So everyone asks me what my husband does during the season or during the off season. He actually does a lot. Everyone is the sports industry does a lot during and out of a season. It's not the typical athlete glamorous life like you see on tv. So I have asked some of my favorite people to give you a glimpse of what it's like as mascot, intern, baseball player, wife that travels with the team, and wife that doesn't travel with her man.
First is my husband to give you what it's like on game day.
***************************************************************Hello everybody! This is Gary AKA the hubs AKA Jessa's husband AKA the chump that makes her move a lot. I work in minor league baseball and for the most part it is like playing professional baseball. You want to move up in leagues into bigger cities and advance the career. This is the case for most people, but the difference for me is that I want to stay in minor league baseball. The dream is to be a general manager or president of a Triple A baseball team. That is neither here nor there. This is about the day in the life on a game day of a front office staff.
My day starts off in the morning by pulling tarp if we put it on the night before. If not, I start out by making the group concierge form. This lets everyone on the staff know which groups we have out at the ballpark that night, where they are sitting, tables that they may have and I throw in who we are playing and any promotions that we have going on for the day. After getting this completed. I update all the group numbers. This is more time consuming than you think. Not only does that number have to match our end of season number, but it has to match what I have with the box office on that game.
After the numbers and paper work, I will get in some sales calls. This is a year round thing. I sell sponsorship's, season tickets, mini plans, groups and suites. I have a full menu to sell. Hopefully things are good and I'm bringing in the money. Don't let Jess fool you, she likes the finer things in life (mountain dew, pop tarts and Wendy's Junior bacon cheeseburgers). If I don't bring in some of that good green, Heisman cannot get his Minties, treats and rubber ducks too and Jess can't get those finer things. Honestly they aren't that bad. :)
Not only am I doing all this, but other departments are getting things ready. Promotions will get everything ready for the in-game stuff and the mc, operations is getting the stadium game ready and things set up for the given night, our grounds keeper is getting the field ready throughout the day, broadcasting is getting the stats for the game and preparing topics to talk about, merchandise is getting everything stocked to sell in the store and for vendors and our food is getting cooked for picnics, party decks and the concession stands, our box office is printing tickets and taking day of game orders. Lots of work go into the game before we even open the gates.
Once the game happens, we hand out game day programs, I've done the line score, passed out giveaways, taken trash to the dumpster, taken more food out for our picnics, done the on-field MC (Side Note: His MC name is Rated G), visit groups, sold tickets at our sales table, picked up fireworks, been the PA announcer, ran a camera, you get the picture. Being in the South Atlantic League, you do everything. That is just the way it is. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As you probably guessed a lot goes into getting the game experience ready for people to enjoy and beer and hot dog while getting to watch the game. An average day during the season is usually about 12-14 hours. Depends on how fast the game goes. Whatever you do don't talk about the pace of the game. If you say this game is going fast, it immediately turns into the world's longest game.
I wouldn't change anything I do. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I know that it can be hard on Jessa during the season because when I get home she is usually in bed. Did I mention that we have moved a lot to? She has been great throughout everything and has sacrificed a lot for me to pursue my dream. Without her support I couldn't do what I love.
That is about it. If anyone ever wants to come to a game in Charleston, WV, you let Jessa know and we will get you the good seats. Make a blate!
