"The Blind Man in the Bleachers" is a single written by Sterling Whipple and famously performed by American singer David Geddes. His version, titled "The Last Game of the Season (A Blind Man in the Bleachers)", reached number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1975. That same year it was covered by country music artist Kenny Starr, appearing on his album ''The Blind Man in the Bleachers''. The song peaked at number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. It also reached number 1 on the ''

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 ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Song story

The song is a salute to

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

and focuses on a

junior varsity Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

football player (who rarely, if ever sees action in varsity games) and his father, a blind man who sits next to the press box – where the speaker is located. The father longs to hear his son's name be announced but is resigned to the boy being a star in his dreams. The meat of the story comes later in the song, with the scene shifting to the final night of the regular season and the regular fans puzzled at why the boy's father did not show up for the game. At halftime, with several players injured, the boy takes an emergency phone call and is late to the field. The coach, unaware of what is going on, begins to scold the boy but the boy insists that he is going in on the next play. He does, takes the field on the first play and immediately runs for a touchdown. The boy eventually helps rally his team from a deficit and get a come-from-behind win. In the post-game huddle, the boy becomes emotional and – when asked to explain why he played so well – reveals that his father had died earlier in the evening (this was why he was not at the game) and – presumably having gone to Heaven – was now granted eyesight and got to watch his son play and be the player of the game.

Chart performance

David Geddes

Kenny Starr

Year-end charts

References

1975 singles Kenny Starr songs 1975 songs MCA Records singles Big Tree Records singles Songs written by Sterling Whipple {{1970s-country-song-stub