Because social media took on its own task of informally choosing an MVP below World Series‘ epic Game 3 this week, a surprise candidate emerged … and we’re not even talking about Los Angeles Dodgers‘ underdog relief pitcher Will Klein (although, of course, he too). We’re talking about the Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehlewho stood alongside Shotei Ohtani, et al., as fans discussed their favorite things about the grueling but exciting game. Ruehle is practically legendary in baseball now for the wit inherent in his vocal cues, as well as for making sure the energy doesn’t flag in the stadium. And that was never more relevant than in a game that lasted nearly seven hours, with almost as much intrigue created by Ruehle’s crafty choices as whether anyone would ever score another goal before daylight.
Ruehle’s choices are not always humorous. For example, when Clayton Kershaw left the mound after his final regular season game of the season — and of his career — this year, the organist captured the mood by playing a bit of the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.” But more often than not, he offers his own entertaining play-by-play, with obvious songs like “Walk Like an Egyptian” or “Walk of Life” during a walk – or much less blatant choices, like a song by the group 311 when the score is 3-1; “Piano Man” when it’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday night, “Clocks” for “We Can Work It Out” during a high visit or “I Am the Walrus” when Tommy Edman is up (because “eggman”/Edman… close enough).
With Game 5 just hours away on Wednesday, Amount spoke with Edman about what it was like to come up with suitable songs for a near record-breaking game like Monday night’s, and his thoughts on the importance of the organ in the ballpark and the role of humor in his playing in general. (And since he’s the king of Major League Baseball Easter eggs, we had to ask if there’s some mystical meaning to his repeated playing of Taylor Swift’s “Opalite” or “Kpop Demon Hunter’s” “Golden.”)
In all the social media threads about you during the World Series, we keep seeing Blue Jays fans being jealous and saying, “We need an organist back in Toronto.” We get spoiled in LA and don’t realize that every team doesn’t have one, but when the whole world watches the series, everyone suddenly becomes hyperaware.
It’s great to hear that, that people could actually hear and feel the difference. Obviously I’m biased, but I feel it when I watch games from other places and they only have recordings. To me, it just automatically feels like it could be so much better. You can add some life, some personality to a place that doesn’t have live music. But fortunately, quite a few ballparks still have the organ, and those fans get to experience it. It’s kind of like I’m playing the soundtrack to what’s happening out there on the field, just reacting. Since the game is not scripted, it is live. So what better way to do it than with a live accompaniment?
Of course, it’s not entirely uncommon for a Dodgers game to go into a couple of extra innings. But in Game 3, it was a whole other level – overtime overtime – and eventually it’s appropriate to bring out some songs that allude to that epic length. Are these the songs you already have in the back of your head, even though there wouldn’t be many chances to use them?
Well, I have a few in the back of my mind, if games last long. For example, if the game is three hours long, I usually play the “Gilligan’s Island” theme because the lyrics talk about “a three-hour tour.” When we hit the six-hour mark Monday night, I thought, “Wait a minute, what if I played ‘Gilligan’ again because it’s three hours by two?” I thought it was some kind of deep (reference)… but actually, to my surprise, people noticed, and I thought, well, they got it!
And then some other stuff just came to mind, like Billy Joel – “The Longest Time”, I played some of that. And then I played the theme to “The Never Ending Story”, because it felt like the game was just like a never ending. It just occurred to me, maybe a few minutes before I played it – I thought, “Oh, this would be good.” So luckily I already knew how to play those songs and didn’t have to learn them on the spot.
However, “Never Ending Story” may not be one you bring up very often.
Not very often, no. But I used to play it because there was a baseball player named Trevor Story who played on the Colorado Rockies for a long time, and when they came here I played a little bit of it. But yeah, I don’t get to play it often.
People collectively added on social media to playlists of the songs you got in there in Game 3: “Final Countdown”, “All Night Long”, “Just Can’t Get Enough”… which just sounds good in an organ excerpt whether it has anything to do with the game or not.
Yes. I love Depeche Mode. “I just can’t get enough of this baseball game,” right? I just try to add little, little, little, little things here and there and hopefully it can put a smile on the fans’ faces if they catch it.
People who have baseball as their favorite sport often do so because of the elements of the game that cannot be duplicated in any other sport. And it applies here: You have a very tense game, and yet, in a way, you introduce bits of comedy into it, without taking away the tension. There is simply no comedy allowed in football.
