Take Me Out To The Ball Game — The Millennial Miss

Jul 7

Jul 7 Take Me Out To The Ball Game

While I can’t give you tickets to the game, I can give you an all access pass to take a peek into the baseball lifestyle. It brings me joy to share this chapter of our life with you and to share a glimpse of what the game looks like, off the field. Below are answers to questions that you specifically sent in and my hope is to shed a light on what this lifestyle looks like for us. There is an excessive amount of information to share so, for the sake of not overwhelming you, I started with answering only a few Q’s! If you still have questions or want to know more after reading this article, please send me a message on Instagram and I’ll compile a new set of questions to answer for a Part 2 post.

In case I don’t say it enough, thank you for your support you show Team Scott. Whether you are near or far, we feel your cheers and love you dearly for taking the time to invest in our story.

On that note, it’s time to PLAY BALL:

“HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO TO GAMES”

As with anything in the baseball world: I don’t have a direct answer for you so, bear with me.

Robby is a left handed relief pitcher. Ok cool so, what does that mean? A relief pitcher comes into the game, after the starting pitcher is taken out of the game due to a high pitch count, poor performance or injury. Typically, relief pitchers, only work for an inning or two and when they enter the game is situational.

Situational.

As you can imagine, situational doesn’t exactly go hand in hand with planning.

Here’s how I navigate it ::
During home games, my go to move is to show up around the 5th or 6th inning since Robby would rarely pitch before then. That way, I catch the back half of the game, potentially see my man pitch and hang with the girls!

If I travel to meet Robby on the road, I will typically head to each game but you already know I’m strolling into those games late also ;) It’s a fun to experience different ballparks around the country!

Since there is a game every day, except a rare off day, I do not attend each and every one. It’s important to me to enjoy and live a life outside the ballpark walls but near or far, I’m always cheering him on.

“WHERE CAN I FIND CUTE TEAM GEAR?”

How could we possibly talk about sports without touching on fashion. A few of my favorite brands are ::

For The Field Apparel
American Eagle - Tailgate
Good Sport Apparel :: use code MMxGS20 for a sweet little discount
Also, each field will have a team store with branded items from A to Z so make sure to pop in there in between innings!
… side note:: Kickoff Couture is my go to for college football tees! If you use code MILLENNIALMISS you’ll receive 15% off your order #RollTide

“HOW HAS IT BEEN MEETING NEW TEAMMATES?”
For those that are new around here, let’s bring you up to speed real quick::

Robby was previously with the Boston Red Sox organization and during this past offseason was traded to the Arizona Diamondback Organization. The trade would mark our first time with a new team.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about starting over.

A new team.
A new city(ies).
A new dynamic.
A new front office.
A new coaching staff
A new group of women.
A new wave of unknowns.
A new group of teammates.

The Boston Red Sox organization was all that we had known in the baseball world. Robby was with them for 7 years before being traded and it’s what shaped baseball for us. We are eternally grateful for the opportunities and memories that the years with Red Sox gave us but we were equally excited to experience another team and turn over a fresh page.

In complete honesty, the Diamondback Organization has been a breath of fresh air. Robby’s teammates and their significant others are some of the best people we have met through our baseball journey thus far. We have become fast friends with most and genuinely support each other.

“HOW DID ROBBY MAKE IT TO THE MLB?”

POISE
COURAGE
CONFIDENCE

To fully understand Robby’s journey you’ll need two things:
Time
An extensive flow chart
and for extra credit : a cold beverage because we might be here for a while.

The short of it is this … Robby attended BCC, a community college in South Florida, for two years before heading off to Florida State where he graduated with a degree in sociology and communications. After college, he went undrafted and entered the world of Independent ball. In Robby’s words, Independent ball is glorified college summer league ball.

After a month in the independent ball league, the Boston Red Sox picked up his contract, in the middle of him pitching. No joke. His manager, at the time, Jose Canseco, came out to the mound in the middle of the inning and told him he had to get off the mound because his contract had just been purchased by the Boston Red Sox. The wild ride had just begun. Robby hit each level: low A, high A, double A and triple A. After 5 ½ years in the minor league system, Robby made his major league debut with the Red Sox on September 2, 2016 in Oakland, California.

During the 2019 off season he was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Cincinnati Reds only to be DFA’d two weeks later. The Arizona Diamondbacks picked him up shortly after that and we were off to our first Arizona based spring training. From spring training, he was sent to Triple A with the Dbacks organization which is the reason for us currently calling Reno, Nevada “home.” The grind is unmatched and the scarifies that baseball families make with suitcases in hand is not as glamourous as some so blissfully assume. I do my best to showcase a side of the baseball lifestyle that isn’t aired on ESPN.

Robby: you are hardest working guy I know. Your determination and grounded heart on and off the field is notable and I am so grateful to be on this journey with you. Thanks for being the teammate of my dreams.

** This post was written in July 2019 – note that the date because there’s a chance things have changed since then**

“WHAT IT’S LIKE SEEING ROBBY PITCH?”

Nerve-wracking.

