It was on this day in 1955 that Damn Yankees made its Broadway debut (source: NY Times). The musical about a Washington Senators fan from Chevy Chase who sells his soul to the devil in order to play for a pennant-winning Senators team has enjoyed several revivals, including one at the Arena Stage this past winter. Hopefully you got to see it while it was in town. It was fantastic show, but if you missed it you can always rent the 1958 movie with Tab Hunter as Joe Hardy, Ray Walston as Mr. Applegate/the devil, and the sultry Gwen Verdon as Lola.

After seeing Damn Yankees at Arena, I had “Heart”, one of the signature songs from the show, stuck in my head for days months, confirming for me the belief that the song needs to be played at RFK. Think about it — 30,000 people singing this rousing number after “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” — it would be fantastic, not too mention a whole lot better than Boston’s “Sweet Caroline” or Balmer’s inexplicable “Country Boy.” Only one city can play “Heart,” so let’s do it. Are you listening Messrs. Lerner?

Also, since we are talking about making parts of Damn Yankees part of the gameday experience, why not take the next logical step and replace Screech with a mascot that we can really love – Lola!