Baseball Songs on Vinyl, Vol. 4: "Baseball Card Lover"
The first-EVER interview with Rockin' Richie Ray
This is the story of an artist, a one “hit” wonder who went undiscovered for 45 years. We’ll veer into John Waters movies, finding one’s calling at age 13, 1960s Dodger All-Stars, and a freshman David Hasselhoff.
This is the story of Rockin’ Richie Ray and his only record, “Baseball Card Lover” b/w “Hump-A-Baby” from 1977.
“Baseball Card Lover” is known, as much as it is known, for being the third-ever release from legendary label Rhino Records (Catalog number RNOR 004) and a Dr. Demento favorite. The song appeared on four compilation records:
Rhino Royale (1978)
The Rhino Brothers Present the World’s Worst Records Vol. 2 (1985)
Baseball’s Greatest Hits (1989)
Tales from the Rhino - The Rhino Records Story (CD comp, 1994)
The story ends there, as far as the internet is concerned. Seriously. No one has identified the real Rockin’ Richie Ray. No story of the recording session. No account of any live performances.
As your borderline obsessive-compulsive baseball song researcher, I felt obligated to do my due diligence.
Discogs is where one starts, THEE place for finding obscure records and details thereof. To quote Wikipedia, who is quoting discogs themselves:
As of 2 February 2023, Discogs contains over 16 million releases, by over 8.4 million artists, across over 1.9 million labels, contributed from over 658,000 contributor user accounts…
There’s no more dedicated geek than a record geek. And I count myself among them. Discogs is where we congregate. No release too obscure. No matrix etching too faint. If you want to know if a Columbia Records release was pressed in Pitman, NJ, or Santa Maria, CA, or Terre Haute, IN, well… Discogs can tell you.
But when it came to Rockin’ Richie Ray. There was nothing. No other releases. Not even any trails to wander down.
To tell a story of googling the internet is tantamount to malpractice in an email newsletter. Suffice it to say: an entire Saturday is gone forever. Sometimes the internet is weirdly a dead end.
This mystery was not going to sit well inside my brain. Who was Rockin’ Richie Ray? Was it a stage name of another rock n roller? Did he ever perform live?
Enter THE RHINO RECORDS STORY - REVENGE OF THE MUSIC NERDS by Harold Bronson (co-found of Rhino Records), an extensive, detailed account of the record label’s history. Great book, amazing story. No mention of the man nor the single.
Finally I went to my copy of the 7”. The credited musicians all seemed to be decidedly non-famous, as far as the internet was concerned. Until I got to this: PHOTOGRAPHY: DORI ATLANTIS.
Dori is a working artist and I was able to email her through her website. It was a long shot, but a polite-as-I-could-muster message was sent, “Please pardon the somewhat silly question, but were you the photographer on the 1977 single by “Rockin' Rich Ray?”
Within an hour, she confirmed that, yes, she took the photos.
Holy shit.
I immediately followed up, thanking her, and asking “Do you know Rockin’ Richie Ray's real name?”
A few days passed. I was ready to let go.
Then, on a Thursday morning in May, she wrote back:
Hi Jay,
Sorry I am so slow to respond to your inquiry.
Richie’s real name is Richard Ray Bruland.
He is also my husband.
He would love to talk to you.
This is maybe the most exciting email I’ve ever received. I’m not kidding.
A few weeks later, I was talking to the real life Rockin’ Richie Ray on the phone. Here, for the first time anywhere, ever, is the real story of “Baseball Card Lover” b/w “Hump-A-Baby.”
(The interview has been edited for clarity and concision. Our post-interview texts have also been incorporated.)
Jay: How often has anyone tracked you down to ask about “Baseball Card Lover”?
Rockin Richie Ray: You are the first. I guess the record wasn’t exactly a worldwide hit!
Let's let's talk about Rockin’ Richie Ray. Where did the persona come from and how much did you perform as Rockin’ Richie Ray?
Well, first question, where did the name come from? My name is Richard Ray Bruland. So I just took my my first and middle name, Richard Ray. Richard is two formal. Rich to ridged. I went by Richie. It wasn't until after high school that I started really going by the name Richard. So Rockin’ Richie Ray. I knew the song was scatological, let's put it that way. Both sides. So I didn't really want to put my real name on it. I wanted a pseudonym that sounded kind of cool, but I also knew the whole thing about it was they wanted it sung rockabilly style.
And what happened was, here's the story on it. This is 1975, I think it was. Richard Foos, the owner of Rhino Records, had just written this song, “Baseball Card Lover”, and he wanted to record it as the third release on Rhino Records from his record store, Rhino Records. The first two releases did— they were surprised— did quite well.
