Some of you know where the words of the title of this narrative came from, especially if you have children, or maybe not, and you’ve stumbled upon the program yourself. These are the opening lyrics of the popular kids’ cartoon program, SpongeBob SquarePants.

Sally and I have heard the song way more that we might want to admit, but since a couple of months ago, have found ourselves drawn into a large group who have had this ditty fused into their most favorite summer pastime, Cleveland Guardians baseball.

Since day one of this baseball season, we’ve often traveled to what is sometimes called “The Land,” where we’ve watched a number of young men begin their Major League Baseball careers, in “The Show.” Some have been there from day one of this 2022 season, some have been called up since then, and have contributed greatly to the team. Most recently, we got to see five of these youngsters in the starting lineup at the same time against the garbage can-less Houston Astros. We’ve seen many of these rookies pitch their first pitch, earn their first strikeout, and/or win their first MLB game. We’ve also seen many firsts on offense witnessing first hits, first RBIs, first homeruns, and first walk-off hits. Other members of this young team (average age 26.1 years old) are second year players who are already regular starters, and with these rookies look like a group of young men who you might think need their parents’ permission to be out after 9:00 on night game nights.

So, where does the animated show’s song play into all of this? On this past May 26th, 24-year old, Oscar Gonzalez, a minor league player in the Guardians organization made his Major League debut joining many of his former Triple-A teammates who had already, been called up to wear the new logo of Cleveland baseball. When they asked him to choose a walk-up song, he chose the theme song from SpongeBob SquarePants. When someone asked him why that song, he said through the team interpreter, that it was a song kids liked and he wanted to make the kids in the crowd happy.

It was a heartwarming reason given as to why he picked that ditty, but it was/is much more from my perspective in my living room, and from my seats at Progressive Field. I get to watch these young ballplayers, these kids, continue their growth in baseball in the Cleveland organization while injecting so much energy into each other, and not only the young kids in the crowd, but many of us “older kids” watching too. At first, the kids in the crowd sang along with Gonzalez’s walk-up song, but now, most everyone in the crowd sings along with the Nickelodeon favorite, followed by much laughter out of the mouths of fans of all ages.

As stated, Sally and I were recently in the crowd for three Guardian games against the Astros, two games exceeding 25,000 fans and the other exceeding 22,000 baseball enthusiasts. When Gonzalez started his walk from the on-deck circle to the batters’ box each time in those three games, the majority of the crowd, including many Astro fans, loudly sang the answer to the question, “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”, and the second line, “Absorbent and yellow, and porous is he,” with loud shouts of “SpongeBob SquarePants!” This has also happened at games we attended against the Twins, and A’s, and we’ve heard it on televised home games against other teams in which Gonzalez has played. It seems to be infectious and lets all of us be kids for just a few seconds at a time during a baseball game. More importantly, it validates these kids having fun being kids while playing a kids game. Oh yeah, and this team, who’s welcomed Steven Kwan, Bryan Lavastida, Konnor Pilkington, Richie Palacious, Tanner Tully, Kirk McCarty, Gabriel Arias, Oscar Gonzalez, Alex Call, Nolan Jones, Will Benson, Tyler Freeman, Hunter Gaddis, and Xzavion Curry, along with other non-rookies, but youngsters, Andres Gimenez, James Karinchak, Emmanuel Clase, Tristan McKenzie, Eli Morgan, Owen Miller, Myles Straw, Cal Quantrill, Josh Naylor, Austin Hedges, and the few veterans who’ve played for more than 3 seasons in Cleveland, as of the final proofreading of this narrative a week ago, sat atop the American League Central Division.

I love baseball. I love watching it played hard and clean. I love seeing players having fun. For me, it’s more than wins and losses. This group of Guardians players, these kids, play hard, clean, and are having a blast playing my favorite sport, evidenced by adopting a cartoon character to lead them and their fans in song as they show their love of the game, their love for each other as teammates, their many smiles and laughs, and their “never give up” attitude each and every game.

I’m lovin’ this! Kids (most of them younger than my kids, and a couple of my grandsons) being kids, playing a kids’ game, and having so much fun doing it, all with the help from that little toon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea.