From that time that I was four years old, I was a baseball fan. My stepdad was a baseball coach for youth 16 and 17-year-olds and every weekend and sometimes week nights, we would spend our time in the dugout keeping score, in the concession stands selling hot dogs or in the bleachers selling 50/50 tickets.
At home the Yankees were a permanent resident on our tv. In the car, AM radio kept us up to date on their progress.
When they weren’t in season, I was known to rock a Mattingly or Jeter t-shirt. I thought I was a fan.
In 2015 I moved back to DC after living in Houston and Las Vegas and decided to move into the neighborhood adjacent of the new Nationals baseball stadium. From our roof top we could see the lights of the advertisement and sometimes could hear the roar of the crowd.
I frequented games with my neighbor, not because I was interested, but because the last-minute tickets were cheap, and it was a good excuse to yell and cheer.
Three years ago, I was lucky enough to see my first playoff game. We didn’t make it past the first round, but I have the hat to prove it.
This season felt like every other Nationals season. We resigned ourselves to another losing season. Bryce Harper left us to go to the Phillies, so how could we possibly go anywhere?
Our record by mid-season wasn’t looking great. We won a few games and lost a few – nothing to write home about. And then something changed. We started to win consistently. We started to believe we could make it to the Wild Card series.
And then something huge swam up to the surface…
Outfielder Gerardo Parra, at the request of his daughter, changed his walk-up song to “Baby Shark”. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had nightmares of this song playing on repeat. But no one cringed when the song started to play. Everyone lost their mind and started to dance and sing along.
Special claps wer created, starting with the thumb and index finger to make a mini clap for a small, yet impactful play (Baby Shark), then came the wrists connected full-hand clap to signify a base hit (Mommy Shark) and then the full body chomp clap for a homerun or scoring run (Daddy Shark).
Without explaining the meaning, players and fans joined in. People began wearing shark costumes and making shirts and signs. Everyone was in on it.
In the dugouts, players shared their sentiments through their symbolic claps brining giggles to on air commentators and spectators alike.
As Baby Shark took off, the team unified in their quest to take a bite out of their opponents. Couple that with their mutual support of “Best Shape of Their Lives” response to everyone question about what shape (blank) is in, and the confidence, morale and energy began to soar.
The Nationals, in a shock to all of us, beat the LA Dodgers, and had us shaking our heads wondering could this be the year?!
Without returning home from LA, The Nats took on the St. Louis Cardinals after a travel day and won. Then came game 2 and they won. Game 3 was set back in DC. I was happy to watch from home by myself, but at 7pm I got a text from that same neighbor I went to games with that they had a ticket free up.
I’ve never moved so fast jumping in my car and driving 20 minutes (without traffic woohoo!), parking my car and sprinting to the stadium only missing half of the first inning.
The stadium was electric, the energy was palpable. We all whispered in hush tones. “Is this really happening?” “Could this be our year?”
The cheers, claps and chomps filled the stadium as we rocketed to an 8-1 victory in game 3.
“Are we going to sweep them???” we wondered.
Then came Game 4 the next night. In the first inning with a series of unfortunate bloopers and a steady stream of hits, the Nationals jumped to a 7-0 lead. But then the Cardinals started to score without a response scoring 4 runs up to the 7th inning. Fans got worried. Heads were in hands or hands were covering mouths in disbelief.
And then the manager of the Nationals did something brilliant – he called Gerardo Parra to the plate. Nothing like some Baby Shark to turn things around. Adults in shark costumes began dancing and the entire stadium began chomping with their arms in unison. Things began to feel different.
Parra hit a single and that was the morale boost the players and the fans needed to lock in a 7-4 victory and ensure a ticket to the franchise’s first World Series!
As we await the results of the Astros-Yankees facing off in the ALCS, 10-year-old me is bursting with excitement to see the Baby Sharks (Nationals) go against my beloved childhood team.
Can anything stop the power of a united and fun front? We’ll wait and see.
Here are the Key Elements that Made a Simple Children’s Song Into a Powerful Movement
Simplicity - The song is simple and the movements are simple
Fun - You can’t pretend to be a baby, mommy or daddy shark and not enjoy yourself
Consistency - No matter how small the effort, players stepped in with their bite-sized to full chomp cheers
Celebration - The movements of the sharks allowed each player to be highlighted in team-based fashion
How can you bring a little Baby Shark into your team?