The first record they recorded was a 45 of Wild Man Fischer, a homeless guy that used to sing outside their front door. And one day he was singing the song he wrote called “Go to Rhino Records”, and they said, “Hey, this is great. Let's make a record and we'll sell it.” They did. It did pretty well.
[Additional baseball connection: Wild Man Fischer’s Album Wildmania!!! (the first Rhino LP release) was partially recorded in the left field pavilion at Dodger Stadium!]
Second record they made was the store employees performing as the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra, doing covers of Led Zeppelin songs on kazoos.
And the third record they wanted to put out was “Baseball Card Lover,” written by Richard Foos. He wanted it sung rockabilly style and in the 1975, there really was no rockabilly revival yet, or at least he couldn't really hook up with anybody who liked rockabilly much, let alone what would sing it. And I loved rockabilly. I grew up with that stuff.
And one drunken night at a friend's house, I sang. I think it was “Heartbreak Hotel” or something. And so my friend who knew Richard Foos thought I could sing rockabilly, told Richard Foos, who had asked if he knew anybody that did. And he said, “Oh yeah, my friend Richard does.” Foos called me. I said, “Well, I'm not really a singer.” He says, “Don't worry about it. We'll just crank up the echo.” [Laughs]
So it was completely created by Rhino Records?
Foos wrote the whole song. And as we're going through the song— I think he was still writing it as we went into the studio— he was stuck on this one the last verse about Big Frank Howard… I had a flash of genius and I piped up, “I got it, it should be this, ‘I hopped out of bed, ran into the shower, and picking up the soap was Big Fred Howard.’” [Laughs] So that line was was all mine. Don't ask me how I know anything about that! [Laughs]
That’s great. I've been trying to decipher the lyrics.
Oh, I can tell you. I can tell you the lyrics.
I would love that.
Well, here's just from memory, at least as much as I can remember.
[Richard quoted all but the Charlie Neal verse from memory. Let’s insert the link again so you can listen and read along.]
There was a feeling in the air, it must have been June.
I was having wet dreams over Wally Moon.
He jumped into my bed, my body got hot.
I said, “Come on, Wally, give me one more moon shot.”
‘Cause I’m a baseball card lover (He’s a baseball card lover)
I’m a baseball card lover (He’s a baseball card lover)
I’m a baseball card lover
Honey, show me your cards.
In this dream, I was coppin’ a feel
from second baseman Charlie Neal.
All through my spine, I was feeling’ chills,
When into my covers slid Maury Wills
[chorus]
[Guitar solo + overheated mumbling]
My hands were shaking, I tried to relax,
when into my bed, climbed Sandy Koufax.
My legs felt numb, my face was pale.
When joining the party was Don Drysdale.
I hopped out of bed, ran into the shower.
But picking up the soap was big Frank Howard.
[chorus]
All Dodger heroes of those early 1960s teams. Wally Moon was Rookie of the Year in ’54. Frank Howard was Rookie of the Year in 1960, but everyone else was like perennial all-stars.
That's right. Yeah. It was all Dodgers.
So how was the recording session? Was it quick? Was it an all day affair?
It was actually fairly quick. He brought in just some musicians. I don't really know the people that played on it. It was a kind of a put-together band.
It lists Background vocals by The New Dildettes. Was that an existing group that you had heard of?
I can't remember who they were, just scraped together and just used that name for that session. Yeah, I don't think they ever did anything else.
Right. There's a credit for A & R, René Engel.
René Engel was the guy who hooked me up to Richard Foos. He was the guy at whose house I drunkenly sang “Heartbreak Hotel.” He was also my partner in a record store that we owned. It was a record store/ art gallery/ performance space, Be-Bop Records in Reseda. But Foos wrote the whole thing. Now the B-side “Hump-a-Baby,” do you know the story on that one?
No. Please.
Oh, that's the story. At the recording session, I was actually really surprised at how well it went because I'm not a musician, but I think we did two or three takes and that was probably it. It didn't take long. I also agreed to do this for a fee. A six pack of beer, [Laughs] which was gladly supplied. I guzzled it at the recording session and it probably made it sound a little better.
I was drinking in those days. I haven't I haven't had a drink in 35 years. After we got “Baseball Card Lover,” he says, “Okay, it's a single we're releasing, we got to have a B-side. Here's here's the tune- da da du da da da da. And I know the title title is going to be ‘Hump-a-Baby’, but I don't have any lyrics. You make up whatever you want and I'll give you writing credit.” So if you look at the single, on the B-side writing credit goes to Foos / Ray. That would be me. So I say, “Oh, cool.” But you know, I'm not thinking much about that and we cut the single.
