Meet Sami Higgins from McCovey Chronicles

We have dozens of women covering pro and college sports for our team brands here at SB Nation. Meet one of those talented writers, Sami Higgins, who writes for our Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles.

I was born into a baseball family. My first identity was not Californian or even American, it was Giants fan. But what led me to fall in love with baseball was playing it in the empty lots in the trailer park where I grew up. We would go out there and play wiffle ball, with ghost runners, and we all thought we were Barry Bonds, about to hit a grand slam full of ghost runners.

Well, it’s been a rough couple of years for the San Francisco Giants. I’m not going to lie, there hasn’t actually been much to get excited or happy about since I came on board in early 2017. Is it my fault? Well, sure. You could also blame Grant Brisbee, since he’s the one who brought me on board. I kid, of course. Grant is actually my favorite baseball writer in the business and it was an honor to work with him while I was able to. So maybe that, then, to answer your question. Working with Grant Brisbee was a privilege and an inspiration.

Trying to be the positive voice at the site throughout the last couple of years of really hard times for the fanbase. (Yeah, I know, hard times for Giants fans, no one cares. But 98 losses followed by a season of almost mandatory mediocrity really makes people lose their patience). I am generally the positive voice of the site, and I’m usually okay with that and do my best to keep it up, but sometimes it’s difficult because there is just nothing there to work with.

That said, in terms of the challenges women in sportswriting face, I can honestly say that I haven’t had to deal with a lot of that. The community at McCovey Chronicles has been one of the rare places in my experiences as a female sports fan and writer that has not been met with a lot of sexism. It’s a welcoming place for all — unless your opinion on cake vs. pie is wrong.

It’s actually kind of a funny story. I had written to McCovey Chronicles in April of 2016 to inquire about a writing position but I didn’t hear anything back. So that summer, after the upset loss by the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, I wrote a couple of popular Fanposts on Golden State of Mind trying to offer some perspective on the amazing season that the 2015-2016 Warriors had. I was then encouraged to apply for a volunteer position on their site and got to cover the 2016-2017 Warriors on their journey to winning the NBA Finals once again. It was exhilarating and it actually opened the door to getting the position at McCovey Chronicles, so I am constantly thankful to the site manager over there, Nate Parham, for giving me the opportunity to get my feet wet and hone my craft. Additionally, I encourage all aspiring writers in the SBNation community to keep writing Fanposts because you never know who is reading them and might want to hire you!

All of the women covering sports are worth looking up to, especially those who do so on a larger scale and face the blowback from traditionalists who don’t see the value of, say, in-game reporters or women in the broadcasting booth. So on that front, I admire Amy Gutierrez for her excellent Giants coverage and Jessica Mendoza for her (sadly) groundbreaking role in the booth. I admire Eireann Dolan for sticking to her values even when it wasn’t popular. I admire Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and Kate Scott for their incredible dedication and versatility. I admire my friend Tamryn Spruill, who was writing with me at Golden State of Mind and is now covering the WNBA as the Editor of SB Nation’s Swish Appeal. I admire Carmen Kiew from my own site, who is a force to be reckoned with in terms of her passion and knowledge of the game, and knowing what she wants and going for it. I admire Julie Parker who is the only regular female writer on the Giants’ beat that I know of, who puts out amazing content. I admire Jemele Hill’s unwavering tenacity. And countless other women in varying levels of the job who give it all that they have who inspire me on a daily basis. Most of all, I think that women who love sports, even if they aren’t currently covering it as a profession, have to put up with a lot of ... negativity, to put it nicely. So I encourage anyone who has even the slightest interest in writing about sports or covering it for television or radio, give it your all and keep doing what you love. Your passion will shine through and you will get there and I will be here to support you!