Terry Cashman (born Dennis Minogue, July 5, 1941)
is an American record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
, "
Talkin' Baseball "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey & The Duke)" is a 1981 song written and performed by Terry Cashman. The song describes the history of American major league baseball from the 1950s to the beginning of the 1980s. The song was originally released du ...
". While the song is well recognized today and allowed Cashman the chance to meet the featured players,
it was all but ignored by typical Top 40 radio during its chart life, making only the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
Early life
Cashman was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and grew up in northern Manhattan a fan of the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
(and subsequently the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
) until he became a
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
fan when
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...
was traded to them in 1972.
Career
Cashman was the lead singer for a band called
The Chevrons
The Chevrons were a United States pop group who recorded the hit record "Lullabye" in 1960. The band featured lead singer Terry Cashman, best known for his baseball songs, notably " Talkin' Baseball", then known by his born name, Dennis Minogue. ...
, in the late 1950s through the early 1960s.
He also played
Minor League Baseball in the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
organization at around the same time.
In 1967, Cashman teamed up with Gene Pistilli and
Tommy West to form the pop-folk group Cashman, Pistilli and West.
Their debut album, ''Bound to Happen'' (1967), included the Cashman-Pistilli composition "
Sunday Will Never Be the Same", a No. 9 hit on the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
for
Spanky and Our Gang
Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s sunshine pop band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as ''The Little Rascals''), because of the si ...
that year,
and No. 7 in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
In 1969, Cashman, Pistilli and West, under the name Buchanan Brothers, peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 15 in Canada with "Medicine Man". The follow-up, "Son of a Lovin' Man", peaked at No. 61 on the Hot 100 and No. 50 in Canada. Their single "The Last Time" reached No. 88 in Canada in January 1970. Cashman, Pistilli and West (later reduced to Cashman & West) enjoyed modest success, recording six albums through 1975.
In November 1972, Cashman & West's song "American City Suite" hit No. 27 on the Hot 100 and No. 25 on the Canadian ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' chart.
In 1973, one of the Partridge family episodes featured "Sunshine Eyes", with the music and lyrics as by Terry Cashman and T.P. West. The Cashman-West team also produced all the hit recordings of singer-songwriter
Jim Croce
James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pa ...
. In 1975, they launched Lifesong Records, which would have hits including "Shannon" by
Henry Gross
Henry Gross (born April 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his association with the group Sha Na Na and for his hit song, " Shannon". Gross is considered a one-hit wonder artist; none of his other songs reached the Top 1 ...
and "Ariel" by
Dean Friedman
Dean Friedman (born May 23, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica.
Although considered a one-hit wonder in the US, he has had multiple singles chart in other terr ...
.
Inspired by a picture he had received of
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...
,
Duke Snider
Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider (September 19, 1926 – February 27, 2011), nicknamed "the Silver Fox" and "the Duke of Flatbush", was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he spent most of his Major League Baseball (M ...
,
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
and
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...
, Cashman decided to write a song dedicated to 1950s
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
. The popular choral
refrain
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
in the song "Talkin' Baseball" — "Willie, Mickey, and The Duke" — immediately struck a chord with
fans
Fan commonly refers to:
* Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling
** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling
* Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...
in 1981,
who were disappointed by the Major League Baseball
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
that summer. Cashman performed the song at the 1982 induction ceremony where he also performed his song ''Cooperstown'', which is dedicated to the Hall of Fame.
Cashman has since recorded multiple versions of the song for different Major League Baseball teams. Because of this, he is now known as "The Balladeer of Baseball". He also recorded a parody of the song in 1992, "Talkin' Softball", for the end credits of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' episode "
Homer at the Bat
"Homer at the Bat" is the seventeenth episode of the The Simpsons (season 3), third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on Februar ...
."
National honors
The
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...
honored Cashman in summer 2011 as part of its induction weekend. Cashman performed his ballpark anthem once again during ceremonies on July 23, 2011, a day before
Roberto Alomar
Roberto "Robbie" Alomar Velázquez (; ; born February 5, 1968)
is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball player for the San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Arizon ...
,
Bert Blyleven
Bert Blyleven (born Rik Aalbert Blijleven, April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins. Blyleven recorded 3,701 ...
and
Pat Gillick
Lawrence Patrick David Gillick (born August 22, 1937) is an American professional baseball executive. He previously served as the general manager of four MLB teams: the Toronto Blue Jays (1978–1994), Baltimore Orioles (1996–1998), Seattle Ma ...
were inducted.
In 2011, he was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bios Of The Inductees
. Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cashman, Terry
1941 births
Living people
American male singer-songwriters
Record producers from New York (state)
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Baseball pitchers
Morristown Cubs players
Montgomery Rebels players