Purple Hayes, All In My Brain

The past never dies, it gets repackaged as retro chic — or at the very least it always comes back as an ironic indie band name.  ESPN writer Jeff Pearlman highlights a great example of this immortal truth this week.

“We should be ‘Randy Ready,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

“We should be ‘Lou Whitaker,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

“We should be ‘Steve Balboni,’” one said.

“No,” said the other. “We can do better.”

And then, as if emerging directly from the lips of God, words of inspiration struck.

“We should be … Von Hayes,” one said.

“Yes,” said the other. “We should.”

The result: Von Hayes — the rock band.

Read: ESPN Page 2 – Pearlman: When baseball and music collide

An indie rock band named after one of my favorite old-school Philadelphia Phillies baseball players from the 1980s? There’s no way that could suck!

“Mr. Guts” – Von Hayes

“Superballs” – Von Hayes

Actually, they do kinda suck. (More at http://www.myspace.com/vonhayes09)  But, that’s okay! All music sucks in some way. It’s  a great story and I hope the real Von Hayes calls them back at some point.  I was a big Von Hayes fan in my time.  Cool name, looked cool in Philly pinstripes, and hit two home runs in one inning. Very cool! Bonus Cool Points for ESPN’s nickname machine Chris Berman calling him Von “Purple” Hayes back in the day.

But guys, just don’t let him invite you onto his boat.

Now, onto some bonus video comparison:

Von Hayes, the ex-Phillie and current minor league manager:

Von Hayes, the enthusiastic indie rockers:

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