Meet the women of SB Nation’s MLB team brands: How did they start covering their teams?

How does a fan take the leap from following their team, discussing them on Twitter, and participating in one of our communities to actually writing about for a team brand? The women of SB Nation’s team brands are here to share their experiences with you.

In this series, we’re celebrating the talented women who cover Major League Baseball for our team brands. They’ve shared what makes them so passionate about baseball and why they love the team they cover. They’ve relived their favorite experiences, and they’ve given us insight into the various challenges they each face in their roles.

In this installment, they share their journey from fandom to contributor. You can check out the entire series and each woman’s individual answers below.

Writing is something I have always loved to do. Journalism was my concentration in college, and creative writing was my minor, and looking back on my work from that time I realized any opportunity I got to write about baseball I jumped on it. The problem was I was a writer who absolutely refused to let anybody read my work besides my professor. Fast forward to 2015 and the Mets were fun again! I had recently discovered Amazin’ Avenue and absolutely fell in love with the community. I was a lurker and never commented, but after every Mets win or loss they were my go-to for some sanity.

The day the Mets lost the World Series that year I was also out of a job. I unexpectedly got laid off after 14 years, and the Mets had been my distraction, but then suddenly everything was gone. I still had a part-time job and the people there were great, but then one day I saw Amazin’ Avenue was looking for writers. I figured I had nothing to lose and applied. I had already suffered a blow and survived, so it was time to pull myself back up. Much to my surprise they accepted me. I was at work when the email came through and was so tempted to do a happy dance right then and there. I am also now full time at my other job and it’s been nice to find two new places to belong again after getting the carpet ripped out from under me.

Back around 2012 I started a baseball blog of my own — my first few posts were awful as I struggled to learn to write blog posts instead of television copy or a short prep sports piece for the local newspaper. When I look back, I can see just how bad those first posts really were, but after a few months I got offered an unpaid position at a blog called Sports Unbiased.

About a year later, I began working as the managing editor of FanSided’s Call to the Pen and wrote as a featured columnist on their national site. During the next few years I also wrote as a columnist at FanRag Sports while doing freelance projects on the side. I was talking to my editor one day on LinkedIn and he thought he might have a spot for me, as he’d read my pieces on Oakland and knew I was knowledgeable. I left FanSided and started writing for Athletics Nation and I love it! Sometimes I miss writing about other teams, so one day I aspire to write at both Athletics Nation and on SB Nation’s national site.

I started out writing FanPosts for Bless You Boys, and then applied to become a staff writer. I pretty quickly started taking that way too seriously, and branched out to two other SBN sites, so a good chunk of my life is now dedicated to writing about baseball.

I have been officially writing for BlueBird Banter for just over a year, which is surreal. I had only discovered the site a few weeks prior, and it quickly became my go-to source for Blue Jays news. Tom Dakers, who runs the site, mentioned in a game thread they were looking for an additional voice or two, and despite the fact I’ve never had a single sports journalism ambition in my life, I was confident I could capably contribute.

I inquired with Tom, and he suggested I do a FanPost. My first piece was a fun compilation of tweets from a series against the Detroit Tigers in an effort to inject a little humor and light into a trying season, and I was initiated in soon after that. I started with news posts on roster moves and trades, then started to experiment with more feature style pieces. Nowadays, I do a little bit of everything.

I had been reading the site for a few years; the managing editor put out a notice inviting those interested in writing or editing to email him. I thought I could add some value with editing skills and came on board. Not only have I enjoyed writing and editing for the site; I have been fortunate to develop an entirely new community of fellow/sister fans from diverse backgrounds and with diverse interests and talents.

I started with FanPosts before I was invited to be part of the staff. I really dove in and challenged myself to write about a wide variety of topics, and I also volunteered to cover stuff other people didn’t want to do, like weekend recaps. And now I’m the boss of the applesauce!

