The Battalion reporter Gracie Mock spoke with Sanden “Sandy” Stewart, Class of 2008, to talk about various A&M baseball traditions. Stewart works at the Health Science Center at Texas A&M, but is known at Olsen Field as “Stat Boy” — an Aggie baseball super-fan with more than 1,500 Twitter followers who keeps statistics at the games.
 
THE BATTALION: Of all the traditions, what is your favorite and why?
STEWART: That’s tough. I like the strikeout thing, that’s cool. All the sound effects, [Olsen Field PA Rick Hill] up there doing effects and how the fans interact, that’s a fun tradition. I really don’t have one favorite tradition, I just enjoy everything really.
THE BATTALION: Can you explain the pink onesie you wear in the sixth inning?
STEWART: A few years ago, some guys in our section started doing this thing called, “pants down, fifth inning,” and it was kind of funny. But kind of jokingly I was like, “That’s stupid, I’m going to do shades on sixth.” So I started doing shades on sixth, and that same year we came back a few times in the sixth inning and then we scored a bunch of runs in the sixth inning, so it kind of stuck. To advertise for shades on sixth, I had this pink onesie, and I don’t know why I originally bought it, I was just like, “I’ll bring it.” So I brought it to the game to kind of advertise for shades on sixth and that’s how that started. I’ve tried to stop doing it a few times and people are like, “No, you have to do it,” and I’m like, “Okay, I’ll keep doing it.”
THE BATTALION: How did the new bubble tradition start?
STEWART: The players started that. Corbin Martin on the team, one of his favorite movies is Anchorman and one of the guys, the sportscaster in that movie, his catch phrase is, “Whammy.” Then Patrick McLendon, he wanted something cool to do when we scored a run, so he thought it would be cool to bring a bubble machine and he named him Whammy. And, you know, the game it happened, someone hit a home run and it kind of kept going. We continued it with Whammy Jr. and then the bubble machines. 
THE BATTALION: What kind of reception do you get from fans?
STEWART: It’s fun. A lot of stuff I try to do, people don’t catch on, but it’s fine. The whole reason why we’re here is to support the team and get into the heads of players. Another part is we enjoy making people have fun when they come to the games. It’s not only the student section, it’s the GA section so it’s fun having families come out here and all of that.
THE BATTALION: How have the baseball players reacted to this?
STEWART: They love it. They love that we get involved and they just love the support and everything. 
THE BATTALION: If you had a walk-up song, what would it be?
STEWART: I don’t know, it would always change. It would always be different because I’m always changing my mind. “Cheap Sunglasses,” I guess, since the whole shades on sixth thing.
THE BATTALION: How did you get so into Aggie baseball?
STEWART: I don’t know. I barely came to games with any friends, I just kind of came on my own and then the guy in our section kind of took me under his wing and it kind of kept going. I fell in love with Aggie baseball and it kept going and going. I’ve only missed a handful of games in my 11th season now.