As American baseball stumbles into its new pandemic normal, the Nationals will face the Yankees again in D.C. in an empty stadium on Saturday night. The absence of fans is a necessary disappointment for pretty much everyone who loves the game—including the musicians who perform the national anthem.

Normally, the team solicits audition demo tapes every year in the spring. It’s super competitive and isn’t limited to just vocalists. In 2011, a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra played the anthem with a baseball bat outfitted with electric strings (a “batolin”) to enthusiastic cheers.

But Saturday’s rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” won’t be happening in real time: Vocalist Jim Shaffran’s baritone voice will fill the air at Nats Park in the form of a pre-recorded video.

Some elements of the experience were familiar for Shaffran: He showed up to the ballpark on July 19, stood on a large pedestal and belted the anthem into the microphone. But it just wasn’t the same without people.

“There’s no crowd standing and singing with you with hands over hearts—or the occasional Baltimore fan screaming ‘O!’ when you get to ‘O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave’,” says Shaffran in an email to DCist/WAMU, who has performed either the “Star-Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America” at every season for the past 15 years. “I really missed that part.”

And rather than standing centerfield, he recorded the anthem in the rather less scenic parking lot B, so the ballpark would be in the backdrop. That meant that Shaffran sang to the camera operator and …. an empty parking garage.

Some teams have made the decision to keep the national anthem as a live performance. With plenty of room for social distancing, gospel singer Keith Williams Jr. sang the anthem live with an organist at Dodger Stadium for opening day in Los Angeles. The Nationals have not responded to a request for comment about its anthem protocol, but according to a source close to the team, the team made the decision to pre-record the music in an effort to involve fewer technical staff members for their own safety.

The anthem for opening night Thursday was pre-recorded by D.C. Washington, a household name when it comes to music at local sporting events. Washington pre-recorded it on the same day as Shaffran and vocalist Bob McDonald, according to Shaffran. 

The national anthem has carried extra weight for musicians since 2016, when Colin Kaepernick began kneeling as a form of peaceful protest in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. On opening day, every member of the Nationals and Yankees kneeled during a pre-game video message from the Player’s Alliance, a group of Black athletes that formed after the police killing of George Floyd. Each player held a piece of black fabric during the message and every player stood as the “Star-Spangled Banner” played, the Washington Post reported.

Shaffran says he considers it an honor to sing the anthem while others choose to peacefully protest.

And he really just loves the game, and supporting Washington teams with his talent.

“I miss both baseball and singing so much right now,” Shaffran says. “I love doing it. … It puts me in touch with something greater than myself and it makes me feel like I’m contributing to a universal experience.”

All of these thoughts surged through his head as he stood in the blistering heat to record both the national anthem and “God Bless America” for the seventh inning stretch. Shaffran says it made him give an even more heartfelt performance.

“The logistics were quite weird … but the experience was profoundly wonderful.”