Longtime Pirates and Penguins organist Vince Lascheid may have passed away 10 years ago, but his music lives on at PNC Park.
Devoted fans of Lascheid’s distinctive keyboard stylings will be able to hear more of his ballpark melodies as more have been digitized and will be played at PNC Park this season, according to a tweet from Pirates in-game host Joe Klimchak.
Great news for fans of longtime Pirates organist Vince Lascheid … many more of Vince’s ballpark melodies have been digitized and will be heard at PNC Park this season … just one of the new in-game features announced at the club’s annual scoreboard meeting tonight. #LetsGoBucs
— Joe Klimchak (@BucsJoe) March 5, 2019
Lascheid began playing the organ for the Penguins at the Civic Arena in 1970 and later that year had his Pirates debut when Three Rivers Stadium opened in July of that season.
In addition to rallying the fans with the three note “Let’s Go Bucs” exhortation, Lascheid was known for developing custom made songs for the players. In the days before pre-recorded walk up music, Roberto Clemente, for example, was serenaded with the title song from the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Lascheid was also known as a wacky punster. During the 1979 World Series, when Baltimore Orioles star Benny Ayala came up to bat, Lascheid would play “Tie ‘Ayala’ Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.”
Corny as they might have been, those special keyboard touches endeared him to generations of fans and in some ways made Lascheid as popular as some of the players. He died 10 years ago this month, but fans haven’t forgotten him and, clearly, neither have the Pirates.
The Pirates have honored Lascheid with a “Pride of the Pirates” award and have continuously dropped in recordings of Lascheid’s music ever since his death. The expansion of the digitized playlist ensures that he will remain an integral part of the PNC Park experience this season and beyond.
