20th of Jun | Story

First person: Brad Tammen

BY MATT LaWELL

NASHVILLE, Tennessee | In an industry filled with twentysomethings who seem to move every season to a new team in a new city, Brad Tammen is a little different. The Nashville Sounds general manager has worked for almost a quarter of a century in the minors, for starters, and has worked for all of three teams.

He opened his career with 11 season in Oklahoma City, where he helped the old 89ers move into a new ballpark and build a new brand as the RedHawks, then moved to Salt Lake City, where he learned about baseball from basketball people and how to sell the sport around the Olympics. Now in his third season in Nashville, he wants to help the Sounds move into a new downtown park, though local politics and natural disasters have interfered.

In 2010, we had the ultimate flood, the 500-year flood, and that was quite a challenge for the city to go through. Prior to that, we had discussions and optimism, but the flood just stopped everything in its tracks. You can’t go and say you need a new ballpark when the city’s recovering from a major tragedy. Don’t want to go through that again.

That was what really attracted me, other than the city itself. It was the vision and what will happen when this town gets that new ballpark. Downtown, we would fill that five-month gap between Predators season and Titans season, and then it becomes a year-round downtown sports destination. That’s what I see happening. The vision is to do exactly what we did in Oklahoma City, put it in a downtown setting so we can bring droves of people.

"You see a lot of people in this business, interns that come in, a lot of them will give you their all, but they don’t realize you have to pay your dues, long hours, not great pay, you got to work your way up to earn it. You could come out of college and make more money selling pharmaceuticals for a major corporation, sure, but baseball’s a different monster." — Nashville Sounds general manager Brad Tammen

The question is always asked: What are you going to do with the scoreboard? I think the scoreboard has to go with us in some capacity, some kind of visual, we should do something musical, absolutely. All of that stuff will come. I have some ideas to tie in the music industry that I don’t want to unveil until we get there. I don’t want to jinx it.

I started way back in 1990. I graduated from Eastern Illinois University, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I played baseball and thought about what I wanted to do for a career. I sent out hundreds of resumes before I got a break. Jim Weigel took a chance on me, I got an internship and I spent 11 years there.

He’s the one who gave me the chance. Every time I talk with him, I thank him.

Back in the early years when I was there, some of the teams were pretty brutal. One season they were 52-92, so you had to get pretty creative to sell packages and tickets.

I was driving to the ballpark when I heard on the radio that the Murrah Building had been bombed. I was driving on a clear morning, blue skies, window rolled up, and I see people running out of houses, looking up, asking what happened. I looked over and there was a mushroom cloud over the sky. Jeffrey Loria, who was our owner at the time, decided to cancel the games the next few nights and open up the gates just to let people come in and get away. When the team came back into town a couple weeks later, they wanted to do something. We went down, the whole team, at 2 in the morning, handing out 89ers hats. It brings tears to your eyes. That town is tremendous.

The opportunity I had in Salt Lake City was another challenge in 2001. I learned so much being with an NBA ownership. I sold baseball during the Olympics. I would do it again, but I’d prefer not to compete with the Olympics and everybody’s discretionary income. Selling baseball becomes secondary to the Winter Olympics.

In 2009, growing up in Illinois, it was time to get back home. It was 20 years away from family. Now we’re only a morning’s drive. I love this city. It’s a small big city, it’s a power in the music industry. You never know who’s going to show up. 

I never have been a guy to jump just to jump. I take my roots seriously. You have to put down roots and build relationships. You need a lot of solid years to develop that.

You see a lot of people in this business, interns that come in, a lot of them will give you their all, but they don’t realize you have to pay your dues, long hours, not great pay, you got to work your way up to earn it. You could come out of college and make more money selling pharmaceuticals for a major corporation, sure, but baseball’s a different monster. 

There are so many people who want to do it, and if you’re patient enough, you can survive.

"One is hobbling and bleeding all over the place, the other has loose teeth. I had to call police and the crowd loved it. The police are on their way and the one guy, with a bent back rim, hobbled all the way back around. I declared him the winner. That set the other guy off because he’s blaming the one guy for all this and he goes in the stands. They settled down and the one guy got his bike, but for a minute, it looked like there was going to be a big, old brawl right there in centerfield." — Tammen

I emceed all the promotions on the field for 10 years in Oklahoma City. Jim Weigel was telling stories about me running around on the field in a sequin jacket, a gold sequin bow tie. I was the Monty Hall, that was my claim to fame. I’ve seen good, bad, some I’ll never do again.

We did one I will never forget and I will never do again. We had a bicycle race. There was a bicycle store that sold mountain bikes and we had two contestants a night race around the warning track and finish at home. Every contestant who won would qualify for the next round, like a playoff. The final night, between games of a doubleheader, we had two competitive guys take off full steam, go around the warning track to the point where rocks are flying, dust is flying. They get to centerfield and one guy tries to juke the other guy and they hit head on. I had a microphone and I’m thinking, ‘What are they doing? They planned this!’ I don’t know what to say. I call security and I tell them to keep an eye on it. One guy gets up and throws his helmet against the centerfield wall. The other guy gets up and throws his helmet. One gives the other an ‘Up yours,’ and I’m going, ‘What am I going to do?’ One is hobbling and bleeding all over the place, the other has loose teeth. It was the worse thing you’ve ever seen. I had to call police and the crowd loved it. They thought it was great. The police are on their way and the one guy, with a bent back rim, hobbled all the way back around. I declared him the winner. That set the other guy off because he’s blaming the one guy for all this and he goes in the stands. ‘Oh, God, they’re going to try to sue me.’ They settled down and the one guy got his bike, but for a minute, it looked like there was going to be a big, old brawl right there in centerfield.

The worst thing you can do? Make an announcement during a rain delay about when the game is going to start. You don’t make one of those until you know for sure.

My heart is in the minor leagues, selling tickets, selling promotions.

I’ll take a two-hour game.

Matt@AMinorLeagueSeason.com ♦ @MattLaWell ♦ @AMinorLgSeason

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