Tired of 'Baby Shark'? Beware This World Series

You'll be hearing it, courtesy of Washington Nationals fans
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 21, 2019 8:46 AM CDT

The World Series begins Tuesday night between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros, and this year's previews include a strange explainer: why the song "Baby Shark" is such a hit with Nationals fans. As the Washington Post reports, it began in low-key fashion in June when Nats player Gerardo Parra adopted the kids' ditty as his walkup song before at-bats. At the time, both Parra and team were slumping. He got a hit the first time the song played, the team started winning, and the song stayed. Now, it's a thing.

For proof, watch this video from last week. "Anything more wild than a ballpark full of adults and children alike singing 'Baby Shark?'" asks the Cut4 tweet. Fans not only sing along, they do the hand motions. In fact, the players have adopted the hand motions after base hits: small "baby shark" finger pincers for a single, bigger "daddy shark" hand motions for a triple, etc. So why did Parra choose the song? His 2-year-old daughter, Aaliyah Victoria, loves it. "Before the game, I tried merengue, reggaeton, hip-hop, then I said, ‘You know what, I want to put in Baby Shark,'" he told NBC Sports. "I'm happy for that.” (A TV series based on the song is in the works.)

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