As long as baseball has existed, so have baseball chants. There’s nothing like getting into the minds of the pitcher or hitter and causing them to make a mistake. Whether you’re on the field, the stands, or the dugout, there’s a good chance you’re either chirping or getting chirped at.
Baseball chants might be an excellent way for fans to come together and cheer for their favorite team. But the best highest use of the baseball chant is to distract and intimidate your opponents. I’ve put a list together a list of the best ones.
“We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher”
This is one of the most classic baseball chants in the game. I’ve been hearing this since I was in little league yet still don’t quite know what it means. That’s the beauty of baseball chants, it doesn’t even need to make sense to effectively get into another player’s head. This chant also has another version that’s directed at the batter: “We want a batter, not a broken ladder.” Who knows what a broken ladder has to do with baseball, but hey, if it rhymes it’s a dime.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
While not necessarily a “chant”, this song has been around since 1908 and is deeply rooted in North American baseball culture. You probably have sung it during the 7th Inning Stretch along with thousands of fans more than a few times. Instead of saying “home team” in the song, most fans replace the lyrics with the name of the team they are cheering for.
There’s no other chant that makes the home team feel so loved. I might need to crack open some Crackerjacks just thinking about it.
“Hey Batter, Batter Swing”
This iconic baseball chant became famous from an even more iconic movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The scene of Ferris Bueller and Cameron Frye chirping the White Sox batter will forever be a classic. Years before I had even seen the movie, I was yelling this at games as a kid. This chant is an example of something so simple, yet so effective.
Texas A&M Ball 12
This chant pulls double duty, having also drawn honors as one of the best student section chants in all of sports, as mentioned in “The Eight Best Student Section Chants.” Texas A&M fans are known for many chants and yells that do an excellent job of getting into the other team’s heads. Nothing is better than seeing the pitcher get frazzled by the constant chants from lunatic Aggies as a reminder of how many balls in a row he has thrown.