Many UT baseball fans might have held their breath when star first baseman Cody Hawn got injured in the team’s 2010 season opener against Xavier, perhaps thinking about the team’s prospects if Hawn missed a large part of the season.
But Hawn was thinking back to senior year of high school.
In the seconds after Hawn suffered what an MRI would later reveal as a dislocated shoulder and bone bruise that only made the slugger miss a weekend of action, Hawn thought of a gym class injury that made him miss his entire senior year of high school baseball.
“We were playing speedball — it’s kind of a mix between soccer and basketball,” Hawn recalled. “We were out playing, and some guy threw a pass, and one of the players on my team, he intercepted it.”
That player then threw a lob pass over Hawn’s shoulder. Hawn caught it and began to plant his right foot on the hardwood floor.
“When I took the step, there was a couple of pops, and there was immense pain right after it,” he said. “And I fell on the gym floor.”
Many players from Hawn’s South Doyle High School baseball team were in the class, and the team’s pitching coach taught it.
The ensuing 15 seconds after the injury went in slow motion, Hawn said, and the pain was excruciating.
“It was a very weird minute,” Hawn said. “It was almost surreal.”
Then the pain went away, and Hawn attempted — but failed — to walk. He was carried out of the room and didn’t finish school that day.
Hawn said the team was gearing up for a run at the state championship that year. He called the whole ordeal “devastating” but now says it was one of the best things that’s ever happened to him.
“It showed me that there was a lot more to life than baseball, and I grew as a person from the experience,” he said.
As a result of his missing his senior year, he was drafted in the 23rd round to the Milwaukee Brewers. If Hawn had played his senior year of high school baseball and was drafted higher, he said he might have completely skipped college.
“If I wouldn’t have had that injury, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to wear orange and white,” he said. “... I’m very thankful for how it ended up now.”

Injury deja vu

It’s not just the notion of an early injury that prompted the comparison between Hawn’s Opening Day college injury and his injury a month before his senior season in high school. The very logistics of the injuries also jogged his memory.
“It was kind of a flashback for sure because my injuries are similar because neither one involved contact,” he said.
On Feb. 19, the Xavier Musketeers had runners on first and third. Fielding first base, Hawn was holding the runner on to prevent him from stealing.
UT starter Bryan Morgado tossed to Hawn to attempt to pick off the runner. But as the play unfolded, Hawn knew something was wrong. He thought the worst.
“I heard a pop, and when I made the tag on the guy, I felt a numb feeling, a tingling sensation in my elbow,” he said.
The team trainer then popped Hawn’s non-throwing shoulder back in place, but he had to leave the game and ultimately the three-game series.
But Hawn bounced back once again, returning the following weekend against Oregon State and going 4-for-9 with three walks and a double.

A lifelong dream

For Hawn, baseball has literally been a lifelong passion that he’s been surrounded by forever.
“Before I could even walk, (my family) used to prop me up in the corner, and they used to toss wiffle ball at me when I was little,” he said.
Hawn’s parents both had a background in sports. His father played baseball at Walters State Community College and Austin Peay State University, while his mother played softball throughout high school, receiving college offers as a pitcher.
His familial ties to baseball do not end there. Hawn began playing tee ball at the age of five and ended up on the same high school baseball team as his cousin, Zack Ross.
The Knoxville-bred Hawn is right at home playing for UT, but his childhood was full of travel. He played for multiple travel teams like the Knoxville Stars.
UT catcher Blake Forsythe remembers back then was when he first heard of his teammate. Forsythe was on the other side of the field as a member of the Memphis Travelers.
“They ended up beating us,” Forsythe said. “... He hit a home run in that game. And that was the first time I got to see him play. And ever since then, I’ve known him as a pretty daggone good hitter.”
Forsythe calls him “a big teddy bear.”
“He’s a happy-going person,” Forsythe said. “He’s always got a smile on his face. ... If I could ever get him out to come hang out with us, which is not very often, he’s just a fun person to be around, and he’ll talk your ear off.”

Culture shock

But Hawn was far removed from his traveling days when he hopped on a plane to play for the Hyannis (Mass.) Mets in the prestigious Cape Cod League during summer 2009. The difference in climate between the Southeast and the North was startling at first.
“I remember heading up there, the day I left Knoxville, it was like 93 degrees, and we landed in Logan Airport up in Boston, and it was like 50 something,” Hawn said.
But more so, Hawn was in awe of playing in a summer league with such a highly touted reputation. And getting off his flight, he did not have time to take the experience in.
He was rushed to a game and got to the stadium during the seventh inning. He was asked to pinchhit immediately, only receiving time to run back to the locker room, change into a uniform and get in a few practice swings. He stepped up to the plate the very next inning.
“First pitch I saw, I lined out to right field,” he said.
Hawn took in the sights while he was in Hyannis, seeing the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame, as well as where the Kennedy family attended church, but the highlight for him was playing against college baseball’s best.
“You get to hear about all these guys, but you never get to play against them,” Hawn said.
Playing in the Cape Cod League helped Hawn in preparation for this season.
“I was getting to go out, and I got to hit with a wood bat the whole time through,” Hawn said. “And I was seeing great pitcher after great pitcher, day in and day out.”
Despite the difficulty, he ranked among Cape Cod leaders, batting .375 with four home runs and 14 RBIs. His success against the high level of competition helped his confidence, and it carried over to this season, he said.

From one first baseman to another

For Hawn, it’s hard to compare himself to former UT first baseman and long-time Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton, no matter what the university record books imply. Hawn reveres Helton too much to do that.
“He’s probably my favorite baseball player,” Hawn said. “Just growing up, watching him play, he probably played a big role in why I’m here today. Because I always wanted to be him.”
Hawn won the team triple crown in 2009 by leading the Vols in batting average (.364), home runs (22) and RBIs (81). He also led the team in hits, doubles and slugging percentage. Plus his 22 homers sits him at second on Tennessee’s single-season home run list.
Hawn’s respect for baseball greats and the history of the game also parallels to his movie tastes. His two favorite movies are historically based — “Tombstone” and “Troy.”
And his hometown informs his music choices. The band Shinedown blares over the loudspeakers at Lindsey Nelson Stadium when Hawn goes to bat, and Hawn said the band’s lead singer went to his high school, South Doyle High School.
Hawn is a junior in communication studies, and he says his studies help him read other people’s body language out on the diamond.
“You can tell with a teammate if they’re uncomfortable with a situation, or if they’re up and down,” he said. “... Being in the comm studies major has helped me communicate better with my teammates. I feel like I can pass along information a lot better than I could before.”
As for his future studies, Hawn was noncommittal as to what he would do at the end of the year — whether to go in the MLB First-Year Player Draft or return for his senior season.
“I won’t care about it until the season ends,” he said. “I really enjoy being here and getting to play at Tennessee, and I’m just taking it one game at a time.”

UT’s own ‘Bash Brothers’

In a Feb. 19 article of The Daily Beacon, the two UT middle-of-the-order sluggers Hawn and Forsythe were compared to the “Bash Brothers,” of the late ‘80s Oakland Athletics, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.
Forsythe said the two were trying to come up with a handshake or signature like McGwire and Canseco’s trademark arm bash.
Hawn said he and Forsythe found the comparison amusing.
“I definitely would be the McGwire of the group because, at that time, Canseco couldn’t even fit into his jersey,” Hawn said, laughing. “... Plus I wouldn’t wear the crazy mullet. I think Blake probably would.”