Picture this: It’s Sunday, September 22, 2013, in a quaint New York home. The TV  has its usual fixings of entertainment for the day, but this lineup was special. The New York Yankees are playing the Tampa Bay Rays as the schedule says, but what it forgets to emphasize is the true importance of this match-up. Enter Sandman by Metallica begins to blare off the television and simultaneously, the player wearing number 42 walks onto the field. You quickly realize that today’s game is celebrating and honoring the career of one of the best to do it; Mariano Rivera. 

Fans immediately began cheering for Rivera even before he was able to be visibly seen on the field. Why? Because of his highly recognized walk-out song that is synonymous with his entry of a game. This scenario would have been completely different for you, had you not heard the famous walk-out song, and with that said it led me to address even further the other notorious walk-out songs that our generation of players had to offer. And for the record, it was intentional that Rivera’s entry was separate from this list because of how iconic it is, putting it in a league of its own. So look no further and enjoy learning about the league’s best, funniest, weirdest, iconic walk-out songs of the 21st century. 

There aren’t enough walk-up songs that rely on name puns these days, but Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant’s use of Kris Kross’s “Warm It Up”, San Diego Padres Xavier Nady’s “X Gon Give It to Ya” by DMX and the Boston Red Sox David Ortiz’s  “Big Poppa” by Notorious B.I.G. deserves a mention. Bryant’s wordplay is when the lyrics go “Warm it up, Kris (I’m about to), warm it up, Kris (‘Cause that’s what I was born to do)”? Ortiz’s and Nady’s are geniuses; they approach the plate with the lyrics that echo over and over the title of their respective song, asserting their dominance that much more.

Another perfect fit is for the San Francisco Giants relief pitcher named Derek Law, as his walk-out song is “I Fought the Law” by the Clash.  The reliever sadly didn’t put up much of a fight against his opponents as he struggled during the year of this walk-out song. I guess batters whispered to themselves “I fought the law and I won.”

A fan favorite name and title combo for walk-out songs were specifically seen with Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith as his choice for a walk-out song is the “Yo Home to Bel-Air” by Will Smith. Although it doesn’t necessarily say his name in the song, it still holds a sense of comedic relief as the more famous Will Smith from the show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is singing the theme song.

Another way walk-out songs make their mark is the way they appeal to the audience. When I say this, of course, I am addressing how the crowd engages with the song and the player when their song is heard. The song has either got to be weird or involve some dance number they can groove along to. Sure the audience can engage in a frequent wave that goes around the park or the seventh-inning stretch, but nothing is more palatable than what these songs do for a hometown crowd. 

It is important you know that MLB players have a soft spot for Disney. New York Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes walks his way to the plate with The Lion King’s “Circle of Life” and Zach Walters of the Dodgers walks out to “Do you Wanna Build a Snowman”, one of the first songs in the animated musical Frozen. I wish I could tell you there was sentiment behind this, but to be honest I respect them even more for just randomly picking these unconventional songs.

In terms of engagement with the crowd, the first one worth addressing is Washington Nationals’ Gerardo Parra with his walk-out song as “Baby Shark” by Hope Segoine. Taking inspiration from his young daughter, he riles up the crowd’s fans of all ages as they sync together the dance that goes along with each lyric. 

The crowd is able to have a good time when listening to the walkout song of Josh Reddick on the Oakland Athletics, famously known for having his as “Careless Whisper” by George Michael. It isn’t quite the childlike appeal that Parra maintains as we are now replacing our little hand shark puppets with a bunch of slow-dancing adults in the stands. Some super fans even took it a step further to bring their own prop- saxophones to the game to play along with it. 

Walk-out songs are appreciated most by the fans when there’s an emotional connection to the song and the player. The Mets’ Todd Frazier’s walk-out to “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra holds sentimental value as he grew up in New Jersey listening to Sinatra with his grandparents. It makes sense that the slugger would have this as his song when honoring this relation as well as the inevitable truth that the ball is soon to be flown to the moon. Another example of this is now retired Francisco Cervelli’s “That’s Amore” walk-out song by Dean Martin to commend his Italian heritage.

So there you have it, some of the most notorious walk-out songs of the 21st century. Note, most of these songs are outdated and the players have either refrained from the songs as their current choice or have retired from the league. Although the songs or players are gone, this list certainly maintains that they will never be forgotten.