It's that time of the year when sports magazines and broadcasters present their midseason awards. Scariest Offensive Player, Best Starting Staff, Top Rookie. While you wouldn't expect any category leader to emerge from the Angels this year, they actually boast one -- Top Lead Vocalist. And the winner is (insert drumroll) ...
Scott Spiezio. (insert applause). When he's not tending various infield positions for the Angels, Spiezio sings lead vocals for Sandfrog, a heavy-metal band he started with four friends from high school and college in 1996.
|  | | Scott Spiezio has been on a tear in the month of July as he's batting .344 in 10 games. |
"We used to make fake videos in high school, and then we just took it to the next level and actually got some instruments," Spiezio said. "Everything just snowballed from there."
While the group has not exactly created a full-fledged avalanche within the music industry, they are slowly picking up speed, performing around in their hometown Chicago area during the offseason. "Now we've got T-shirts, we've got hats, we've got a Web page. The only thing we're missing is talent!" Spiezio jokes.
Spiezio first picked up a guitar 3½ years ago and though he writes the majority of the band's songs, he does not know how to read music. He simply hears a melody in his head, duplicates it on his guitar and then leaves his band mates the task of deciphering it.
Whatever Sandfrog lacks in formal training, it makes up in enthusiasm. They produce, record, mix and market their music themselves in Spiezio's basement. If you're picturing a musty wood-paneled cellar, you're only half correct. With a little help from Home Depot, they have transformed it into a rock-n-roller's sanctuary -- an eclectic mix of strobes, Christmas lights and glow-in-the-dark rubber green frogs adorn their practice stage.
"My teammates are always making fun of me because I say we're a 'garage band', but they call us a 'basement band' because they know all about the stage," he says.
When on tour with the Angels, Spiezio travels with a 64-track digital recorder. "I have a lot of down time. We get done playing at 11 o'clock at night, and I'm in a hotel room by myself," he says. "It's either get in trouble or write some songs and I choose to write songs."
Meanwhile, the rest of Sandfrog waits patiently back in Morris, Ill. for the season to end, working gigs as architects, accountants and electrical engineers. "We'd probably be on MTV already if it weren't for Scott playing baseball seven months out of the year," says guitarist Andy Anderson with a wry smile.
It looks like Sandfrog will have their lead singer back in the pond come the beginning of October. Suffering key injuries to Mo Vaughn and Tim Salmon, the Angels are limping towards the finish line, hitting just .260 as a team through Monday. There's a good chance Sandfrog could pile up more hits than the Halos have with runners in scoring position this year.
And should that happen, the band agrees that the ultimate gig would be to someday play at Ozzfest, an annual amp-fest for metal-heads. Until then, they sit in Spiezio's basement and ponder life's looming mysteries -- like what exactly is a Sandfrog?
"Kevin our bass player came up with a myth about a frog in Australia that drank all the water and was banished to the dessert to live with Aboriginees," Spiezio says. "But it's really just a combination of our last names. They don't think the truth is ingenious enough, but I think that's what people want to hear."
Lisa Fenn is an Associate Producer for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" and "Baseball 2Day."
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