There’s a new tradition taking root in Tennessee baseball, but it’s not in the dugout or on the field with the players. It’s in the stands with their mothers.
Just as the players don a fur coat and a hat emblazoned with “Daddy” after they hit a homer, their mothers have their own cheetah-print fur coat and a hat that says “Mommy” that they wear after their son knocks one out of the park.
It began early in the season when the grandmother of outfielder Dylan Dreiling wore her fur coat to a game during which the team scored quite a few home runs. It became a good luck charm that found a home in Knoxville with Gretchen Stark, the mother of catcher Cal Stark (’24).
Dreiling’s grandmother purchased the “Mommy” hat and it became part of the ensemble that is passed around in the stands when the team hits a home run.
The hat and coat have been at every game since the team played Georgia in March. The Vols hit five home runs during that series and came away with the win.
Supplied by catcher Evan Russell (’21, ’22), the team’s fur coat first made an appearance during a 2022 game against Georgia Southern, when the Vols scored four home runs.
And it hasn’t been washed since. Dreiling’s mom, Lindsey, told a reporter for NCCA Baseball in June that the moms haven’t washed their coat either, but she promised her mother she would have it dry cleaned after the season.
What do the players think of their mothers’ celebration antics?
“My first reaction says they’re all rolling their eyes,” Lindsey told WBIR Channel 10 in June.
In the same interview, Gretchen agreed and said, “It comes from the love we have for what they do and the support that we just want to show and give to them.”