No matter the situation, the stadium or the number of the people in the stands – my nerves are on high alert. I have the utmost confidence in his talent but, like clockwork, I sit there watching with a dry mouth and clammy hands while he is cool, calm and collected on the mound. I also become incredibly silent and internally scream let’s go babe OR come one, you got this.

Other than that, it’s the absolute coolest thing in the entire world. Every single time he runs out from the bullpen I feel as if life goes into slow motion and goosebumps tend to take over my body. With ever part of me, I am proud of him and his dedication to living out his dream We take life day by day – game by game so, to fully throw yourself into that moment is a feeling that I’ll cherish forever.

“WHAT IS LIFE LIKE WHILE ROBBY IS ON THE ROAD””

It depends.

One of three things will happen when Robby heads out for a road trip. (Road trips can last anywhere from 4 to 10ish days)

I either meet him in the city they are traveling to.
I plan my own trip to see family or friends.
I stay put and enjoy some quiet time and dive deep into my to do list.

How’s that for a clear answer – HA !

In a future post, I’ll dive into how to best deal with spending time alone if your spouse travels a lot for work.

“WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE ON STAYING POSITIVE WITH ALL THE UNKOWNS?”

The baseball lifestyle has been the most emotionally challenging thing I have ever navigated through. The highs are high and the lows are so damn low – rarely do you find yourself standing on a steady ground. The inconsistency tends to feel like the only consistent thing and being homesick for familiar faces and surroundings is a common theme. The unknowns have magic powers to get into your blood stream and negatively consume your mind, body and soul – IF you let it.

IF.

Some days I fight like hell to stay positive. Other days, I take a step back and realize that I have every reason in the world to be grateful and remain positive. It takes more energy to get yourself emotionally riled up and nit-pick at every “inconvenience” in your life.

Don’t waste your time.
Don’t waste your energy.
Both are insanely precious.

For those days where negative energy sneaks its way onto your shoulders – shake that monster off. Take a walk around the block. Put your phone down and take deep inhales and exhales. Write a list of all your blessings. Switch your gears and trust that the vibe you put out into the universe is what you will receive in return.

“HOW DO YOU BEST SUPPORT ROBBY?”

When it comes to supporting Robby, I have different hats in constant rotation: a cheerleader, a therapist, a listener, a mirror and my favorite hat of them all – his wife. I am able to support him like a champ because he supports me like a champ. There is no I in our team, we are in this journey of baseball and life together.

What I know to be true is that you cannot wholeheartedly support someone else if you don’t first take care of yourself. The baseball lifestyle has laid a foundation of life lessons and one of them being the importance to look out for you and yours. No manager, coach, agent, or teammate will look out for you and your family in the manner that you will so, being at your best is vital. To my baseball girls: whatever you need to do to fuel your soul, do that. Whatever you need to do to make time for self-care, make it. Whatever you need to juggle to have a balanced life that doesn’t solely revolve around your spouse’s job, juggle it. This lifestyle isn’t for the faint of heart and my hope for you is that you know your worth - without the title of your husbands job.

“ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH THE OTHER WIVES? IS THERE ANY DRAMA? GIVE US THE SCOOP!”

The hard hitting question.

Is there “drama?” Well … it’s a group of women so, I’ll let you guess the answer. With any social setting, there will always be those personalities who naturally gravitate towards one another but that doesn’t mean we aren’t collectively a solid group. In reality, we spend more time together then we do with our significant others! When you are thrown into a group of people, most of the times in an unfamiliar city, you become fast friends and forever family with those who fully understand your lifestyle.

I would be lost in a dark, lonely, black hole without my baseball girls to lean on and to laugh with. They are the strongest women I have had the pleasure to call my friends and I am utterly grateful that we hold each other’s hands during the non-stop rollercoaster ride of baseball.

“CAN YOU SPEAK TO ALL THE PACKING PLUS LOGISTICS?”
Oh yes, the real fun stuff!

Each family has their own system that I can’t speak to but for Robby and I here’s a quick breakdown.

CARS: We load up the cars to the brim with our clothes and personal items and ship them to our “final” destination -it’s more convenient and time friendly than driving.

HOUSING: Contrary to popular belief, we do not receive a housing stipend and are not provided with a list of housing options. We are responsible for finding where to live for both spring training and for during the season. Sometimes, we have a month to find a place and sometimes we have a matter of 48 hours. Welcome to the madness!

FURNIUTRE: You like our furniture? Gee thanks, just RENTED it. But seriously … it’s rented, all of it. Everything from the couch to the pans in the kitchen is provided by a furniture rental company. Instead of lugging furniture all around the country and then dealing with storing it during the off-season, we rent it! It’s honestly one of the easiest parts of the moving process. We spend a few minutes online placing an order of what items we need for the apartment and then the company does all the heavy lifting. They not only deliver everything but also set it all up so our place is ready by the time we walk in the door. On the back end, we don’t have to lift a finger when it’s time to go home for the off-season. We simply pack up our clothes and the company comes to pack up and pick up everything else. We have rented and worked with two different companies and highly recommend either: Cort Furnitureand Home For Now.

ETC: While all this seems to be taken right out of a textbook, there are about 63 different scenarios that can shake it all up so, take it day by day and are ready to break out our pro packing skills at any second.