She belongs in the Shrine of the Eternals

The 2018 baseball All-Star game is over now, so on to more important things: retired White Sox organist Nancy Faust is heading to Pasadena to be inducted into Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals!

What? You never heard of the Baseball Reliquary? Me neither. But thanks to an article about Nancy Faust in the Cook County Chronicle, I understand it’s quite an honor: Nancy will be inducted this year along with former White Sox pitcher Tommy John, known more for the arm surgery named after him than his pitching statistics, and the family of baseball veteran and humanitarian Rusty Staub, who died earlier this year. The Baseball Reliquary honors individuals based on:

• the distinctiveness of play (good or bad), or
• the uniqueness of character and personality, or
• the imprint that the individual has made on the baseball landscape.

The Cook County Chronicle article said Members of the Baseball Reliquary called Nancy Faust “without question, the most famous ballpark organist of the past half-century.”

Me and Mike with Nancy Faust during happy hour at the Green Mill. Nancy showed Mike her World Series ring–and yes, he did eventually let go of it.

Nancy and I have become friends over the years. She and Joe come to many of my book-related gigs, and we like to meet her with Joe and their son Eric to hear Chris Foreman playing the organ at Chicago’s Green Mill. Last time we were there, she told me how fortunate she feels to have been born with perfect pitch. “I’ve been playing by ear ever since I was a little girl.” To prove her point, she turned toward the Hammond B3 playing behind us. “Like right now,” she said. “He’s playing in the key of F.” Nancy’s mother was a professional musician, and Nancy’s father owned a business renting organs to music clubs, bars and civic groups in Chicago when Nancy was growing up — Joe eventually took over that business .

Nancy Faust retired from the White Sox in 2010, and I understand that after 41 years, 13 managers and a World Series title, it was a well-deserved retirement. Still, I couldn’t help but get nostalgic reading a list in the Cook County Chronicle article of Nancy Faust’s golden moments at the keyboard — she said one of her personal favorites came in the 1970s when a male streaker crossed the field and she thought to play, “Is That All There Is?”

But times have changed. Technology and scoreboards with video replays have diminished the organ’s role in major league baseball. maybe Nancy was right to retire when she did. From the article:

The Mundelein resident said the focus has changed in the past 20 years with players wanting to hear certain songs. She said the races and other entertainment between half-innings compete for time.

“There’s just not time to do too much now,” Faust said. “The organ can still have a presence, but it’s not necessary anymore. There was more time years ago…now that time is used for a dot race or a commercial. Plus, they are trying to keep the game going now. People’s attention spans are not what they used to be, the luxury of time is no longer there.”

I have to agree. visits to the ballpark the past eight years just haven’t been as fun. Not because the team is doing poorly, I just miss the untraditional songs Nancy played –they helped me follow the game. And for that alone, she deserves her Spot in the Shrine of Eternals. Nancy says she’s thrilled that the Reliquary is flying her and Joe to Pasadena this week for the induction. As she told the Cook County Chronicle reporter, “It’s the only organization that recognizes people who made an impact on the game, but not in traditional ways.”