With the recent steroid scandals that have plagued baseball it seems like the magic that is embedded in America’s pastime is fading and becoming a thing of the past. Fortunately, however, there is hope and it can be found in the golden city of San Francisco, California in the form of a five-foot ten, a hundred and seventy pound specimen named Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants.  While the Giants are having a fairly successful early season, the true story behind the team and perhaps behind all of baseball for years to come lies in the right-handed starting pitcher Lincecum.

Fireworks – Animal Collective Fireworks – Animal Collective

In his first two years as a starter he’s won the prestigious Cy Young award back-to-back. He is virtually unhittable and a menace to opposing teams. Dubbed “The Freak” because of his unbelievably powerful and accurate pitching, Lincecum is significantly smaller than many of the players he faces yet he is so lethal because the mechanics he’s been using since he was four were designed specifically for him by his father to optimize his efficiency.

As a baseball fan, it’s truly exciting to see a ball player who is feared by his peers because he is simply just too good bring that ‘magic’ back to the game. The San Francisco Giants, in my opinion, have a player that is one of a kind. For that reason I can only imagine that their most appropriate at-bat song would be Animal Collective’s Fireworks (from the album Feels). Baseball is full of mystique. It’s one of those few truly American things that exist and like all things truly American we celebrate it with fireworks; much like we celebrate our athletes who manage to captivate us because they do things we can only dream of doing.

The Animal Collective has been busy lately promoting their film, ODDSAC, which they co-created with filmmaker Danny Perez. The ‘visual album’ received good reviews. Lately the band collectively seems to be taking a break while Panda Bear and Deakin go on solo tours.

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