Walk-up songs are a staple of America’s favorite pastime.
Whether intended to intimidate the opposing team, rouse the crowd or allow the player to focus on their at-bat, walk-up songs can set the tone for the at-bat or pitching appearance. The concept of walk-up songs first emerged in 1970, when Nancy Faust convinced the White Sox to hire her to play the organ and her playing attracted attention on the radio and from stadium attendees, prompting her to start playing specific songs for players.
In the 1990s, stadiums started allowing players to select recorded music, kicking off the trend in the MLB. To the GW baseball team, selecting walk-up songs is a tradition they take pride in, especially during its lengthy 55-game seasons.
Some players find songs that prepare them to attack, but others, like junior outfielder Greg Marmo, use songs that go back to their roots while poking a little fun at themselves. Marmo, an entrepreneurship and innovation student, taps into his country upbringing by walking out to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver.
Except he wasn’t raised in the South — he grew up in California and moved to South Carolina as a senior in high school.
“I’ve always liked riding horses and doing that kind of thing, but everybody says ‘You’re from California, you can’t be a country boy,’ so that’s why I have it,” Marmo said.
Marmo said the song helps him loosen up at the plate and make a joke at himself. He said he doesn’t know any players who also use the song but attends Baltimore Orioles games and said the stadium usually plays the song in the eighth or ninth inning.
“I’m not a serious guy, so I like to be smiling, having fun, being loose up to bat, so that’s kind of why I picked it,” he said.
The John Denver tune is not a fan favorite among his teammates. In interviews, three of his teammates said Marmo has the worst walk-up song, arguing that the musical choice implies he’s Southern, when he grew up on the West Coast.
“Marmo is like a country boy when he’s not a country boy, he’s from California,” senior outfielder Sam Gates said.
Gates walks out to “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton, a song with upbeat, country lyrics that he said help him focus on the pitcher when stepping up to bat. He said he’d been thinking about using the song since last year but didn’t want to switch out “Spin You Around” by Morgan Wallen, his walk-up song last season.
He said he used a Kanye West song as a sophomore and a Soulja Boy song in high school.
Seven MLB players use “White Horse,” including Clay Holmes from the New York Mets and Reid Detmers from the Los Angeles Angels.
“It’s just a really good upbeat song, a little country, kind of rock, and it gets ‘go, go go’ and gets the crowd going a little bit,” Gates said.
Sophomore pitcher Andrew Cutler said he walks out to “GBP” by 21 Savage and Central Cee — a pick Marmo dubbed the team’s best. Cutler said he doesn’t listen to much rap but decided to pick something from the album after using “can’t leave without it,” another 21 Savage song, last year.
Cutler said the song helps him “not only think about the game” because the crowd often sings along, which “loosens the mood.”
“Teammates seem to like it, everyone kind of sings along when I’m pitching,” Cutler said.
Ayden Alexander, a left-handed pitcher from Hamburg, New Jersey, uses “Search & Rescue” by Drake. He said the song gets him in a mindset as a pitcher to go out to the mound and throw.
During Alexander’s high school career and freshman season at GW, he used “PSA” by Kay Flock but wanted to change it up for the 2025 season, he said. He said that the Kay Flock song involved screaming and that he wanted a calmer song to get him ready to pitch.
“It gets me locked in,” Alexander said. “The piano in the background is a good tempo. It just brings me a good mood.”
