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It consists of four 'rather ominous looking black albums,' each holding 128 CDs, a stack of spreadsheets for scoring them between 1 and 10, and an Aiwa CD player. He began managing the anthem singers in 2004 and has devised his own system for organizing the 350 audition CDs delivered each year. Ray has been with the Red Sox since 2002. 'He's making me feel like a million dollars right now,' she gushes, stepping away from her entourage to hug him. The tiny park is too small for a green room, so Staples leans casually against the wall that rings the field.

Ray catches sight of Staples and walks over to greet her. In what could only have resembled an identity- theft commercial, they finished out the performance. There was the time when four women opened their mouths to the miscued recording of a male barbershop quartet. But even this precaution has led to technical difficulties. Because of the delay in many stadiums, singers are often pre-recorded. She'll graduate from Berklee this year and has sung twice before at Fenway - once prerecorded, once live. With dreadlocks piled high on her head and a yellow chiffon dress stuffed beneath a brown leather jacket, she moves confidently in gold high-heeled sandals. Some like to quip that the anthem's final words are 'Play Ball!'Īt 6:02 p.m., Staples appears at the edge of the field. (Congress made it the official anthem in 1931.) Today it has a place in nearly every sporting event. It didn't become a fixture at games until World War II. Played by a brass band, it was a patriotic flourish during World War I.

'The Star-Spangled Banner' was first performed at a baseball game during the 1918 World Series. Fighting a sound system that, until this year, had a 1.5-second delay, he has coaxed them through heart-stopping renditions of a song notorious for being difficult to sing. For the singers who have filled Fenway's irregular walls with 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' Ray's steady gaze has been the whole world - an indispensible anchor. Once he has handed off the task to his successor, Jahaan Blake, he will move to another post in the organization. The Marty Rays of baseball perform a job akin to wading through an open-call audition for 'American Idol.' This particular night is Ray's swan song in the position. Yet they're also filled with unseen employees like Ray, who find singers for a pregame tradition as much an institution as the seventh-inning stretch.

The front offices of baseball clubs conjure images of powerful general managers and shrewd scouts, negotiating for high-priced free agents. 'It's best if I don't show much emotion,' he says.

Staples will be flying without a net - while many amateurs are prerecorded to avoid musical balks, she will be singing live.īut Ray is a pro at calming nerves. Once, singer Michael Bolton faltered mid-song the crowd had to carry him through to the end. Ray, the man charged with wading through hundreds of submissions, searching for as many as 81 musicians to perform 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Sox home games, knows that anything can go wrong. Ray will watch as Sabreen Staples, a student at the nearby Berklee College of Music, handles the toughest pitch of the evening: singing the national anthem. Before 36,000 fans can root for the home team, before the umpire can yell 'Play ball!' before the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees can resume their historic rivalry, Mr. For 90 seconds, Marty Ray's ability as a talent scout will be scrutinized by everyone at Fenway Park.

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