The Baseball Project - Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

From the minds that brought you The Minus 5 comes The Baseball Project. This is Scott McCaughey from Young Fresh Fellows, Peter Buck from R.E.M., Steve Wynn from Dream Syndicate, and Linda Pitmon from Golden Smog who came together united by a love for baseball.

This album is perfect for the somewhat esoteric baseball fan on your gift list. It contains anthems about Curt Flood, who was baseball's first free agent, Harvey Haddix and his nearly perfect game, and Jack McDowell, the pitcher who is best known for flipping off the Yankees home crowd, earning the nickname "The Yankee Flipper" in the process. This album does the same thing for baseball that ESPN's 30 for 30 series attempts to do for all overlooked sports stories.

The music on this album is exactly as fantastic as anything you'd expect from a Scott McCaughey project, and the band's passion for the subject material is apparent throughout. This is the ultimate ode to America's pastime.

Baleeted? No. It's all-too-fitting that I listen to this album during  baseball season.