Metairie, La. — This week on Pizza and the Playbook, New Orleans Baby Cakes Hitting Coach Kevin Witt sits-down with Karen Loftus to talk about his resemblance to the mascot, his social media skills and being ambidextrous.
KL: “It’s been brought to my attention that there’s a striking resemblance between you and the Baby Cakes mascot. What are your thoughts on that? Oh you even did the face!”
KW: “I’ve been forced to do that face a few times. You know, I like it! Yes, it does look like me. My kids enjoy it. They get to wear a shirt around. They always get to keep Dad with them. The face is there.”
KL: “You’re basically the face of the franchise.”
KW: “Pretty much. There’s a little bit of responsibility there.”
KL: “Your Twitter handle is ‘@headbull’– Explain that one.”
KW: “When I retired, I was a part of a youth program and I was running some teams and they were called the Bulls. I had some parents that kind of called me the head bull. So that just kind of stuck. I’ve tried to change it, believe me, but I haven’t been too successful at it.”
KL: “So how would you rate your social media skills?”
KW: “Oh, I do a lot of re-tweeting. I Snapchat a lot with the kids. I enjoy Instagram. It’s a good way to keep up.”
KL: “It’s fun. It sounds like you’re on it.”
KW: “I’d give myself maybe a B-.”
KL: “OK, B-. You were talking about your kids. You have 5 kids. You have a whole basketball team. Are any of them into baseball or anything?”
KW: “They play a lot. I have a 16 year old boy, 14 year old boy, 12 year old girl, 11 year old boy and a 6 year old boy.”
KL: “You bat left and you throw right– which is also what I do.”
KW: “Perfect. It’s the right way.”
KL: “Now do you consider yourself a lefty? Everybody’s different when it comes to that kind of stuff. I write left handed and I consider myself a lefty but I throw right handed, play basketball right handed, tennis left handed. It’s a mixed bag for a lot of us.”
KW: “I’ve kind of been a little bit ambidextrous or difficult I guess you could say if you were coaching me. I shoot a basketball left handed, throw right handed and bat left handed– I always like to say that’s the good way.”
KL: “Final question– what’s your favorite type of pizza?”
KW: “Papa Johns of course, but as you can tell I’m not very picky on anything. Maybe just not olives. But this is– the meat lovers– I’m always down for.”
KL: “Perfect. Well we’ve got a nice pre-game meal we can get down to.”
