Meet Jessica DeLine from Halos Heaven

We have dozens of women covering pro and college sports for our team brands here at SB Nation. Meet one of those talented writers, Jessica DeLine, who writes for our Angels blog, Halos Heaven.

Neighborhood kids introduced me to baseball when I was young and I took to it ever since, from playing Little League to making up a game called knee ball that I played in the living room (don’t tell my parents)! I’ve been a huge fan of baseball ever since and feel it’s the best game on the planet. I grew up a Twins fan, but when I moved to Orange County as an adult I adopted the Angels as my team of choice.

I really enjoy the player interviews I have been able to do and other special experiences. For example, I got to participate at an event for Albert and Deidre Pujols at Angels stadium for “Strike out Slavery.” It was a fun event, and I had the chance to interview a lot of great people, including Deidre, about the cause. I also love the player interviews I’ve been able to do. Sure, Mike Trout is the pinnacle of that, but I also really enjoy talking to minor league players about their experience and the grind and what minor league baseball is all about. You really see the love of the game in those guys.

It’s hard sometimes to be taken seriously as someone who knows about baseball and is female. Most of the community on Halos Heaven have been great about that and don’t treat me differently than the guys, though. Women can know baseball. Women play baseball. I’ve done both and that’s hard for some people to get a grasp on at times, but I think that is improving. I’ve had many “wows” from guys I talk to when they realize I actually understand what I’m talking about. I don’t think guys who talk about baseball get that same reaction.

I began writing about the Angels on a personal blog, and when I found out about SB Nation I got very involved with the Halos Heaven community there. It was a great place to talk about the love of baseball and love of the Angels all in one great location. I was approached by the site manager, Josh Mayhood, to write, and things just took off from there.

In terms of writing, there really aren’t a lot of women (that I know of) writing good stuff about baseball. I think Kate Preusser is one of them. Women are starting to break down barriers in professional baseball and it’s great. Justine Siegal is amazing and has come so far. Some women are starting to become professional scouts as well, but in short, there really aren’t a lot of women in the industry in general, which needs to change. I joined a great group of women in sports on Facebook, but it’s less than 400 people and even there, the amount of women writing about baseball or working in baseball is pretty small.