Meet the women of SB Nation’s MLB team brands: Their favorite experiences from covering their team

Covering your favorite team for one of SB Nation’s team brands can be a lot of fun. It’s an opportunity to write about something you love and share that passion with the world.

The talented women writing about Major League Baseball for our team brands hail from all over the place and cover many different teams, but they all have at least one favorite memory from covering their team.

You can enjoy the rest of this series and meet each woman who shared their thoughts with us below.

Getting to have the whole game-day press box experience with the Rays this summer was such an incredible moment for me. Just being up in the press box, getting to talk to guys in the clubhouse, and Kevin Cash in the dugout. It was surreal to be a part of it, and the team couldn’t have been nicer about making me feel welcome on my first go-round. I hope it’s something I get to repeat many more times in the future.

Hands down, it has been the relationships I’ve formed with other members. It is such a joy to visit the site every day and chat both about the team and about life in the comments. I have also been fortunate enough to have now met several people in person, and a few have grown to be friends I have gone to games with and even traveled with. I feel very blessed to be a part of this community and am so grateful to everyone who has chosen to invest in it.

I have had a few opportunities to get press credentials and cover games from the press box, including pre- and postgame clubhouse interviews. It’s given me an even greater appreciation of the athleticism and the intelligence of the players. I also have gained respect for the work of the beat reporters. Covering a game is a 10-hour day, and beat reporters must find something engaging to say about each of 162 games.

I really enjoy the 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.

Can I pick two? I’ll keep them short. 1) Being on a panel with Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, along with some of my fellow Mariners luminaries, for Lookout Landing Night last year. 2) Helping to raise over $8,000 for then-new Mariner Denard Span’s Foundation, which supports single parent families. That money, in particular, will help purchase a new car for a single parent family in need.

Interviewing Dereck Rodriguez when he was still in the minors and asking him what it would be like to be called up ... he was called up the next day. Getting to see him under the bright lights of the big leagues after hearing his story was really rewarding!

My favorite experience about working with Over The Monster so far has definitely been interacting with the fans. The comment section can be a little rough sometimes. :) But it’s cool to see everyone’s passion shine through. That’s something I can relate to and understand.

The best part of contributing to Purple Row has been gaining a more detailed knowledge of baseball. I’ve learned statistics, preseason workings, and a much more intricate understanding of the sport I’ve always loved.

Specifically, I enjoyed the interview process for my article about Rockies players who have some experience playing musical instruments. Over the course of about three or four games throughout the summer, I interviewed almost every player on the team about their experience. Even though many of them didn’t play, or at least not for very long, it gave me a chance to practice interviewing and just to talk to players about something unique other than baseball (which many of them appreciated). That was a really fun and rewarding process, and I certainly have learned a lot this season about what it takes to be a member of the media.

There’s so much I like about writing for SB Nation, but I’m going to take a different approach my answer. I teach English at a community college in rural Wyoming. I am an avid reader, but it’s been clear to me for a while that the ways in which I learned about writing and literature are no longer attractive to students — even though the skills are more important than ever. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make these skills relevant to students, and for this, my SB Nation writing has been a revelation. I wasn’t on Purple Row’s Slack for very long before I understood that I was participating in a new way to write: collaborating remotely with people I’d never met; exploring the possibilities of social media; and realizing that what I had written was being read by an audience I couldn’t fully envision. Writing for Purple Row has allowed me to rethink myself as a writer and teacher.

It’s still absolutely baffling to me that I’m allowed to do this, so I enjoy pretty much every moment. I’m just a gigantic goofball and somehow when I turn a baseball sim into a time travel murder plot, or turn a game recap into a high fantasy story, people are like “Sure!” and they publish it. That’s insane! The Twinkie Town community is full of amazing people and I’m truly grateful for every moment they don’t collectively decide to round me up and try me for witchcraft.

My primary role with Talking Chop is to incorporate collector topics with Braves baseball along with covering the occasional season ticket holder events. Typically I discuss baseball card pricing, autographs, and memorabilia. Although I have not been with TC for very long, my favorite experience so far was looking back at the array of Chipper Jones cards during the time of his Hall of Fame induction back in July. It was enjoyable to reminisce with other collectors about cards we may not have seen for a long time while also appreciating Chipper’s career.

My favorite experience covering the Cardinals for Viva El Birdos isn’t a specific instance, but rather the several times when I can have conversations with readers about the game. I really enjoy getting personal feedback (emails, Twitter/Facebook responses, etc.) with fans and being able to connect with them. It’s always neat to see fellow fans who share opinions with me, but I also try to learn from any differences that I come across. It would be difficult for fans to find a website better than SB Nation for meaningful sports conversation, and I really mean that!

I have managed to interact with Carlos Martínez several times, twice at events and once randomly. I was allowed to interview him when he visited a school near downtown St. Louis to help with their Cinco de Mayo fundraiser. He donated the jersey off his back and salsa danced on stage, despite being noticeably ill. Writing for SB Nation made that possible and it was amazing. (The time I randomly encountered him was at a rec league basketball game at a community center. We were both there to watch our friends play, then shot hoops afterward.)

Watching the young players for the Cardinals develop over the last few years has been an amazing ride. I know the phrase “devil magic” gets bandied about to describe the Cardinals’ ability to mine diamonds in the rough, and that’s a bit fair, but it makes for one heck of a ride. It’s exhilarating to see the prospects come up and be a blank slate that you can project all your crazy 90^th percentile outcome dreams onto.

Honestly, the people I work with are all amazing people who really know their stuff. Their knowledge blows me away. We have a great following of people who are all so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the game that I have learned so much from and they have inspired me to want to learn more.

I had been a member of Athletics Nation for a number of years, but never had really interacted with the rest of the community. Now I have more A’s fan friends, everyone is very cool, and even if someone’s giving you a hard time, it’s always playful and all in jest! I love the team at AN, everyone is supportive and always helping each other out, which is a nice change from other places I have written previously.

Favorite is going to be tough. There have been a lot of magical moments, including every message I get from people who take the time to read my work and let me know what they think. Every now and again I get some really incredible ones and have made some new friends that way, like the guys on the Away Games Pod. But honestly, my *favorite* moment is probably still my first official story on the masthead. The universe collided in a weird way that allowed me to cover my day job and baseball at the same time. It was a huge step in accomplishing a lifelong dream of writing about baseball. I smile every time I think of 13-year-old me writing about baseball in rural Utah. That girl had no idea she’d get to cover the Cubs someday.

My favorite experience covering our team for SB Nation has definitely been the community outreach part we get to do. From softball games to meetups to charity partnerships with some of our players, it’s so much more than just covering the team; it’s creating a community space both online and in person and getting to connect with people and do stuff that’s bigger than just us.

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.

The MLB Draft is my favorite time of year at MLB Daily Dish. I’ve had three drafts on staff here, and every year I become more and more proud of how the staff covers it. My favorite aspect is talking to the kids entering their draft — their lives could change in a split second, so getting to tell the story of how they got to a place in their sport where they could go pro is such an honor for me. It not only deepens the emotional side of the game but gives insider access to fans and reader who are diligently following along.

The Yankees’ postseason run last year was exciting, even though I was out of the country for part of it. Big trades and free agent signings are always fun and feel like a staff bonding experience.

Although it’s only been a few months since I joined TBLA, I have enjoyed working with the crew and interacting with the members of the SB Nation community I have met.

Definitely by far when someone reaches out to me to tell me they really liked something I wrote. Every once in awhile someone even goes out of their way to send me an entire e-mail thanking me for my work and keeping the site fun. It always touches me.