How Kirby Connell became a Tennessee baseball cult hero: A children's hospital and a tube of mustache wax

Tennessee pitcher Kirby Connell, a member of the so-called villains of college baseball, poked his unmistakably mustached face into the doorway at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Young grinning faces greeted Connell and five Tennessee baseball teammates Thursday. They brought encouraging words and a box of “Vollie Fingers” T-shirts donated privately by an admiring fan.

This is how Connell and the No. 1 ranked Vols spent their Thursday, one day before playing Notre Dame in the NCAA super regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The hospital visit had its roots in a ceremonial first pitch, the Vols’ 23-game winning streak, an unforgettable photo, churches in three states and a tube of mustache wax.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling when you can do something to make a kid’s day,” Connell said. “You’ll remember that for a while, maybe longer than anything you could do in baseball.”

Connell’s long hair and handlebar mustache make him one of the most recognizable players among a cast of characters for Tennessee, the best and most hated team in college baseball.

They’re admittedly confident, brash and very talented. But bat flips, extensive celebrations and in-your-face antics reveal only one layer of these Vols.

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“A villain? No. I’m the nicest guy,” Connell said. “Nobody really likes us except our fans, and that’s all that really matters to us. If I was on the other team, I wouldn’t like us either.”

Connell visited patients at children’s hospital with teammates Chase Dollander, Evan Russell, Ben Joyce, Drew Beam and Seth Halvorson Thursday morning. Then they went to practice.

“We’re not bad guys,” Connell said. “We don’t do bad things. We’re not hurting people.”

How first pitch led to hospital visit

Connell has a gift, even if he doesn’t realize its impact.

In March 2020, the day before Harper Mynatt’s second birthday, she was critically injured when a deadly tornado ripped through Cookeville. She spent six weeks in East Tennessee Children’s Hospital while recovering from a traumatic brain injury and temporary paralysis.

On March 20, 4-year-old Mynatt — fully recovered and wearing an orange bow in her hair — tossed the first pitch before Tennessee’s game against South Carolina. Connell caught the baseball, jogged to the mound and crouched to talk to her.

Connell stayed with Mynatt so long that a Tennessee staffer had to tell him to leave the field so the game could start. It wasn’t a routine meeting to Connell.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, he’s talking to her for a while,’” said Chad Mynatt, Harper’s dad. “He was doing everything he could to make sure she felt special. People noticed.”

It happened again on April 17, when 4-year-old leukemia patient Hattie Halter tossed the baseball to Connell before Tennessee beat Alabama. And then before the Vols’ win over Auburn on May 1, Connell caught a pitch from 6-year-old Bella Hair, who had a brain tumor removed last year.

Connell gave them extra time and attention. He found his niche — that is, besides throwing a two-seam sinker past baffled batters.

“We just found him to be so thoughtful with our child, especially for a college student,” said Jill Mynatt, Harper’s mom.

Owen Webb, a 7-year-old boy from Clinton, has Krabbe disease, a disorder that destroys the protective coating of nerve cells in the brain and usually results in death by age 2.

Webb’s condition has improved through stem cell treatments. When he was given a tour of Lindsey Nelson Stadium before the Vols played Auburn on April 30, Connell crouched to his wheelchair to give him an extensive pep talk in the bullpen. Then he talked to him twice more after the first pitch.

“Kirby was so sweet,” said Christin Webb, Owen’s mom and a former Powell High School girls basketball coach. “We’ve talked about how much it meant that Kirby did that to make Owen feel so comfortable, so special. Kirby made Owen feel like he was part of them.”

How Connell started catching kids’ first pitch

Connell volunteered to catch the ceremonial first pitch before home games. He needed something to stay involved while waiting to be called out of the bullpen in the late innings.

Growing up in Johnson City, he was a three-sport star athlete who rarely sat on the sideline.

After moving to Missouri and South Carolina during high school, Connell was an all-conference point guard in basketball and a strong-armed quarterback in football. He was an elite pitcher, power hitter and even a left-handed shortstop and catcher in baseball.

Redmond Walsh, another Tennessee relief pitcher, was supposed to alternate with Connell in catching the first pitch. But it was Connell’s turn early in the Vols’ record-breaking winning streak, so he kept the job.

Soon he noticed that interacting with kids from the children’s hospital brought him as much joy as striking out opposing batters. And that’s saying something, since Connell retired 22 consecutive batters heading into the postseason.

