By Mike Pound
Globe columnist
mpound@joplinglobe.com
Larry Sanborn has more guts than I do.
Here’s an example: I would rather step up to the plate in front of thousands of baseball fans and face a Bob Gibson fastball than step up to the plate and sing the national anthem before thousands of baseball fans. Larry, on the other note, has no problem singing the national anthem in front of thousands of people.
Good thing, because that’s what Larry did Monday night before a Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium.
“I really didn’t have much time to be nervous,” Larry said. “I was just excited to get to do it.”
Larry sounded like he was still excited Tuesday afternoon when I talked with him. I swear I could hear him grinning through the phone.
Globe sports writer Rich Brown wrote a nice story in Monday’s paper about Larry’s impending stadium solo. When I read Rich’s story, I knew I had to talk to Larry about his experience. I mean, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not exactly like singing “Happy Birthday.” It’s your basic tough sing.
Fortunately, Larry is and was up to the challenge. The longtime Joplin High School band and choir director has been around music most of his life. He’s also not exactly a stranger to singing the national anthem. A few years ago, Larry — along with his son, Barry, and three friends — sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 8,000 fans at a Lady Bears basketball game at Missouri State University in Springfield.
Larry loves music and he loves to sing, which is nice. Even nicer is the fact that he loves baseball as much as he loves music. So basically what Larry got to do Monday night was combine two of his greatest loves, which is nicer still. Making things even better was that Larry’s greatest love — his wife, Gloria — was there to watch him sing.
Gloria, who freely acknowledges that she doesn’t share his passion for baseball, said the enormity of what Larry was doing didn’t completely hit her until she saw him on the stadium’s JumboTron scoreboard.
“I was standing there watching him sing and it was beautiful, and then I looked at the crowd, and then I saw him on the JumboTron and I went, ‘Oh my God.’ It was absolutely perfect. That’s when I had a lump in my throat,” Gloria said.
Larry auditioned for the Royals at the team’s FanFest last winter. He was one of 10 or so folks picked out of more than 60 singers to perform at Kauffman Stadium. But the thing is, the audition was one of those “oh, what the heck” deals. Larry planned to go to FanFest regardless of the audition. He wanted a chance to meet some of the players and pick up some things to add to his baseball memorabilia collection.
“The audition was on a whim,” he said. “I just wanted to go to the FanFest.”
If there was a drawback to the whole experience, it was that Larry didn’t have a chance to grab any autographs while he was on the field Monday night.
“Although after I sang and was walking off, Dave Owen (the Royals bench coach) said ‘good job’ to me,” Larry said.
Singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” is tough. There is no doubt about that. And singing it in front of sports fans can be even tougher. Mess up the anthem and you’ll know it pretty quickly, because sports fans aren’t exactly shy when it comes to expressing their feelings. Larry, who said he probably goes to more than 20 baseball games a year, was aware of that but said he wasn’t too worried.
The key is the key to singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Larry said. If you start at a key low enough yet comfortable enough for you, it makes it much easier, he said, to hit that “land of the free” high note.
“I just made sure I found my range so the high note wouldn’t break,” he said.
Apparently, the high note didn’t break. Larry got rave reviews from the large contingent of family and friends who drove up to Kansas City to watch him sing. He even got accolades from strangers in the stands.
“After I sang, I got to my seat and just relaxed for a minute,” he said. “Then I went and got something to eat.”
And then, Larry said, he sat back and watched the game.
With, I’m guessing, a big grin on his face.
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