/At Trustmark Park, there’ll be a new but familiar face in the coaches’ box

At Trustmark Park, there’ll be a new but familiar face in the coaches’ box

After all this, the Cardinals fired him. This was in June last year. The Cardinals were on a losing streak. The general manager was not going to fire himself, and he didn’t want the manager to be fired. Someone had to go. Chris Maloney was that person. Chris Maloney won’t talk about it. He only said that he had enjoyed a 28-year career with the Cardinals. They taught me baseball as a child and deepened my love for it.” Con Maloney, his father, says that the shock of what happened in June last year shocked everyone, but Chris did it better than any of the others. He was able to take it all in stride. It has been a blessing in many ways.” Chris “Hammer”, Maloney was offered several opportunities in baseball after the events in St. Louis. He also had the opportunity to remain with Cardinals in a different capacity. Instead, he took the job with the Mississippi Braves. At 56, he will be managing the Atlanta’s Class A team at Trustmark Park. He was able spend the entire fall watching Jake Maloney go out on football and score touchdowns for Jackson Prep. He was there to see Jake win Prep a eighth consecutive state soccer title. He was there Tuesday night as Jake scored two runs in Prep’s baseball win. For Thursday’s season opener, the Maloney clan will be present, which includes Chris’ 19-year old daughter Ann Bradley Maloney. Con Maloney said, “Being there with his children has been so special. Chris was able to spend Jake’s senior year at high school with him. That’s huge. It’s impossible to replace it.” Perhaps you can’t manage the game you love in that same place you first learned about it. Chris Maloney was just seven years old when he played his first game of baseball in his backyard. The grass was so worn that it was almost like dirt. At age 7, he wore his first uniform in the Northeast Jackson Minor League. As a nine-year-old, he hit his first home run over the fence at those parks on Lakeland Drive. His father was the owner Jackson’s Class AA baseball franchise, which played at Smith-Wills Stadium across Lakeland. D.M. played his high school basketball for him. Howie at St. Joseph High. Chris played for Ron Polk at Mississippi State. He is also the answer to a trivia query: Who was the first baseman to play ahead of Will Clark at MSU? Maloney was a senior who was hard hitting. Clark was a freshman. Maloney got the flu. Clark replaced him and scored two home runs against LSU. Maloney was named the State’s designated hitter during his senior season. Chris Maloney stated, “It’s great that I’m back in a Mississippi baseball uniform.” “You remember back when the Braves first arrived here, I told our wife, ‘You Know, that’d be great to have someday.’ And now, I’m here. He said, “It’s a different feeling to look down and not see red shoes.” It’s different to not have a red bird on you chest, but I’ve been impressed by how the Braves are handling things at the major league and minor league levels. The Atlanta Braves will have a great ball team soon. Chris Maloney has been entrusted with many top prospects within the organization. Many of these prospects are excited to play for Maloney even though they don’t know Will Clark. Austin Riley, who will be playing third base for the M-Braves, was drafted in second round from Southaven in 2015. Riley stated that Riley is a “good dude”, funny, and laid back. He’s always been there. He is an expert on baseball. He’s also a southerner like me. Chris Maloney agrees. He said, “To be back home doing what you love – that’s something special.”