But if I get, but I think the thing is, when you do it with the organ, it’s not exact – it’s more subtle. It’s not in your face, with the lyrics blasting. And obviously we have the technology to play all the songs, right? But with the organ, it’s a little more subtle and it allows it to remain part of the game, but still not bigger than the game. Because people come here to watch the World Series. And then the organ, I think, can add that fun comedy, if you will, here and there, but in a subtle way that doesn’t take anything away. We’re not bigger than the game anyway. That’s what I think.
Do you have any estimate of how many people get the references or jokes if they are not on social media and just sitting there enjoying the game? Obviously, most people aren’t up to it. Is it 10% or 20%?
I don’t know how many there are. All I know is that I have a social media account — just that one; I must be too overwhelmed to have more than one — on Twitter or X. The 14th round I posted from the other night has over 140,000 views. I’m like, wow, that’s a lot, you know? But I don’t post everything. I can’t record and play. So I’m not sure how many people notice these things. Sometimes it’s more than I think. I am quite pleasantly surprised sometimes.
You had a 14th inning stretch Monday night? Those of us watching at home were fooled by it.
Yes, every seventh inning we play “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, so when we hit the 14th inning it was time to stretch again. People just got such a kick out of it, because the normal stretch is a pretty happy part of coming to a baseball game, and now we get to do it again a couple of hours later, and it’s such a rare thing.
Any Taylor Swift fan who has been to a recent game you played instantly recognized “Opalite” from her new album. And you’ve done “Golden” and “Soda Pop” from “Kpop Demon Hunters.” Are they there as references of some kind, or just because they’re fun songs that people love right now?
No, just because they’re funny. Although sometimes with “Golden” I might do it after a popup, because we go “up, up, up” and the ball is up, up, up. I might do it then, but it’s a bit difficult. But usually with the current stuff, I’ll just play them because they’re popular right now. There is not always a coupling or a coupling. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn’t.
With “Opalite” I started looking it up, like: Are there blue-shaded opalites, and is it related to Dodger blue? And of course there is. But I overthought it.
No, that’s totally cool. I mean, I get it on social media. People will say, “Oh, you played it for this reason,” and I really didn’t, but that kind of works, you know?
I’m instantly set to recognize the “Twin Peak” theme, but it wasn’t easy to grasp the meaning at first thought. Then there’s one that I would never recognize, but many do – a song from “The Goofy Movie” called “I2I.”
The song is called “I2I” — pronounced “eye to eye” — but it looks like “1-2-1.” And on the scoreboard it will say “one ball, two strikes, one out” when that happens, so that’s when I play “I2I.” It was really surprising how many people got it. At the same time, many were curious as, what is the connection here? When I explained that, they said, “Oh yes, of course.”
People loved hearing the Ewok celebration song in Game 3, which you’ve played before.
Yes, yes, yes. Usually I play it near the end of a game because that song took place at the end of “Return of the Jedi,” and I thought, okay, usually in the eighth or ninth inning, when we’re about to win, it’s a pretty happy, celebratory song, so I thought, “Oh, maybe I’ll play that.” I also play “Con te partirò”, which is “Time to Say Goodbye”, by Andrea Bocelli. So that’s another one I’m going to do in the ninth round. As long as we win.
In Game 3, people kept wondering, are the players getting tired? How about you – did you get tired? Did it tax you?
Yes, we all got tired. Even the organist got tired. But the adrenaline got me through it and my love for this job got me through it. You know, it takes energy, and I’m always thinking ahead… So yeah, I was tired. But it was a fun tired, definitely.
We’ll hear more from you in the final home game of the series Wednesday night. But the Dodgers aren’t your only gig. We can look forward to hearing you with the Kings during the season, can’t we?
Yes. I actually have a Kings game tomorrow. Hockey season starts in October, so we’re into our third or fourth game now, and so yeah, a Kings game tomorrow and another Kings game on Saturday. Both are fun. They’re very different, obviously, you know, summer, winter, outdoors, indoors; one can be warm weather, the other is in the arena, where it can be quite chilly. They are different but each one is fun in their own way, that’s for sure.
(To read Variety’s interview with country star Brad Paisley about accidentally singing the national anthem at the two longest World Series games in history, click here.)
