Omar Vizquel Sings!

Recently, I was given the opportunity to check out a new CD, produced by Scott Schorr, called "Oh Say Can You Sing?", which contains eleven songs performed by major league ball players. To be honest, I was pretty skeptical, and thought this would be baseball's version of Shaq or Allen Iverson's attempt to cross over into the music world; self-serving and embarrassing. But when I read about the project, and listened to the album, I realized that I was entirely wrong. Not only are these guys pretty good, but there's no ego involved at all! A portion of the proceeds even goes to each player's favorite charity (which goes a long way with me).

I was most impressed with the guys who not only sang, but also contributed to the music itself. Ben Broussard, Scott Linebrink, and Kelly Wunsch all played the guitar, Matt Ginter played the banjo, and Omar Vizquel played the drums! Vizquel sounded a little like Cheech Marin in his version of "Broadway" by the Goo Goo Dolls, but I really enjoyed it none-the-less.

In the DVD extras that come with the CD, there's some fun interviews with each of the players, including Ozzie Smith (who sings "Cupid" by Sam Cooke surprisingly well). I actually learned something about these guys, and found myself becoming a bigger fan of each and every one of them. For example, Sean Casey likes a little-known band called Third Day, one of my all-time favorites.

"Oh say can you sing" is certainly worth a listen, as much for the glimpse into these players lives as for the music.