The organists for the 30 major league baseball teams hold some of the most exclusive jobs in the working world. The two who share that assignment for the St. Louis Cardinals are both former Missouri State students.

The Cardinals’ musicians cover a wide range of the experience spectrum. Dwayne Hilton was on the Springfield campus from 1993-95, while Ernie Hays attended what was then-SMS four decades earlier, from 1953-55.

Hilton has played at five-year-old Busch Stadium since 2007, while Hays was the first performer to provide live music at the previous Busch Stadium, starting with the Cardinals in 1971. The previous Busch had no live music from when it opened in 1966 until Hays began.

There has been live organ music at major league baseball for nearly 70 years. After sharing the spotlight in recent years with various types of prerecorded music, the people who entertain at stadium keyboards have been making a comeback with 21 new ballparks opening in the past two decades.

Everything at new Busch is state-of-the-art, with the stadium organ on the media broadcast level in the booth with sound and scoreboard controls, PA announcer and TV director’s console.

The Cardinals’ two organists begin performing when the stadium opens, two hours before a game. They play at natural breaks in the game between innings, between hitters and during pitching changes and rain delays. The music ranges from a medley of several numbers to a few notes or short fanfare during a pause in the game. The job necessitates excellent timing, musical improvisational skills and considerable concentration. Above all, it requires the organist to be a baseball fan.

“You get to know how pitchers and hitters work and get used to their habits,” Hilton said. “For instance, the Cardinals’ Skip Schumaker adjusts his batting gloves every pitch. That’s a break to play something quick.”

Hays, a graduate of Houston (Mo.) High, worked at Springfield radio station KICK when he was in school, and, after four years as a Navy electronics technician, finished his electrical engineering degree at Missouri-Rolla. He worked in setting calibration standards for Gemini Space System test equipment at Lambert Field in St. Louis.

“For the first 10 years, I provided the only live music at old Busch,” Hays recalled. “I was also making a 22-hour drive to Florida to play for Cardinals spring training. I enjoyed talking to the players and finding out what they wanted to hear when they came up to bat.”

A long-time institution on the St. Louis sports scene, Hays has spent 40 years playing for the Cardinals along with 22 years with the National Hockey League St. Louis Blues and St. Louis pro teams in basketball, soccer and football. He was recognized for his four decades of service Oct. 3.

Hays has played for an All-Star Game and five World Series. “Playing at my first World Series in ’82 was like I was floating on a cloud, to be playing in that setting,” he recalled.

Hilton’s time in Springfield includes stints playing for Springfield Little Theatre production rehearsals. Noted long-time MSU choral director Dr. Guy Webb “had a great influence on my early musical career when I played at rehearsals for his choral groups.”

Hilton’s job with the Cardinals came through his work with Lacefield Music in St. Louis, where he sells organs and pianos to churches and schools. The Ellington, Mo., native has been with Lacefield since he came to St. Louis in 1995. Lacefield provided the Lowrey Prestige organ used in new Busch.