The History of Walkup Songs in Baseball

Walkup music is so embedded in baseball today that it's easy to forget the tradition is barely 50 years old. Players didn't get personal walkup songs at all until the 1970s. They didn't become standard until the late 1990s. The closer entrance song — Mariano's Enter Sandman, Hoffman's Hells Bells — wasn't really a thing until the 2000s. And the modern walkup catalog of Kendrick, Bad Bunny, BigXthaPlug? That's all post-2010.

Here's how the walkup song became one of the most distinctive parts of American baseball.

Pre-1970s: Organ music and silence

For most of baseball history, the only music at games was the stadium organ. Organists played short transition riffs between innings, walked players up to the plate with generic flourishes, and led "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. There were no recorded songs. There were no personal walkups. A player walked up to the plate to either silence or a generic organ run.

This wasn't an oversight. Major League Baseball was deeply traditional and saw amplified music as un-baseball. Pitchers complained that recorded music broke their concentration. Front offices worried it cheapened the game. The organ was as far as anyone was going.

The 1970s: The Nancy Faust era

The first crack in the dam came from a White Sox organist named Nancy Faust. Starting in 1970, Faust began playing themed riffs to match individual players — quoting popular songs, working in jokes, customizing her playing for each batter. When Carlton Fisk came up, she'd play something different than when Bill Melton came up. It was the first time individual players had personalized walkup music.

Faust's most famous moment came in 1977: when an opposing player struck out, she played "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. The Comiskey Park crowd sang along. The chant became a White Sox tradition, then spread to every baseball stadium in America. It's still played at every level of baseball today — and it started with one organist customizing music for individual at-bats.

The 1980s: Recorded music enters the stadium

By the 1980s, MLB stadiums had upgraded sound systems and started experimenting with recorded music between innings. The shift from organ-only to organ-and-tape happened slowly. Most teams played hits between innings — "Eye of the Tiger" was huge after Rocky III in 1982 — but personal walkup songs for individual players were still rare.

A handful of stars got informal walkups. Reggie Jackson was sometimes walked up to "Mr. October" hype. Pete Rose got the occasional Charlie Hustle theme. But these were exceptions — and even then, the songs played for a few seconds, not the full theatrical entrance modern fans expect.

1989: Wild Thing changes everything

The film Major League released in 1989. Charlie Sheen's Ricky Vaughn character — a wild reliever called in from the bullpen to "Wild Thing" by X — defined what a closer entrance could look like. The slow walk in. The crowd on its feet. The song hitting peak energy as the pitcher arrived on the mound.

Real closers started picking up on it. Mitch Williams (the Phillies' actual "Wild Thing") had used the song in real games, but post-Major League, every closer wanted theatrics. The closer entrance song was about to become a cultural fixture.

1996: Hells Bells and the closer entrance is born

Trevor Hoffman started using AC/DC's "Hells Bells" as his entrance song in 1996. The slow tolling bell that opens the song, paired with Hoffman jogging in from the Padres bullpen, became one of the most iconic moments in baseball. Other closers had used songs before — but Hoffman owned Hells Bells the way no closer had owned a song before.

By the late 1990s, every team in baseball had a closer with an entrance song. Hells Bells defined the template: a slow, menacing intro that builds as the pitcher walks in, peaking just as he reaches the mound.

1999: Enter Sandman and the Mariano era

In 1999, Mariano Rivera started using Metallica's "Enter Sandman" as his entrance song at Yankee Stadium. For the next 14 seasons, every Yankee Stadium ninth inning with a lead would start the same way: the song's opening notes, the bullpen door swinging open, and the most dominant closer in baseball history jogging in.

By the time Rivera retired in 2013, Enter Sandman wasn't just a walkup — it was inseparable from Mariano. Metallica played it live for him at his final home game. The song became the gold standard for what a closer entrance could be.

2000s: The personal walkup era

The 2000s is when individual walkup songs became universal in MLB. By 2005, every player on every roster had a walkup. Players started picking with care. Coaches started managing the playlists. PA operators became responsible for cueing songs at the right moment.

A few defining walkups from the era:

• Manny Ramirez — used a rotation of Latin tracks; helped popularize Latin walkups league-wide
• David Ortiz — Big Papi's walkup choices became part of his Boston identity
• Derek Jeter — used a rotation but became most associated with Bob Sheppard's announcement, which played even after Sheppard's death
• Chipper Jones — used "Crazy Train" so consistently it became his identity

2010s: Hip hop takes over

Through the 2000s, walkup music was dominated by classic rock — AC/DC, Metallica, Guns N' Roses. By the mid-2010s, that flipped. Hip hop became the dominant walkup genre and has stayed that way.

Eminem's "Lose Yourself" became the single most-used walkup track in baseball. Drake, Kendrick, and Kanye dominated the charts. Country crept in heavily at the college and SEC level. Latin walkups exploded with reggaeton's mainstream rise.

2022: Edwin Diaz, Narco, and the modern entrance

Edwin Diaz made every Mets ninth inning a Citi Field event in 2022 — entrancing in to "Narco" by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet, the crowd going nuclear, Timmy Trumpet himself flying to New York to play the song live. Diaz's Narco entrance became one of the most replayed walkup moments of the modern era.

What made it different: Diaz didn't just use the song; he made it a phenomenon. Mets fans bought trumpet horns. The chant carried into postseason games. When Diaz signed with the Dodgers in 2026, the song followed him to LA. The closer entrance song had completed its arc — from a 1989 movie reference to the most anticipated 90 seconds of any MLB game.

2026: The current state of walkup music

Walkup music in 2026 is more diverse and more personal than ever:

• Genre fragmentation. No single genre dominates. Hip hop is still #1 overall, but country, Latin, Christian, and rock all have major presence.
• The Forrest Frank wave. Faith-based artists have crossed over into mainstream walkup music for the first time.
• TikTok influence. Songs that go viral on TikTok become walkups within days.
• AI-generated walkups. Players are starting to generate custom AI walkup tracks instead of using existing songs (see our guide to AI walkup songs).
• Walkups at every level. Walkup music is no longer MLB-only. Little League, travel ball, high school, and college all use walkups now — driven largely by apps that make it easy.

Why walkup music matters

The walkup song is one of those small things that defines a sport. NFL games don't have it. NBA games don't have it. Baseball does. The 15 seconds when a player walks from the dugout to the box, with their song hitting and the crowd reacting, is unique to this game. It's part of why baseball feels different from any other sport.

For a player at any level — MLB or 9U travel ball — the walkup song is the closest they get to feeling like the moment is theirs. That's worth getting right.

Setting up walkup music for your team

Walkup music started in pro baseball, but it's at its best at the youth level — where kids walk to the plate with their song hitting and feel like big leaguers for 15 seconds. Walkup Pro is built specifically for this — per-player songs, custom trim points, AI announcer voices, one-tap playback. Free for up to 3 players.

For more on the iconic moments, see famous walkup song moments in MLB history.