I just make up some kind of heavy breathing nonsense rockabilly kind of lyrics, and the song comes out. And although it wasn't the smash underground hit, but it did get played on underground radio, and on KROQ too. And it was also played on the Dr. Demento Show a number of times. So it did get some radio play.
“Hump-a-Baby” never did anything. I never heard anything from anybody about “Hump-a-Baby” until years after the record was released. And I get a phone call from another friend of mine, Scott. He says, “Hey, Rich, are you sitting down?” And I go, “No, why should I?” He says, “Yeah, you better sit down. Have you seen John Waters latest movie? Because you're in it.” And I go, “What do you mean, in it?” He goes, “Your song. It's in John Waters latest movie.” I go, “‘Baseball Card Lover’?” He goes, “No,‘Hump-a-Baby!’”
What's the movie?
He tells me it's a film called A Dirty Shame. So I checked out the website for the soundtrack. And there it was. And sure enough, they almost got it right. There was my song “Hump a Baby,” but it was credited not to Rockin’ Richie Ray. It was credited to Little Richie Ray. Rhino Records had sold off all its catalog, or at least had sold off that part of the catalog. And I suddenly remember, “Oh, wait a minute, I wrote that song!” I might have some residuals coming, something. So I had a friend who was a very well-known songwriter. You may have heard of Bob Crewe. You know the Jersey Boys?
Yeah. Yeah.
He wrote all those songs. He was the Four Seasons songwriter. And so he he really knew that industry. He gave me some help in tracking down who now owned the rights to my song. I contacted them and I explained the situation. Once I contacted them, they were happy to pay me. They paid me 800 bucks!
I have to explain the plot of the movie just so you can understand what I'm about to tell you. The movie is, it is ridiculous. It's about a village populated by people who will turn into sex maniacs when they get bonked on the head. That's the plot, right? The actors and actresses are all B-list, Johnny Knoxville, Patricia Hearst, David Hasselhoff, people like that. And I'm watching the film and all of a sudden it switches to an airliner flying at 35,000 feet. There's David Hasselhoff playing himself, and he's sitting there and he has to go to the bathroom. So he goes into the airplane's bathroom where he produces the number two, which is jettisoned from the airplane, falls to Earth through a freezing cloud of snow, which turns that into a clump of solid ice, which falls to earth, bonking some poor lady on the head, turning her into a sex maniac. And that's where my song is playing!
And what what nobody knew— except maybe David Hasselhoff— was that David Hasselhoff was my roommate in college. [Laughs]
No way.
That's true.
Where did you go to school?
Cal Arts. I was there the first year the campus in Valencia opened. I got there and was assigned my room. And I met my new roommate, this guy named David Hasselhoff. And, you know, we got along fine. We never had any problems. We didn't have anything in common.
That's amazing. So I have a question about the single. The photos are really fun. Your wife Dori took the photos right? Did you know her before this?
Oh, yeah. We were married at the time. That was the year we got married. Those photos were taken at a baseball field in either Northridge or Reseda, near Cal State Northridge. Dori was not a professional photographer, but she she studied photography at Cal Arts and done a lot of documentarian photography, especially for the feminist art program. So she came out and we took some photos very quickly. I mean, it only took about a half an hour.
I really do have a real love for rockabilly. As a matter of fact, my store, Bebop Records, a lot of people make the assumption it was called bebop because of jazz, you know, the form of jazz called bebop. No, we named it Bebop after Gene Vincent's “Bebop-A-Lula”. Great rockabilly singer. If you want to hear the greatest rockabilly song ever made, in my opinion, or one of 'em, the b-side of “Bebop-a-Lula,” a song called “Woman Love”. Great.
When I was ten years old, my sister was 13, the prime age for what was happening musically— rock and roll. So right away, she started collecting. She came home with “Rock Around the Clock” and all of a sudden all these records were coming in the house and she forced me and my brother to listen to them. And I liked them, especially those fast ones, you know. She had all those early great rock and roll songs on 45 that I got to listen to. Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Elvis, Eddie Cochran, those people.
Yeah, I can hear it in your performance.
I really was familiar with that music and had collected it somewhat and so it just came natural to me. But again, I'm not a singer, but I kind of knew what it was I was supposed to do. And I just tried to do that the best I could and Foos was right. They just cranked up the echo and it sounded okay. [Laughs]
I think you all nailed it.
