Thank you baseball…

for giving me something to be so passionate about. It has given me friends, the best memories, an inspiration to look up to, and jobs that will help me develop my career.

As a child, I always grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan, since my dad grew up in St. Louis. We would go to games with my grandparents and play that french fry game from McDonald’s on the big screen during inning breaks. We would get those grab bags with foul balls in them and collect baseball cards until our hearts were content. We even toured the stadium once or twice and got our pictures taken on the field itself! Growing up watching the Cardinals play, I discovered who my favorite player was, Skip Schumaker. One spring training, my dad took my brother, mom, and I to Jupiter, FL for their spring training and I got to meet my idol again face-to-face. Meeting Skip as a kid has to be one of the best experiences, if not the best, I have had to date and I can thank baseball for that.

Ever since college started in 2017, I have been going to games at Chase Field and spring training games, often alone. That’s when I decided I wanted to fully pursue a degree in Sports Management, and it’s also where I have met some of my best friends, like Megan! I met Megan on her birthday at a Padres game last April when I went alone to the Padres v. Dbacks game in hopes to reunite with Skip.

I’ve also been able to meet some great friends through my two spring training jobs I have had the past year or so! Starting off as a Marketing intern at Camelback Ranch, I was able to get a better idea of what I ideally would like to do in sports, and it was in the marketing realm, but not for a team necessarily. Fast forward to this year, I was a ticketing sales representative at the Chicago Cubs park in Mesa, Arizona. I realized I definitely did not want to pursue a career in sales at this point in time, but was extremely grateful for the time I spent there. It was extremely saddening to know my season was coming to an end, two weeks earlier than scheduled.

All in all, baseball has given me more opportunities than any other thing has in my life and I attribute that to who I am as a person. I am extremely lucky to have had the experiences and opportunities I have had thus far, and will continue to pursue the dream of working in sports!