Perfect Pitch
In 2007, a close friend called Edgerton to ask if she’d like to sing the national anthem for her favorite baseball team, the New York Mets. Edgerton, a professional singer, wine appraiser, and consultant, immediately said yes. That April, she sang in front of thousands of fans in what she described as a “joyous day” at old Shea Stadium. Edgerton then went on tour with the Broadway show Mamma Mia! and started singing the anthem at more baseball games.
That’s when the idea for “Anthem Quest” hit her. “A lot of baseball fans have a bucket list goal of seeing a game in every stadium,” Edgerton thought. “Maybe I’ll try to sing in every stadium.” Another close friend of hers, Janelle Tedesco, remembers “the sparkle in her eyes” when Edgerton hatched her plan. Seventeen years later, she has sung for every MLB team but one: the Los Angeles Angels.
She’s working to complete her goal. The singer, who majored in English, no longer sends demos to teams but strives to target the best contact at a team and impress them. “It’s not like the entertainment directors sit around asking, ‘Who are the good anthem singers?’” she says. When Edgerton does land a gig, she typically gets tickets to the game but must cover travel and hotel expenses (and figure out how Denver’s altitude affects high notes) on her own. “It’s not about making money. It’s not about fame,” says Edgerton, who has sung six times for the Mets and twice for both the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies. “It’s just a weird, oddball thing that just had to happen.”