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03/05/2008 12:26 PM ET
On the air with 'Country Fastball'
Radio show brings country music and baseball together
By Doug Miller / MLB.com
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Nick Swisher, Joe Blanton and Huston Street with radio host Robert Buan. (courtesy Country Fastball)
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Chicago White Sox outfielder Nick Swisher broke out of a slump shortly after country singer Kenny Chesney gave him a batting tip.
Angels right-hander John Lackey was raised by a father who's friendly with Ronnie Dunn of perennial award-winning country duo Brooks & Dunn.
And Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves are now good enough friends with "We Rode in Trucks" singer Luke Bryan that they might sit shotgun with him on four-wheeling trips during the offseason.
In other words, baseball players and country musicians have long enjoyed a relationship based on mutual respect for each others' crafts, and it's only fitting that combining the two would lend itself to a perfect radio show.
Enter Robert Buan, the longtime Oakland A's radio man and country music fan. With a bold idea, support from A's president Mike Crowley and Major League Baseball's Vice President of Western Operations, Laurel Prieb, plus backing from country-loving Georgia native and star pitcher Tim Hudson, that show now exists.
It's called "Country Fastball presented by Bank of America," it's in its second year, and it's syndicated on 10 stations nationwide, including several in California and Nevada. Every Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) from San Francisco -- and streaming live online at www.countryfastball.com -- Buan comes across the airwaves with two hours of programming featuring different players talking country music and more.
The response has been great and, as Buan says he's discovered, more and more players love listening to country music and love talking about it even more.
"I've listened to country for a long time," Buan says. "And being around the A's as long as I have, I got a chance to meet a bunch of guys who are country music fans. My regular gig is the postgame show, where we're breaking down, critiquing and analyzing, and there's not a lot of positive stuff in that.
"And honestly, I kind of got tired of seeing all the steroids stories and all the stuff that was dominating TV and radio to the point where for every one of these guys that's being talked about for something negative, I know 10 or 15 guys who are doing something good."
Buan mentioned a handful of topics that have been talked about on "Country Fastball." Examples include last year's National League Cy Young Award winner, San Diego Padres righty Jake Peavy, going to Central America to help underprivileged children, and Seattle Mariner broadcaster Dave Sims joining players Frank Thomas, Gary Matthews Jr. and Randy Winn for a Martin Luther King Jr. special.
Buan also hosted a Veterans Day special that featured Mariners announcer and recent Hall of Fame electee Dave Niehaus, who served in the Army before breaking into baseball, plus Orioles pitcher Jamie Walker, who has a foundation with the Walter Reed Army Hospital, and Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, whose brother, Logan, served in Iraq.
Other guests from the baseball world include Ryan Dempster, Brad Penny, Jeremy Bonderman, Kevin Millwood, Darin Erstad, Willie Bloomquist, John Buck and John Gibbons.
"The country music platform really provided a natural outlet for being able to talk about things other than baseball that are fun and interesting to show the fans," Buan says. "And that fan base likes hearing about some of those positive things going on."
Buan also learns a lot from hosting the show. In fact, he says, most of the players he talks to know more about country music than he does.
"(Free agent outfielder) Ryan Klesko goes hunting with Rascal Flatts," Buan says. "Peavy hangs out with a lot of those guys. I saw him in Vegas at the Brooks & Dunn show at National Finals rodeo. And it's not surprising. Ballplayers obviously have better access to musicians than almost anybody, and it's an admitted element that we talk about on the show.
"The artists will make a point of going to a ballgame in whatever city they're in during the season and the players will hopefully catch the show that night. There is certainly that appreciation that guys in baseball have for the artist's accomplishment level -- trying to succeed at something and being very best at that level. And, of course, there's the undeniable rock star appeal."
And one of the appeals of "Country Fastball" is not only the interviews with the players but the music. Regular country hits are interspersed throughout the show, and Buan will occasionally accentuate what a player says by playing a clip of a song with words that seem to capture the mood the way only country music lyrics can.
Buan says he's gotten a great response from around baseball and will continue to scour Major League rosters for country music fans.
"It's been real neat in the sense that when I tell the players about the show, they get it," Buan says. "For example, (veteran Boston Red Sox knuckleballer) Tim Wakefield, unsolicited, said he had a lot of fun talking about things he's interested in and passions in life.
"It's all things that matters to them. It's not the same old, 'Struck out in the eighth,' 'Gave up the homer in the ninth.' And that's what makes it different and refreshing." Doug Miller is a Senior Writer for MLB.com/Entertainment. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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