Ballpark organists: They're out

The fate of baseball organists is best symbolized by which of these ballpark anthems:

a) "Another One Bites the Dust"

b) "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"

c) "Hit the Road Jack"

d) all of the above

The answer is d. Earlier this year, the L.A. Angels of Anaheim became the latest team to sack its keyboard player in favor of prerecorded organ music and rock songs.

Peggy Duquesnel, an accomplished jazz musician who had tickled the ivories for the Angels since 1998, was dismissed before the season started.

Ballpark organists have "kinda gone the way of the dodo bird," says Nancy Faust, who has been playing keyboard for the Chicago White Sox since 1970 and doesn't expect to be replaced when she retires.

Duquesnel, whose organ repertoire includes about 1,000 songs from various genres, says prerecorded music lacks spontaneity: "Times change, but I still think live music is valuable. There's a feeling that comes through that you can't get mechanically."

Baseball purists have decried the trend toward recorded music as another example of the sport abandoning its roots. But by that logic, ballparks never should have allowed organs in the first place. Although fans might assume the instruments have been a fixture since baseball's beginnings, that isn't the case.

Ballpark entertainment has taken a number of twists over the decades, from tightrope walkers and exploding scoreboards to giant chickens and outfield geysers. In the 1800s, brass bands strolled through the stands, says Tim Wiles, director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Organ music didn't debut until 1941 at Chicago's Wrigley Field. And even then, it didn't immediately catch on -- nor has it been unanimously admired by fans over the years. During the 1970s, the Sporting News published letters complaining that organs "detract from the game" and should be "removed and put back in church where they belong," according to John Odell, co-curator of the Hall of Fame's forthcoming "Sacred Ground" exhibit on ballpark history.

Despite such protests, the organ has carved out a memorable niche in baseball lore. During the streaker craze of the 1970s, for example, a naked man sprinted across the field in Philadelphia, prompting the keyboardist to play Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?"