Tagged: Blake Hawksworth

Redbirds Secrets: Joe Mather


Much like outer space, and the New Age section at your local music store*, the human mind is filled with vast amounts of unexplored territory; hidden nuggets of information that often go unrevealed and are carried to the grave.

In most social circles, these hard-to-locate pockets of knowledge are known as ‘secrets’ and they loom in the back of nearly every individual’s psyche, showing themselves in only the most comfortable of situations (i.e. at your Grandmother’s house or while wearing a pair of over-sized sweatpants).

Secrets can be small, like enjoying musicals, or secrets can be not so small, like being an active member in the Julie Andrews fan club (there’s only about ten of us). No matter the size, each man or woman carries with them their own satchel of buried tales that define who he or she is. We at Chirp Chatter have taken it upon ourselves to root our way into the minds of some of this year’s Redbirds squad to see what secrets they might have in a segment we have laboriously titled, “Redbirds Secrets”.

*the secrets found here are probably best left hidden

To start our reoccurring piece, we give you first…Joe Mather.

jms-w-words.jpgAccording to the Media Guide

Born:July 23, 1982 at Sandpoint, Idaho

Resides: Phoenix, Arizona

According to Joe

Favorite Color: Green

Nicknames: Joey Bombs, Bombs

Favorite Famous Mather: Jerry “Beaver” Mathers of ‘Leave it to Beaver’

Best Thing to do in Phoenix: attend Phoenix Suns games.

Recent Broken Bone Story: While batting, the knob of the bat pressed hard into the lower part of his hand and broke the bone. He pointed at the lower metacarpal.

Lightning Round Responses:

  • Dogs over Cats
  • Books over Movies
  • Fruits over Vegetables
  • Country Music over Water Sports

Memphis’ Best Kept Secret: Texas de Brazil

Joe Mather’s Best Kept Secret: He could eat pizza every single day of the year.

Royce Ring’s Best Kept Secret:Likes to go by the name ‘Snoozie’ and is a budding rap star.

Blake Hawksworth’s Best Kept Secret: Often provides Ring with backing beats to rap to and will most likely be Ring’s producer.

Headed Home


Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end and our Spring Training trip is no different. The Redbirds traveling party disbanded this morning with the important people (President/GM Dave Chase and President Bill Harter) leaving first thing this morning and the not quite as important people (Broadcaster Steve Selby and myself) sitting in the Palm Beach Airport right now waiting to fly back to Memphis. (Side note: the trip is already off to a great start as they just announced our flight is delayed by nearly an hour.)

The last day of the Spring Training trip is always a little bittersweet. First, you don’t want to leave the baseball behind and second, no one wants to leave the sun and the fun of southern Florida. But the end of the trip always comes with a silver lining, especially this year. Baseball at AutoZone Park is only one week away with the ‘Birds and Cards kicking off the 10th season of AZP next Friday at 7:05.

I will say one thing about this trip, it has made me more excited for the 2009 season than any other since I started working for the Redbirds in 2005. There are still a few roster spots to be determined but even with those spots still up in the air the ‘Birds Opening Day Roster is going to be packed with young talent. The pitching staff will arguably be one of the best in the Pacific Coast League with the majority of last season’s rotation and part of the bullpen returning. Memphis posted the best ERA in the league last season and will be a serious threat to do it again. With Mitchell Boggs, P.J. Walters, Clayton Mortensen, Jess Todd and Blake Hawksworth penciled in as the starting five it should help what could potentially be a really young bullpen. There are no big boppers for the offense this year with David Freese looking more and more like he’ll be in St. Louis with each passing day. So look for a little more running on the basepaths and a lot more small ball this year…at least to start the season.

We’ll see you at the yard.