Just Between You and Me: This is a Happiness Thing

Given the chance to vacation anywhere in the world, where would you spend your time?  Country music superstar Charley Pride answers that question each Spring when he attends camp and participates in the same ritual that he has been partaking in since 1972 with the Texas Rangers, and long before that, since childhood.

From an article on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram web site on March 10, 2010, Charley beams about his love for baseball.

"I could be in Hawaii or Europe or wherever and I'm here," said Pride, a Grammy Award winner. "This is a happiness thing. I can still play and throw. If I went out and got in really top, top shape I could get it up to about 75. When I played, I could throw in the 90s. I had all three pitches, the hummer, the hook and the change."

Born in 1938 in Sledge Mississippi, Charley was one of eleven children (enough to field a team and then some) and grew up listening to country music on the radio.  According to the Mississippi Writers and Musicians web site, Charley's training regimen for both careers took hold early as Charley was given the nickname "Mocking Bird" by a neighbor who says Charley's daily chores were to sing each morning and to play baseball.

At the age of 14 he bought his first guitar and taught himself to play by listening to the radio and at the age of seventeen he ventured out to become a star.  Finding his way through both careers, Charley found work unloading lumber and working at a smelting plant, all the while - he was playing for the American Negro League and semi pro baseball.  Charley's career in music finally took off after a meeting with legendary producer Chet Atkins who had a baseball scout's eye for talent and signed him to a contract with RCA.  Over the course of his music career, Charley has had 36 number one country singles, and was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.

On June 5, 2008, Charley, and 28 other living former Negro League players were "drafted" by each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams in a recognition of their skills and historical relevance of the Negro League stars.

One of Charley's most popular songs was the Grammy winning, "Just Between You and Me" which is today's Baseball Song of the Day.

Just Between You And Me 

So I feel so blue sometimes I wanna die
And so I've got a broken heart so what
They say that time will heal all wounds in mice and men
And I know that someday I'll forget and love again

But just between you and me
I've got my doubts about it
But just between you and me
You're too much to forget

So I've lost the only girl I ever loved
And so I've never felt so low so what
I'll just tell myself each time I wanna cry
That someday time will dry the teardrops from my eyes

But just between you and me
I'm not so sure about it
Cause just between you and me
You're too much to forget
You're too much to forget