SAN JOSE, Calif. — Any baseball fan knows that music and the great American pastime overlap a bit. There are walk-up songs, after all, ballpark DJs and an organist playing pump-up tunes. And then there’s The Baseball Project, a guitar-centric quintet whose all-star musicians include half of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act R.E.M. — five die-hard baseball fans who write, perform and record irresistible original songs inspired by their favorite sport.

Their debut album, “Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails,” hit it out of the park in 2008 with 13 engaging tracks offering up such songs as “Fernando,” about iconic Los Angeles pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, “Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays” — arguably the most beloved San Francisco Giant of all time — and “The Death of ‘Big Ed’ Delahanty,” which addressed the short life, but brilliant career of this early-era baseball power hitter.

Three albums later, the Baseball Project is still going strong, finding plenty of musical inspiration in a seemingly endless supply of decades-old stories and modern-day tales about the game.

“We are really big baseball fans,” says vocalist-guitarist Steve Wynn, who is best known for his work in the L.A. rock act Dream Syndicate in the ‘80s. “We really do follow the game every single day of the season. It’s not even like where you’d think we’d have to say, ‘OK, time to put aside a little time to think about baseball.’ We think about baseball pretty often.”

That passion leads to an abundance of ideas for song topics. You’ll find “The Voice of Baseball,” about Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, “Screwball” and “Journeyman” on the band’s fourth album — “Grand Salami Time!” — which was released last summer

“There is never any shortage of ideas or material for things to write about,” Wynn says. “I wish all my other projects were that easy, because it is pretty natural and effortless with this band.”

Wynn is one of five all-stars in this three-guitar-driven rock outfit. The other members include vocalist-guitarist Scott McCaughey (the Fresh Young Fellows, the Minus 5) and drummer Linda Pitmon (Filthy Friends) as well as half the original R.E.M. lineup — guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills.

It’s a group with strong Bay Area ties, too: Buck was born in Berkeley; McCaughey grew up in Saratoga, and Wynn is a UC Davis alum. So their performance at Menlo Park’s Guild Theatre in September — part of a 27-city national tour to support the new album — was a homecoming for the band, with plenty of local fans on hand for the show.

“I moved (to the Bay Area) in 1963, became a Giants fan instantly and then became an A’s fan, when they came in ’68, too,” says McCaughey, who attended Saratoga High School before moving to Seattle to start the Young Fresh Fellows. “I liked having both teams there. They are still my teams.”

He talks warmly about some of his earliest experiences watching baseball here.

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