As a gospel artist, Sister Wynona Carr is best-known today for her marvelously bouncy single “The Ball Game,” which begins “Lord Jesus is standing at the home plate,” for Specialty Records in 1953. When she didn’t have another gospel hit, the label made her an R&B singer and recorded a series of excellent LPs with her – none of which sold particularly well until “Should I Love Again” in 1957. But Carr then contracted tuberculosis, effectively ending her career. She fought depression and died way too young in 1978. She was just 55.
Today, however, Carr is widely regarded as a true talent, both as a singer and a songwriter. “The Ball Game” was included on Chadwick Bosman’s movie about Jackie Robinson, 42 and Garrison Keillor played it numerous times over the years on Prairie Home Companion.
Here’s Sister Wynona Carr’s “The Ball Game.”
MUSIC: Sister Wynona Carr, “The Ball Game,” 45
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries and is funded by generous support from the Prichard Foundation.