Why this new Clemson baseball tradition ‘means the world’ to local veterans
Andy Norris wasn’t planning to cry during a Clemson baseball game.
But that’s exactly what the longtime Tigers sports fan and U.S. Army veteran found himself doing earlier in 2025 — all because of a touching midgame tradition that’s since gone viral and earned Clemson’s program national recognition.
At every Clemson baseball home game this season, the entire team comes out of the dugout and goes into the stands to thank as many veterans and active-duty service members as possible. The tradition takes place during the middle of the fourth inning, which is the halfway point of a standard nine-inning baseball game.
Veterans are asked to stand so they can be identified and celebrated. While Doug Kingsmore Stadium blasts Lee Greenwood’s hit song “God Bless the USA,” nearly 50 players jog up the stairs and through the stands to deliver firm handshakes, thank-yous and hand miniature American flags to as many service members as possible.
The whole process lasts about two minutes.
Norris loved every second of it.
“Honestly, I was in tears,” he said. “I was watching it on TV and I stood up in my own living room. That was just the most amazing thing.”
He’s not alone in that thought. Clemson baseball’s midgame hat-tip to service members has made national waves this year. Clips of the moment have generated thousands of views online, and the entire ballpark now stands during the closing moments of the tradition to give a final standing ovation.
Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich, who’s the son of a Vietnam War veteran and the grandson of a World War II veteran, has spoken about the recognition at length this season, including on national television.
And as long as he’s the team’s coach, Bakich said, the tradition isn’t going anywhere.
“We’ll continue to show that respect and appreciation every single game,” he said. “I love what we’re doing in the middle of the fourth inning. I just think it’s such a good thing. And it can’t be understated how impactful it is for so many veterans who maybe always didn’t feel the love over the years.”
If anything, Bakich added, “I’m wishing we would have thought of it earlier.”
Tradition a ‘no-brainer’ at Clemson
Credit for the idea goes to the Savannah Bananas, the wildly popular traveling baseball and entertainment team that recently played a sold-out game in Clemson’s football stadium. Last fall, the Bananas also scrimmaged Clemson’s baseball team.
During that November 2024 scrimmage at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Bananas players took a pause to thank service members who were there in person.
The gesture felt like a “no-brainer” for Clemson to incorporate this season, Bakich said, given both his ties and the university’s ties to the military.
Bakich’s father, Jim Bakich, served in the Vietnam War. His late grandfather, Carl Marianelli, served in World War II. Bakich briefly considered enlisting in the military himself after his playing career ended in 2001, and he tells his players the story of Pat Tillman every year on Sept. 11.
Bakich, 47, also happens to be coaching at a university recently voted as the No. 2 most military-friendly school in the country. Clemson was originally founded as a military college, maintains a robust ROTC program and has had over 10,000 graduates serve in the United States military.
The university’s football home, Memorial Stadium, is named for “all Clemson alumni who have made the supreme sacrifice in the service of our country,” a message that is printed on the back of the stadium’s video board in massive letters. The Scroll of Honor, just east of the stadium, recognizes each of the 498 Clemson graduates who have died while serving the United States.
“This is the perfect school to send our players up into the crowd,” Bakich said.
Shaking hands, going viral
Clemson baseball players have been thanking veterans in person since the team’s Feb. 21 home opener. The feedback was immediate — and overwhelmingly positive.
A video of the tradition went viral during Clemson’s second home game of the year. Bakich was talking about it on “Fox & Friends” by the third week of the season. At this point, the gesture feels as much a part of Clemson’s gameday experience as Danny Cannon singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the seventh inning.
At the recommendation of a couple Clemson season ticket holders, who pitched the idea to Bakich and his wife over dinner, the PA announcer now asks the entire stadium to stand and clap during the final 10 to 15 seconds of the gesture.
Players have embraced the tradition head-on. They even divvy up in the moment who’s going to what area (left field, center field, right field) to ensure max impact.
“Everybody in the stadium feels it,” senior pitcher Lucas Mahlstedt said. “Just being able to put the game aside and acknowledge them and respect them, that’s something really awesome, and that no other program does.”
The power of a gesture
What can those few seconds — a handshake, a thank you — mean to a vet?
Just ask Norris, 57, who was in the Army from 1985-92 and repaired tank turrets. Or Dave Patterson, 74, who was an Air Force captain/maintenance officer from 1972-77.
On April 22, those two veterans were seated next to each other by chance during a midweek Clemson-Georgia baseball game. Norris had gotten emotional watching the tradition on television earlier in the season, and Patterson was also aware of the tradition. Both were excited to participate. When they got the cue, they stood.
And sure enough, a Clemson player came out of the home dugout and jogged up the stairs, to the top row of their section in right field. The player took off his hat, shook their hands, thanked them for their service and handed them mini American flags.
Speaking a few minutes later, Norris and Patterson raved about what that sort of simple gesture can do for veterans, many of whom grapple with PTSD and other long-term health issues and can struggle to reacclimate to civilian life after service.
“It means the world to me,” Norris said. “I think it just speaks volumes for what Clemson is.”
“It’s the sincerity,” Patterson said. “When they shake your hand and take off their hat and they look you straight in the eye, that tears you up. People can walk by and say thank you, but they look like they mean it.”
That’s the impact Bakich hopes Clemson’s tradition brings, this season and beyond.
“It should have been happening already,” he said. “I’m glad we’re doing it now.”
