sports collide,” says Januzzi Wick. “Watching the Reds game and hearing Mark Herman play the fan favorite Take Me Out to the Ballgame on the  Mighty Wurlitzer organ encapsulates a one-of-kind Cincinnati experience.”

“The Reds are truly community partners and immediately said yes to airing our video,” says Rosen. “It has been a wonderful ‘team’ effort to work with the Cincinnati Reds.”

If you are watching the game on TV or listening to the Reds on radio, you can enjoy your own seventh-inning celebration at home with the video.

–Tricia Suit