Lynn remains close to songwriter’s heart

LYNN – He moved from Lynn almost three decades ago, but he’s hitting a home run with his songs about baseball and the city of Lynn.Joe Pickering, a mental health professional in Bangor, Maine, said baseball wasn’t a religion in his home, but he quickly added, “My brother and I were only allowed to pray for one Major League baseball team – the Boston Red Sox. My mother is the reason I am so into sports. It was very amusing growing up in that house. My family was so into sports – it was as if Ted Williams was an uncle.”In fact, his mother was such a die hard Red Sox fan that she was the inspiration for Pickering’s song “Who’s the Greatest Red Sox Fan.””My late Mom, a proud Lynner, was a Hall of Fame Red Sox fan,” he said. “She was the inspiration for another song I wrote called “A Season to Remember.””My mother passed away in 1999,” he said. “She died before seeing her beloved Red Sox win the World Series in 2004. I bet there are many Red Sox fans who believe their family members who passed on were watching with them when we won it all. The lyrics to a “Season to Remember” are to my mom, who I know was watching in heaven.”Pickering, who was in Lynn recently to attend his 50th Lynn English High School reunion, said the city would always be near and dear to his heart.”I was born in 1938 on School Street in a house the nurse called an open air barn,” he chuckled. “I have a great fondness for Lynn. My family lived there for generations.”Recalling his youth in Lynn, Pickering compared the three-family home he grew up in on Essex Street to a train depot.”I lived in that house for 25 years with extended family,” he said. “It was a really wonderful, warm experience. It was kind of like a train station – people would come and go.”Pickering, who moved to Maine decades ago, is fiercely protective of his hometown.”My mom hated that ditty ‘Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin,'” he said. “So I wrote a historical piece about the wondrous history of Lynn and Lynn does have a wondrous history. I called it “Lynn, Lynn, City of Win.'”Pickering said whenever he is in the Boston area he makes a point of stopping by Fraser Field to visit his old stomping grounds.”I have very fond memories of Fraser Field and Manning Bowl,” he said. “Way back in 1952, I sat in Fraser Field and watched King Eddie Feigner – the greatest pitcher I ever saw. He pitched from second base blindfolded and struck out the batter. He also threw pitches behind his back and through his legs and still struck batters out. He is one of the greatest barnstormers of all time. But I must say I was at Fraser Field this summer and it is considerably better today than it was even when it was new.”Of course Pickering wrote a song about King Eddie Feigner and his court but he didn’t stop there. Several of Pickering’s songs pay tribute to Lynn natives including the late Tony Conigliaro and Harry Agganis.”Harry Agganis is my number one sports hero of all time,” he said. “He was called the “Golden Greek” and he was my earliest sports hero. I always admired Agganis for the life he led and his being from Lynn was very important to me.”Pickering has three CDs with baseball songs he wrote that are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and, several years ago, his song “Babe Ruth Curse” was used in the HBO movie “Curse of the Bambino.””I didn’t play baseball very well,” he said. “But I started writing songs with an emphasis on sports and lots of them about the Red Sox quite a long time ago. At least my songs made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.”Pickering’s CDs and digital downloads are available for purchase at www.kingoftheroadmusic.com, www.amazon.com, www.itunes.com and numerous other online music sites.