Finding purpose from pulpit to pitcher’s mound

Connell’s dad, Jeff, is a pastor and coach. Both roles led Kirby to serve kids.

Growing up in Boone Trail Baptist Church in Johnson City, Connell learned the importance of mentorship. As a teenager at Immanuel Baptist Church in Butler, Missouri, and First Baptist Church in Blacksburg, South Carolina, he helped elementary school kids learn Bible verses.

Last summer, Connell served alongside Hearts of Christ Children’s Ministry in Belize. He volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters, a nonprofit that supports one-on-one mentorship with young people.

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And rather than accept money for conducting a baseball camp with his dad last year, Connell asked kids’ families to donate to ALS research in honor of Tony Dallas, the father of former Tennessee pitcher Chad Dallas.

So it’s not surprising that Connell had a soft spot for the nervous kids who tossed a first pitch to him amid packed crowds at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. It was a natural fit and a responsibility.

“He’s heard me say it a thousand times from the pulpit and in real life: ‘When God gives you a platform, he expects you to use it for him,’” Connell’s dad said.

Why Connell won’t shave his mustache

Connell is a reliable reliever on Tennessee’s pitching staff, which has the lowest ERA (2.38) in college baseball. He leads the team with 29 pitching appearances and 1.45 ERA.

But Connell is a favorite on ESPN highlights because of his long flowing hair and handlebar mustache. It’s led to multiple name, image and likeness (NIL) deals with the nickname “Vollie Fingers” — a combination of Vols with his resemblance to Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers.

“I would lose all the NIL deals I have (if I cut my hair and shaved my mustache)," Connell said. "And I would probably suck at baseball."

Connell’s look has caught on in the Tennessee fan base, and far beyond Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

During a recent hitting lesson in South Carolina, a kid told Connell’s dad about meeting a young baseball player in Charlotte who painted a handlebar mustache and Connell’s No. 35 on his face during a Little League game. He was a long-distance Vols fan.

“It’s pretty cool that you can be a model to a kid that far away,” Connell said. “People are always watching.”

Anonymous fan gives back via ‘Vollie Fingers’

One Tennessee fan and his wife saw beyond the mustache. They contacted Connell’s dad through a mutual friend on Vol Nation, an online message board of Tennessee fans.

Jeff Connell said the couple bought about 500 “Vollie Fingers” shirts to distribute to fans and kids.

“It’s not a true NIL deal because Kirby isn’t making any money from it,” Jeff Connell said. “I know who it is, but we’ve never met the guy. I’ve had one phone conversation with him, and I’ve texted him a little bit.

“The guy just loves what Kirby represents. He said his wife framed the picture of Kirby kneeling down with that kid in the wheelchair (Owen Webb).”

Connell’s family contacted East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, where Kirby and his teammates passed out those T-shirts to patients, signed autographs and posed for photos.

‘That’ll make you a Kirby Connell fan’

Connell has been on the mound for some pressure-packed moments during Tennessee’s hopeful run to the College World Series. And he’s passed on lessons from his experience.

On May 17, it was 5-year-old Merrick Hermann’s turn to toss the first pitch to Connell, but he didn’t know it.

His dad hadn’t told him where they were going because he didn’t want him overwhelmed. Merrick got nervous as they approached Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the Vols’ final regular-season home game against Belmont.

Merrick had overcome greater challenges. As a 2-year-old, he was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia, a disorder that reduces platelet counts and causes excessive bleeding and bruising. But he’s recovered for a healthy active childhood.

Connell didn’t know that backstory, but he could tell Merrick was jittery amid the crowd.

After Merrick tossed the first pitch, Connell leaned down and said, “It’s really hard to throw a ball in front of all these people, but you did it with ease. I am really happy you came to the ballpark today, and I’m going to try to do really well for you.”

Merrick’s dad, Mike, was taken back by Connell’s sincerity. He was even more surprised when Connell dismissed a Tennessee staffer who tried to end the conversation to start the game.

By then, that was an old habit for the Tennessee pitcher with a bigger backstory than just a curly mustache.

“That’ll make you a Kirby Connell fan,” Mike Hermann said. “I think he turned my little guy into a Vol for Life.”

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee baseball mustached pitcher Kirby Connell is cult hero