SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) - Joe Musgrove, a new addition to the Padres roster this season, made team history when he threw the first no-hitter for the franchise. The cherry on top of the milestone: he’s a San Diego native.
Related: Musgrove's lifelong Friend, HS coach reflect on first no-hitter in Padres history
His loyalty to his city runs deep, and what fans might not know is that his walk-up song also has local roots.
He enters the field of every home game to the song “Vampire” by San Diego-based reggae band Tribal Seeds.
Tribal Seeds was started by two brothers, Tony Ray and Steve Jacobo, when they were still students at Bonita Vista High School.
The brothers say reggae music is something they’ve loved since they were children. Now, more than ten years later, and they’re still creating music.
Steve is the lead singer of the group and says the messaging behind the song "Vampire" is one of unity.
“Politics kind of pin people to fight each other, we shouldn’t be doing that. We should be coming together and helping each other and working together. To have that message played at the stadium is pretty cool,” said Steve.
They said they found out that Musgrove was using their song about five years ago when the baseball player commented on one of their Instagram posts saying he used the song when entering the field at the World Series.
“From what he told me is that he was playing that song even in the minors, before he got to the majors,” said Tony Ray.
Musgrove used the song through the many cities he made stops in, so him making it to the Padres and bringing that song to his home field is a full-circle moment. A local athlete, playing for his local team, entering the field to music made by a local band.
“Now that it’s in Petco Park, in our hometown San Diego, with a hometown boy and doing as well as he is right now… it’s insane, amazing, it’s unreal. That moment he had with the no-hitter, you couldn’t have written a better story,” said Tony Ray.
Tribal Seeds had to halt their tours due to the pandemic, but will be playing four San Diego-area shows at the end of May. For information and to listen to more of their music, click here.
