Early TV Comedienne Imogene Coca looked a lot like legendary Buff Stadium baseball game organist Lou Mahan. In her own way, Mahan also did comedy.
In “The Last Pecan Park Eagle”, I wrote about Smiley – and how change had left him behind to the fact that the rest of us had moved on from our active participation in sandlot ball to other things, but that he had not.
Today is partially a footnote to the fact that all of us get left behind eventually – to some thing – or multiple of things – and that we may not realize it for years – if ever. The rest is to present you with a very belated never before published mention of Lou Mahan’s biggest hits.
The real organ music days are done. 40,000 fans who come to ball games in 2018 with telephone devices to “watch” Astros baseball don’t come to hear subtle musical allusions to the game as they did in the old days. Today’s fans like being blasted by songs that blare into the night from the sound system “music” their need for someone to do it harder or deeper. We presume the cry is for a timely long ball hit. What else could it be?
For the tamer minds of the more carefully bordered ambitions of the 1950 crowd, here’s a little chart we composed as an addendum to the first Lou Mahan column from 2009:
https://bill37mccurdy.com/2009/07/25/remembering-lou-mahan/
Just think of today’s column as a start on Miss Lou Mahan’s Playlist. There were many, many others – and we will try to add them as they surface and lend themselves to short-time capture in print:
Miss Lou Mahan’s Playlist
| Game Situation | Lyrics to Melody |
Song Title/Reason |
| Umpires Enter | Three Blind Mice | Three Blind Mice |
| Ball rolls up screen | Notes go up ABCDEFG | One Octave Up |
| Ball rolls down | Notes go down GFEDCBA | One Octave Down |
| Slugger in Slump | Been a long, long time | Kiss Once Again |
| Win Run at 3rd | Why don’t you hurry home | Shrimp Boats |
| Walk Off Win HR | Happy Days Here Again | Happy Days |
| Danny Gardella | Donkey Serenade | Sang pre-game |
| Jerry Witte HR | Beyond the Blue Horizon | The Blue Horizon |
| Larry Miggins | My Wild Irish Rose | Sang pre-game |
| Buffs run pitcher | Tootsie, Goodbye | Obvious |
| Loss of Dixie Series | I Remember You | Never forget you |
Enjoy!
And don’t hold back on any Mahan contributions you remember – or questions you may have. Just include them all for public view as comments upon this column in the section that follows this article. Thank you.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 13, 2018 at 2:59 pm |
Not associated with Miss Mahan but the Pittsburgh Pirates had an organist at Three Rivers Stadium who would invent introduction songs for players such as “Here Comes The Sun” for Dale Berra (son/sun). For handsome muscle-bound Steve Garvey, he would play “There She Is – Miss America!” which angered Garvey to no end.
One time when the Dodgers arrived in Pittsburgh, Garvey handed a note for the organist which he gave to the clubhouse boy for delivery. The note read (paraphrasing), “If you play Miss America about me, I will run up there and literally kick your ass.”
When Garvey approached the plate in the first inning, the organist serenaded him with Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely?”
April 13, 2018 at 11:46 pm |
Thanks for making my day, Mr. Hulsey. 🙂
April 15, 2018 at 3:28 am |
Hilarious Bob. Never heard that story!