Twenty summers ago, a singer-songwriter named Terry Cashman released a memorable anthem to the history of baseball called "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey, and the Duke)."

I was 13, and remember asking my dad what some of the lyrics meant (who was Mel Parnell?), and memorizing the words. To this day, every time I hear Cashman's song, I am reminded of how much I love the game.

Looking past today's escalating salaries, labor disputes, and the John Rockers and Bobby Choiunards who occasionally spoil the landscape of the game, Opening Day is still my favorite holiday (official or otherwise). And every day of the baseball season brings the possibility of a triple play, a cycle, a perfect game.

As the century turns, I find it very easy to celebrate the state of the game in lyric form; as I once heard Cashman say in a television interview, "The song took me 20 minutes to write down, but a lifetime to write."

With apologies to Mr. Cashman, then, I hope you will enjoy ...

Talkin' Baseball, 1999-2000
The Yankees had won it
Boggs and Gwynn had done it
Pedro threw his heat, hard and high
Home run records bein' broke
The Reds and A's refused to choke
And down on The Corner, Tiger Stadium said "good bye"

Talkin' Baseball — Chipper, Pudge, Palmeiro
Talkin' baseball — Bagwell and Alfonzo
Manny and Igor made a run at Hack
Maddux and Glavine throwin' back to back
And then there's Junior, Sammy and Big Mac

Well Casey is hittin'
While Cal is finally sittin'
And Robby Alomar can do it all
Derek and Nomar at short
A-Rod's the best in the sport
While Tony, Fisk and Marty
... are out talkin' in The Hall

Talkin' Baseball — Wetteland and Canseco
Talkin' baseball — Urbina and Guerrero
Piazza, Rolen, Bernie take their hacks
The Unit racks up K's for the 'Backs
And then there's Junior, Sammy and Big Mac

Now my friends and I play Roto
And we swear we all could be like Billy Beane
Looky at this rookie, draft him for my team
SportsCenter highlights, what a bore
Give me box scores!

So long to the nineties
Guess the Braves were the finest
While Barry Bonds could play for anyone
Larry Walker's bat on fire
David Cone's gun for hire
And Ernie's callin' the Tigers at The Corner again!

Talkin' baseball — was Hunter, Sutter, Seaver
Talkin' baseball — now Hudson, Koch and Weaver
Mussina, Millwood, Wagner got the knack
Pardon them not taking any flack
While facing Junior, Sammy and Big Mac
That's Junior, Sammy and Big Mac ...
I'm talkin' Junior, Sammy and Big Mac ...

Every game played this year potentially adds a new lyric or writes a new verse. Write your own ... and thank God spring training is here!

"Talkin' Baseball" © 1980 Terry Cashman and Metrostar Records.