Singled Out: John McCutcheon and Tom Paxton's The Fan

Folk music legends and dear friends John McCutcheon and Tom Paxton just released the new album Together and to celebrate we asked John to tell us about the song "The Fan". Here is the story:

Tom Paxton and I have a standing Monday 2PM Zoom call, intended to be a songwriting confab. It never starts out like that. I recently turned 71 and Tom is pushing 86. I've learned that the polite query "How ya doing?" begins a much longer conversation these days than it used to be. No different with someone you see every week. It usually morphs into news about old friends, rants about the day's events and, eventually, lots of talk about sports....'cause we're both guys.

So one Monday morning, back in October of 2021, I got an email from the Atlanta Braves, my hometown team. "Click here to get your World Series tickets!" It bears noting that my beloved Braves went on to win the Series that year. Regardless, of course, I had to click here. I was informed I was something #2000 in the queue. I figured I'd leave the page open, just in case.

There are a couple of guys that I've shared season tickets with for years and I texted them both inquiring about their interest, not sure how many tickets I could purchase. We all agreed that we'd have to take our wives and that we could go as high as $300/ticket, no matter where they were in the park. We believed we were in the running. Adorable, huh?

Tom shows up right on time, 2PM. At exactly the same time I get a pop-up message from the Braves telling me I was being transferred to someone who could fulfill my World Series dreams. I mentioned this to Tom, who responded, "Go! I'll wait here for some good news."

The Braves sales rep was more cheerful than I expected and it buoyed my hopes. She then informed me that I could get standing-room tickets for a mere $1250 apiece. "And how many would you like?" she chirped.

"Well?" Tom asked expectantly after I'd ended my rueful call with the Braves. "Did you get the tickets?" "No," I replied, "but I know exactly what I want to write about today."

I've been a baseball fan since I was a little kid. I remember the Milwaukee Braves beating the Yankees in 7 for the 1957 crown. My father and I made the 200-mile pilgrimage to Milwaukee County Stadium once each year. We saw Warren Spahn win his 300th game. It broke my heart when they relocated to Atlanta for the 1966 season. It just took me 40 years longer to make the same trip.

I've watched baseball from the ground-up...hometown softball leagues, Little League, church leagues, the minors, the Bigs. I'll still pull over, passing through some small burg, to watch a few innings of a hometown team. It's the athleticism, the gathering of community, the chess game of it all that I love. It's the standing together, one big, random, beer-infused crowd, to take off our caps and sing the Star Spangled Banner together. I get chills just writing about it.

So, I'm a fan.

The album is available on CD and as a "pay-what-you-will" download here.