Take yourself back to the summer of 1989. George H.W. Bush is the president. The Milwaukee Brewers are playing .500 baseball in Milwaukee County Stadium. Late Night With David Letterman is one of the hippest shows on television. What do you get when you combine all three? (Well, not so much the Bush part.) The time Late Night stage manager Biff Henderson visited Milwaukee and sang the national anthem at a Brewers game. With the staff of 94WKTI.
The game in question occurred on Saturday, August 5, 1989. More than 42,000 fans showed up to watch the Brewers defeat the California Angels 5-2 that night, and to watch a longtime Letterman foil take a crack at “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It went…okay.
Some takeaways:
• Bandleader Paul Shaffer apparently sang the anthem at a game the previous year, and was a little “bitter” about Biff getting the call.
• Biff had a good time.
• The folks in Milwaukee were nice.
• “I understand Biff has a record out now, and WKTI in Milwaukee has added it to their playlist.”
• God bless America.