What I was shocked at, was that I was actually sort of in tune. I don't know whether they manipulated it so that it came out that way because I'm really not a very good singer.
I only performed it live one time.
That was my next question. Did you ever perform live?
One time. And that was when Bebop Records was up. It must have been about 1985 or something. A friend of the store, a guy named John Schillaci, who was a record producer. He produced some albums by people that were up and coming, was pretty well-known in the LA music scene as a producer for alternative music. One of the bands he produced was The Smithereens.
And he died tragically. And his his wife called me and said that there was going to be a memorial for her husband, John, and that she was inviting his musician friends to perform and that he loved “Baseball Card Lover”! [Laughs] Would I perform? Which scared the hell out of me. And I said, “Well, you know, let me see what I can do.” I called up Rhino and they had a couple of musicians come in. There were some heavyweights at this memorial. I don't remember everybody. I think Exene might have been there. All I know is, after a bunch of people went on, I came on after Dave Alvin. And The Blasters, being a roots band, were were heroes to me. I loved The Blasters. And so I always think of it as the only time I played, Dave Alvin opened for me! [Laughs]
But I remember being really nervous because I've never performed, like I'm not a singer. Jesus, I'm going to make a fool out of myself, like sweating bullets, nervous. And I had just had an epiphany. What am I so nervous about? I'm not going to lose a career? You know, who cares? I'm not a musician. I'm a painter. Just enjoy myself. So I just went out and just had some fun and it was great. We did a spirited version that went really well. Crowd loved it, and that was the only time it ever got performed live. That was a big one.
Were you ever a baseball card collector?
I collected cards, but not so much baseball cards. I collected all kinds of cards, everything. There was a series called War and Peace, which was a series of cards depicting tanks and, you know, weapons of battle. There was another about airplanes. And I loved airplanes. I did have some baseball cards, but it was not a serious collection, and I have no idea what ever happened to them.
Did you have a favorite card as a kid?
No, that wasn't my main interest at all with the cards. You know, in retrospect, I look back and I realize why I liked these cards. From the point of view of what I've become, which is a painter, an artist, and I'm much, much more aware of how out how the visual world was really starting to take over in my mind. I'm pretty sure that any interest I had in cards had nothing to do with really the subject even, but I just liked looking at pictures. And by the time I was 13, I was a fully committed painter who knew exactly what I was going to do with the rest of my life. Be a painter, and it's come true. As I think back about about my development as an artist, I've become more aware of of how the visual world was really impacting me in ways that I didn't even realize until I started painting and realized it's kind of connected to that.
I know it's a real passion amongst baseball card collectors. I didn't have that. I really enjoyed baseball. I liked to play baseball. I was not very good. I still remembered as if it was yesterday, the one time I faced the best pitcher on the other team. And I smacked it out into where the center fielder was and it got caught. But boy, did I get that ball. [Laughs]
But my grandfather, there was a baseball player. He was a really good baseball player when he was young. He lived in Washington state. This is a sad story. He was so good, that the New York Yankees came, knocked on his door and asked his mother if they could speak to him because they wanted to invite him to try out for the New York Yankees. She said "Absolutely not. I will not have my son going to that devil-worshiping city." She was very religious and she never told him. He didn't find that out until he was in his fifties. And he wept like a little baby.
Of course he did.
Hey, another thing about my grandfather, he played a lot of sandlot ball, but as a semi-pro. And he played against Ty Cobb and had his finger broken by Ty Cobb. And it remained in a kind of a bent state. And so every time he pointed at something, it was hard to tell where it was pointing because that finger that had been broken by Ty Cobb!
Wow. Wow!
So I come by baseball sort of honestly.
[End of Interview]
Richard Bruland, you do. You absolutely do.
Where do you go after a Ty-Cobb-breaks-your-grandfather’s-finger story? We talked about the current state of the 2023 Dodgers and wrapped up our interview.
Thank you, Dori. Thank you, Richard. For your time, your kindness, and sharing your story with me.
And readers, if you’re not ready to say YES to doing something, anything, outside of your comfort zone, go back and reread Richard’s tale. What an incredible, silly, and singular experience.
Viva Rhino Records, for embracing novelty, ridiculousness, and talent, wherever you find it.
Viva Discogs for enabling obsessive fandom.
Viva Rockin’ Richie Ray!
Wow! This is incredible! This might be my fave so far. “Honey, show me your cards.”
Great work, Jay!
This is a crazy story!! The Hasselhoff connection is kinda amazing. Also makes me want to watch Dirty Shame