Quick-Fire Quips is a speedy questionnaire where we get to know people who stand out in the state of Alabama. In this episode, Alabama Public Radio host Baillee Majors interviews Ricky Fernandez, Director of Marketing and Promotions of the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
Baillee: Hey, Ricky!
Ricky: Hey, Baillee. What's going on? Thanks for having me on today.
Baillee: Yes, happy to have you. You're also the on field emcee for the Trash Pandas?
Ricky: That's right, yeah. When you come out to a Trash Pandas game, you can expect a lot of entertainment. We do a lot in between the innings. I'm the guy running around, kind of being the ringleader of that circus.
Baillee: You mentioned bringing the entertainment, bringing the energy. You wrestled someone kind of famous recently. Is that right?
Ricky: We've had a few wrestling nights throughout the years. Occasionally, we'll have an appearance from a big name. Last year, we got Hacksaw Jim Duggan... big timer, Hall of Famer, WWE, been to Wrestlemania.
He got pinned me for the 1-2-3. So, I do have the ability to say I was in a match and lost to WWE Hall of Famer, Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Baillee: And it seems like the baseball field isn't just for playing baseball. Apparently, it's also for weddings?
Ricky: Yeah, we had a wedding night last year, a wedding sweepstakes. We put it out to our fans. We said, "If you want to get married at our ballpark, submit a video. The wedding will happen here. The reception will happen here. Everything a full Trash Pandas baseball game wedding." I officiated a wedding. I didn't weep, but it was a beautiful scene. They had a great time, left in a limo and they've been happily ever happily ever after.
Baillee: Well, I think introductions are done and out of the way, very good introductions! Let me get you warmed up to get into the questionnaire. I want you to say Quick Fire quips, three times fast.
Ricky: Quick-Fire Quips! Quick-Fire Quips! Quick-Fire Quips!
Baillee: First question, what is the first word that comes to mind when you hear Alabama?
Ricky: Shoes. Let me explain. I work with a lot of people that are not from Alabama. People who'd moved from Pennsylvania or California to here, their first impressions were like, "I'm going to Alabama. Do they own shoes? Does everyone have a banjo?"
Baillee: I'm surprised you didn't say "Roll Tide." That's all right.
Ricky: (laughs) That was my second thing for sure.
Baillee: I love it. Okay, what's a Southern phrase or two that you catch yourself using way too much?
Ricky: I married a very Southern woman. She always says "daggum." I like saying that after she says it. I'm like, "Yeah, daggum is right. I am just I'm fired up right now! I'm hotter than a pistol.!"
Baillee: You're from the South, but are there any like Southern things that you don't really do as a southerner?
Ricky: I didn't drink sweet tea 'till I was in high school. Sweet tea was not at my house growing up. So, I've always felt like like a phony, even though I've lived here literally every day of my life.
Baillee: Do you remember your reaction, young you, sipping on sweet tea for the first time? What was that like?
Ricky: It was an instant infatuation. So, then, I wanted sweet tea every day for the next six months to make up for all the time I missed out on.
Baillee: Did your parents let you?
Ricky: I was "bootlegging" sweet tea because I didn't want them thinking like, "Oh, man, this kid, he's going off the rails real quick. First, it's sweet tea, then what?"
Baillee: I think Alabamians don't really know about the underground sweet tea situation.
Ricky: Hey, hey, hold on. Are you supposed to be saying that?
Baillee: We'll just redact that, okay? Strike that from the record... Next question, who was your childhood hero?
Ricky: My mom's always been my hero. She's worked hard her entire life. She worked a lot of nights and times where she couldn't be there for me or my brother, but I always knew because she was working to support our family. So, I always admired that about her. I always took her work ethic and tried to make my own, the same way.
Baillee: You work with the Trash Pandas. Are there any game day superstitions that the team takes part in or that you take part in?
Ricky: I'm extremely superstitious for no reason. I feel like if I don't park the exact same way in the parking lot when I get here for a game, that the one day I don't that's gonna be a really bad day for us. A lot of our guys, they won't wash their cleats if they're on a hitting streak. Sometimes these superstitions can just get gross.
Baillee: Next question, what is something on your bucket list?
Ricky: I'm a big soccer fan. I want to go to a Barcelona big-time soccer game, or the World Cup is coming to America in 2026. My family went to the World Cup when it was in America in 1994. So, I was three years old at the time. Still, as a fan of the sport, I want to be able to go do that as an adult.
Baillee: Here's our last question, what does Alabama need?
Ricky: A lottery and scratch offs at the gas station. Legalized sports gambling, especially with the amount of people that drive to Tennessee from here to go give their money to another state. We might as well keep in here. Build Alabama up a little bit. That's what I want.
Baillee: That's it for today's Quick-Fire Quips, a speedy questionnaire where we get to know people who stand out in the State of Alabama. That was Ricky Fernandez, Director of Marketing and Promotions of the Rocket City Trash Pandas. I'm your host, Baillee Majors.
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