Peanuts, Popcorn, Polka

This year’s World Series had it all – pitching duels, homerun rallies, celebrity fans, extra innings, AND polka! Houston Astros’ mega fan Polish Pete made sure of that. He and his Polka? I Hardly Know Her Band whipped out a ditty called the Altuve Polka inspired by the man in the running for the American League MVP (at press time), second baseman Jose Altuve. With the help of Pete’s video-producer friend, Jason Yu, a video was made and posted to YouTube within 24 hours of recording the song. The video went viral easily racking up 100,000 views in no time. Polkabeat Facebook fans made it the most shared video in the page’s history.

The Altuve Polka garnered Polish Pete an invite to Game 5 from Astros management, where he hob-knobbed with TV talk show legend and Los Angeles Dodger fan Larry King behind home plate. (Larry said he loved the Altuve Polka.) You’ll recall Game 5 was the 10-inning, five-hour thriller in Minute Maid Park. That victory inspired Pete and the guys to create another YouTube hit – I Love Those Houston Astros Polka. They made and posted that video within 8 hours of writing it.

When the Astros won it all, the team invited Polish Pete and his band to be a part of the downtown victory parade on Fri., Nov. 3. They had their own float with Houston pitching legend Nolan Ryan riding along to the polka beat. Texas Polka News caught up with Polish Pete Gordon at his day job – manager of the Continental Club in downtown Houston – to learn how he and the guys got caught up in the championship frenzy that rocked the city.

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