The Washington Nationals provided some interesting entertainment this afternoon before their game with the Chicago Cubs.
They got Glenn Donnellan, a violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra to perform the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” before the game. It’s perfectly normal to have a violinist play these tunes at a ballgame, right?
Yes, but have you ever seen it done like this?
That’s right folks. He played a Louisville Slugger like a violin.
Donnellan crafted his so-called “batolin” in 2009 because he wanted a unique instrument that he could use for children’s concerts at part of a musical outreach program.
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Donnellan and his “batolin” went viral later in 2009 when a clip of him playing the Star Spangled Banner on the instrument showed up on YouTube.
That phenomenon prompted ESPN to do an E:60 piece on Donnellan and his unique musical instrument.
Louisville Slugger has agreed to let Donnellan call his instrument the “electric slugger”, even going to far as to give him a license for it.
Donnellan someday hopes to do a full tour of all 30 major league baseball stadiums, so here’s hoping you can see this at a ballpark near you!
While we are at it, why dont we just petition MLB to let him play at the All Star game?