In 1970, just before she was hired as the organist for the Chicago White Sox, Nancy Faust received a letter from a team official.
“I would suggest that perhaps, in your own mind, you start thinking of music that would be suitable for the park,” the letter stated, according to Faust, who read it word for word during a recent phone interview. “Little comic gimmicks that involve umpires, players, fans, etc., are always welcome.”
It ended, Faust said, “Enclosed is a roster showing the states where most of our boys live.”
So began Faust’s tradition of playing each player’s state song when he walked to the plate to bat — and, apparently, so began the long, surprisingly intricate history of walk-up music.