America has many pastimes and baseball has long been chief among them. While fishing has been one of the most popular participation sports in the country, bass fishing has earned its place as perhaps the most “American” of angling pursuit.
Last week, the Guntersville, Ala. Pro Gerald Swindle received an invitation to throw out the first pitch at the Rocket City Trash Pandas game at Toyota Field in Huntsville, Ala. When the two-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year and varsity baseball player at Alabama’s Locust Fork High School got the opportunity to represent his bass fishing occupation at a recent baseball game, he jumped at the chance.
The opportunity came when the Trash Pandas, a Double-A minor league affiliate of the Anaheim Angels became the first team in the Angel’s organization to make the playoffs since 2015. In preparation for the event, team management looked for ways to help bring some attention to the games using area celebrities. One of the people that the marketing department turned to was Trash Pandas Account Executive Emma Martin.
Martin, being the daughter of Alabama Bass Trail Program Director Kay Donaldson knew where to turn. “Gerald and LeAnn have always been close to our family, and with his status as a Northern Alabamian two-time Angler of the Year, it was a natural decision to reach out to him,” said Martin. “The response was almost immediate that he’d love to do it, so we set it up for game two of the Southern League Division playoff series with the Tennessee Smokies.”
Swindle arrived early to the stadium and got ready to make his appearance. At 6:20, with the game set to begin at 6:40, the call came from Sprockets, the Trash Panda’s mascot, for Swindle to take the hill. He was announced and the lanky righthander delivered a fastball for a strike to the cheers of the Trash Pandas’ fans.
After his successful TOYOTA Field debut, Swindle posed for pictures with Sprockets on the field then he and LeAnn made their way to the concourse where he signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans for the first two innings before joining local dignitaries in a sky box for the rest of the game.
They joined Dr. Joseph DiNoto, Vice President of IGNITE; Joey Ceci, President of Breland Companies; Dale Strong, Chairman of Madison County Commission, a newly elected Alabama State Senator and their friends and families in the sky box.
Swindle said he it was a great experience. “I was honored to be asked to throw out the first pitch for the Trash Pandas,” he said. “I played football, basketball and baseball in high school, but really loved baseball, so this brought back memories and allowed me to meet new people and watch some truly great baseball being played; we’ll come to more Panda games in the future; it was a great experience.”
Unfortunately, the Tash Pandas lost game two with a score of 4-2 to even the series, then fell again with a score of 3 -1 on the following night to end their 2022 campaign.
