FAYETTEVILLE — As part of a commemoration for 100 seasons of Arkansas baseball, fans will be asked later this year to choose their all-time favorite walk-up songs.
If there is a bracket, Scott Hode would be the No. 1 overall seed.
For four seasons from 2002-05, Hode (pronounced HO-DEE) came to the plate to Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher.” Never have the moments before an at-bat induced such a reaction from the home crowd.
Hode’s name and the song lyrics were the perfect match. His every plate appearance was greeted by thousands singing along to these words:
Hidee hidee hidee hidee hidee hidee hi
Hodee hodee hodee hodee hodee oh
“He had the best walk-up song of anybody ever here,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn recalled in 2017. ”It got the whole crowd rolling.”
Walk-up songs can become as synonymous as a jersey number for players, especially the great ones.
An unmatched buzz filled the stands when the first note of “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals would hit and Kevin Kopps would emerge from the bullpen during his national player of the year season in 2021.
In the second inning of an April 10, 2011, game against LSU, most of those in the stadium were on their feet a few measures into “Strong Tower” by Kutless, the walk-up song for James McCann. It was McCann’s first at-bat after he hit a walk-off home run the night before.
The Cab Calloway song has followed Hode for two decades. Now a pilot for Walmart, Hode said it isn’t uncommon to hear someone sing “Hode Hode Hode ho” when he walks in a room.
It was played over the speakers at Baum-Walker Stadium when he was shown on the video board during a 2018 game. As if by instinct, the crowd sang along.
“It gives me chills talking about it,” Hode said. “It’s the coolest feeling ever.”
Hode defers credit for finding the song, which was recorded in 1931. It was introduced to a new audience when Calloway performed it in the 1980 film “The Blues Brothers.”
Hode grew up near Chicago and said he loved the movie that was set in the city, but never associated his last name with the song’s lyrics.
That was until his older brother, Todd, spent a summer playing baseball for the Southern Minny Stars in Austin, Minn.
“They made him a closer,” Hode said. “I think he had a Metallica song picked and they didn’t play it once for him. They were playing the ‘Hode Hode Hode ho.’"
Hode never gave any consideration to using that song as his own when he arrived at Arkansas in 2002. He chose a song by the rock band Cracker that was so unmemorable that he can’t recall the song’s title anymore.
“The only reason I picked it was because of the intro,” he said.
During a game against Oral Roberts late in his freshman season, someone in the press box decided to play a different song — the one that chanted his name.
“I had no idea they were going to do it,” Hode said. “They played it and that was it. The rest is history. It stuck.”
The song helped make Hode a fan favorite. It didn’t hurt that he became one of Arkansas’ best players. As a junior Hode was an All-SEC shortstop on a team that won the league championship.
Sometime during his college career, the Razorbacks added a video board inside the stadium and began playing "The Blues Brothers” scene to accompany the song. Then-volunteer coach Tom Pagnozzi told Hode to take his time walking to the batter’s box to let the moment build.
“He said, ‘Hey, look, the crowd loves this song. You need to let the whole song play out. You don’t need to walk straight up to the box, dig in and the song only plays for five seconds,’” Hode said. “I started to walk slower, I’d mess with my batting gloves, messed with my socks. I just did a bunch of stuff to let the song play out a little bit longer and the fans could sing at me.”
Some of Hode’s teammates asked him for advice for their own song. Second baseman John Henry Marquardt chose the “Ghostbusters” theme after one such conversation.
“Sure enough, after 10 games the crowd was yelling and singing,” Hode said.
On Wednesday, the Razorbacks flipped the switch for their “Sounds of Baum” website that includes a snippet of all the walk-up songs for hitters and walk-out songs for pitchers this year.
As usual, it is an eclectic assortment of songs that ranges from The Hollies’ 1972 “Long Cool Woman” for pitcher Matthew Magre to four songs performed by Kanye West.
Rapper Travis Scott will provide the soundtrack for outfielder Gabe D’Arcy and pitcher Gabe Starks, and Guns N' Roses will provide rocking entrances for outfielder Chris Lanzilli and pitcher Jaxon Wiggins.
Infielders Robert Moore and Cayden Wallace chose worship songs by Matthew West and R-Swift; pitchers Connor Noland and Elijah Trest chose music from independent country artists Colter Wall and Whiskey Myers; and pitcher Mark Adamiak has the oldest song, the 1969 “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Senior outfielder Braydon Webb is one of those who chose a Kanye song. He will walk to the plate to the tune of “Good Life.”
“I like to switch it up every now and then to get some different genres in there,” Webb said. “At the end of the day, whatever gets you in the zone going up to the plate is your best bet.”
Freshman Peyton Stovall chose two songs — the hip-hop “Danger” by Migos featuring Marshmello, and the country-rock “Lights Come On” by Jason Aldean.
“It’s a lot of thought because you want to have a song that fits well with the crowd and that gets the fans up and hyped,” Stovall said, “but you also want it to pump you up and feel that tingling sensation when you go up to bat.
“You kind of think about your walk-up song like two weeks before. You’ll listen to some music, maybe something on the radio or something you have on your phone, and you’re visualizing walking up to the plate and you’re like, ‘Oh, this could be good.'”
All of Arkansas’ players are asked to submit two song options. Some use the second song as a go-to when they are struggling, but Stovall said he will rotate his. “Danger” will play for his first and third at-bats, and “Lights Come On” will play for his second and fourth plate appearances.
“If I’m in a slump, I don’t think it will be because of the walk-up song,” Stovall said.
None of the players seem to have a song with the staying power of Hode’s that was recorded almost a century ago, but the season is young. Perhaps a song they haven’t heard of — or would never have chosen — will become another Baum anthem.
Hode is happy that was the case for him.
“Players from other teams would be like, ‘Dude, that’s awesome,’” Hode said. “I just have a lucky last name.”
Arkansas shortstop Scott Hode reacts after turning a double play to end the fourth inning of the Razorbacks' 4-2 win over Florida State in the NCAA Super Regional on Saturday, June 12, 2004, in Fayetteville. (Andy Shupe/Northwest Arkansas Times)