12 Famous Walkup Song Moments in MLB History

Some walkup songs become inseparable from the players who used them. You can't hear Enter Sandman without picturing Mariano. Hells Bells without Hoffman. Wild Thing without Charlie Sheen jogging in from the bullpen. These moments shaped what walkup music in baseball even is.

Here are 12 of the most famous walkup and entrance song moments in MLB history.

1. Mariano Rivera — Enter Sandman (Metallica)

The most iconic entrance song in baseball history. From 1999 to 2013, every Yankee Stadium ninth inning with a lead followed the same script: the opening notes of Enter Sandman, the bullpen door swinging open, and Mariano jogging to the mound. He saved 652 games. Each one started the same way.

The most powerful moment came at the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field — Rivera's last All-Star Game. AL manager Jim Leyland sent him in for the 8th inning of a non-save situation. The entire National League dugout cleared the field so Rivera could be alone on the mound, with the Mets crowd standing for the entire inning. Enter Sandman played as he walked off after a clean inning. There has never been a more emotional walkup moment.

2. Trevor Hoffman — Hells Bells (AC/DC)

Hoffman started using Hells Bells in 1996 and rode it for the rest of his career. The slow tolling bell at the song's open, paired with the Padres home crowd rising to their feet at PETCO Park, became one of the most theatrical moments in baseball. Hoffman saved 601 games — and a generation of Padres fans associate the AC/DC bell with every save.

When Hoffman was traded to Milwaukee in 2009, the Brewers immediately set up Hells Bells for him there too. The song was that inseparable from the closer.

3. Edwin Diaz — Narco (Blasterjaxx & Timmy Trumpet)

The most recent addition to the all-time walkup canon. Edwin Diaz's Narco entrances at Citi Field in 2022 became a Mets phenomenon — the trumpet hits, Diaz jogs in from the bullpen, the entire crowd loses its mind. Timmy Trumpet himself flew to New York to play the song live before a Mets game. When Diaz signed with the Dodgers in 2026, the song followed him to LA.

4. Chipper Jones — Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne)

For the entire 2000s, every Chipper Jones at-bat at Turner Field started the same way — the opening "ay ay ay ay" of Crazy Train, the Atlanta crowd rising. Chipper rode the song for over a decade. When he retired in 2012, the Braves played Crazy Train one more time at his final home game and the entire stadium sang along.

5. Ken Griffey Jr. — Various (but mostly his own album cuts)

Griffey didn't have a single iconic walkup song the way Mariano had Enter Sandman. He rotated. But what made his walkups iconic was the era — the Kingdome, the late 1990s, the Backwards Cap Era of baseball. Griffey turned walkup music into a vibe rather than a single song. He's also why every kid in the 1990s thought a walkup song was something cool you got to pick.

6. David Ortiz — Don't Stop the Party (Pitbull) and others

Big Papi was a walkup chameleon — he changed songs constantly across his career. What made his walkups iconic was the 2013 World Series run, when his music became part of Boston's post-marathon-bombing identity. The walkup was about the moment, not the song.

7. Derek Jeter — Bob Sheppard announcement

Jeter's walkup is unique. Long-time Yankee Stadium PA announcer Bob Sheppard recorded Jeter's introduction in his iconic baritone — "Now batting for the Yankees, the shortstop, number two, Derek Jeter, number two." When Sheppard died in 2010, the Yankees kept playing the recording for Jeter's at-bats until his retirement in 2014. The walkup was the announcement, not the song.

8. Manny Ramirez — Latin walkups before they were cool

Through the 2000s, Manny Ramirez used a rotation of Latin tracks — bachata, merengue, reggaeton — long before Latin walkups were the norm. He helped open the door for the next generation of Latin walkups. By the time Yadier Molina, Vlad Guerrero Jr., and Edwin Diaz got to MLB, Latin walkups were standard. Manny was running them when nobody else was.

9. Mitch Williams (and Charlie Sheen) — Wild Thing

Mitch Williams used "Wild Thing" by X as a closer with the Phillies. But the moment that matters is the 1989 film Major League — Charlie Sheen's Ricky Vaughn jogging in from the bullpen to Wild Thing is the most iconic fictional closer entrance ever filmed. The movie's image of a closer entrance shaped how every real-life closer afterward thought about their walk-in.

10. Albert Pujols — Latin classics

Pujols used a rotation of Latin walkups across his career, with bachata and merengue dominating. His most iconic moments came at Busch Stadium in St. Louis — Pujols walking up, the Latin walkup playing, the home crowd locked in for one of the most automatic at-bats in baseball history.

11. Bartolo Colon — Lágrimas Negras

Big Sexy got his own walkup — but the famous moment is what happened to opposing pitchers. When Colon stepped up to the plate as the Mets' DH or pitcher-batter, the entire stadium would erupt before the ball was even thrown. Colon's walkup music itself was unremarkable — the moment was the player. Still, his at-bats became unmissable TV.

12. Pete Alonso — Layla (Derek & The Dominos)

Most modern Mets walkups feel like recent picks. Alonso's Layla feels like a throwback — a 1971 classic rock song from a player born in 1994. The moment is the contrast: a 6'3" power hitter walking up to the plate to a 50-year-old guitar riff. It's worked: Alonso has hit more home runs than any Met in history while walking up to Eric Clapton's guitar.

Honorable mentions

• Bryce Harper — Bury Me a G (Tha Dogg Pound) — became the most-played walkup in NL East stadiums for years
• Aaron Judge — Swag Surfin' (Fast Life Yungstaz) — the most-imitated current MLB walkup at the high school level
• Shohei Ohtani — The Show Goes On (Lupe Fiasco) — quietly one of the best song-fit walkups in modern baseball
• Kirby Puckett — various — Puckett at the Metrodome was as much about the crowd as the song
• Tony Gwynn — generic 90s soul — never had a famous walkup song, but the Gwynn at-bat is part of walkup canon anyway

What these moments teach you about picking a walkup

The common thread across every one of these famous walkups: the player committed. Mariano didn't change songs every season. Hoffman rode Hells Bells for over a decade. Chipper stuck with Crazy Train through three different decades of country music being more popular. Diaz hasn't changed Narco even after switching teams.

The biggest mistake players at any level make is changing their walkup constantly. The best walkups in MLB history became iconic because the player owned them long enough for the song and the player to fuse. If you're picking yours: pick something you can ride for years.

Setting up your own walkup

You're not Mariano Rivera, but you can still walk up to your own song. Walkup Pro handles per-player songs, custom trim points, and AI announcer voices — including a "Bob Sheppard"-style classic baseball announcer voice if you want the Jeter treatment. Free for up to 3 players.

For the longer story of how walkups got here, see the history of walkup songs in baseball.