My senior thesis was on Roberto Clemente and his portrayal in the American media, which earned me a scholarship to SABR’s annual seminar and led me to realize that it was (maybe, kind of, sort of, hopefully) feasible for me to continue writing about baseball. I had read Lookout Landing for a number of years and had been communicating with some of the staff and community on Twitter, so when they put out a call for writers, I applied. I pitched myself as the Seth Smith of the staff, sample recapped an Adam Lind walk-off against the White Sox, and the rest was history (this is an immensely 2016 Mariners story).

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!

I had been reading McCovey Chronicles for years and deeply respected Grant Brisbee and his ability to use his intelligence and humor collectively to engage with readers. I reached out to him after seeing that he was taking a larger role at SB Nation to see if he needed help on the site. Thankfully he did. And here we are.

By pure happenstance, I found a job listing for a writing position at MLB Daily Dish. A week later, Justin Bopp (then the managing editor) shot me an email to schedule a phone interview. Butterflies in my stomach isn’t even the right expression — they were dragons and I felt so nervous I thought I was burning from the inside out. Justin explained to me that he didn’t even read the sportswriting clip I’d sent, but rather Googled me and found a significantly more compelling story I’d written and that he was looking for that type of craftsmanship on the site. Two-and-a-half years later, and now I’m one of our writers and the social media manager. Life comes at you fast.

I joined PSA back in 2010 when I was looking for a community to share my excitement with. I wish I had found the site during the 2009 postseason run. As a Yankees fan living in California, I’m surrounded by Dodgers and Giants fans, but hard pressed to find anyone to talk with about the team in person. It wasn’t long before I had made a lot of new friends in the game threads. I happened to be in the right place at the right time in 2013 when Tanya Bondurant was looking to add an editor to the staff. I hadn’t ever written about the Yankees before, but she took a chance on me and I’m still here nearly five years later.

I started working for SB Nation last year when my boyfriend, a tried and true Rockies fan, mentioned that he’d seen a posting seeking Rockpile writers. I was thrilled to get an offer from Purple Row, giving me an opportunity to combine two of my passions: writing and baseball.

This is a funny story, actually. I was attending a Diamondbacks-Rockies game in Phoenix last September (2017) and met this couple who was visiting from Denver. We talked throughout the game and ended up friending each other on Facebook. The wife liked Purple Row on Facebook and some article that she had liked popped up on my page, so I decided to like the page as well. A few weeks later, our managing editor Eric posted a call for new writers and I applied and the rest is history!

I started firing off some Fanposts and they were fairly well received. I think it was largely about signing Brian Dozier’s hair to an extension, as well as Ryan Doumit (Google him, kids) having mind control powers. Y’know, your standard analytics. Our editor at the time must have liked them (or been desperate) because he e-mailed me about joining the recap team. I guess not a lot of people want to write about a team that loses roughly 5 million games a year, so that might have helped me out. Thanks, Twins!

I got my start at Viva El Birdos writing farm reports in May of 2016. I spent at least two to three hours, two evenings a week, reading through Minor League box scores from Triple-A to Rookie ball and striving to write stories that were fun to read but also as informative as possible. (The longest farm report I can recall writing was over 1,700 words, and if any of you read that from start to finish, I’d like to hear from you!) I sometimes contributed analysis pieces and eventually got the opportunity to manage the website in April of this year. I am so grateful to have gotten that chance and appreciate greatly the writers I have on staff who put tremendous thought and effort in all of the their writing.

I began my tenure at SB Nation in the comment section of Viva El Birdos. As a college student, I often watched baseball alone as I studied, so it was nice stumbling upon this whole new culture of baseball fans. I was hooked instantly and would occasionally write game recaps in the Fanposts section. Nothing fancy, just a few key plays and jokes, but they were well-received. When VEB needed more writers I was asked if I would contribute an article a week and I agreed without hesitation. That was five years ago. Now I am an editor writing five posts a week and co-hosting the podcast. It has been a wonderful experience!

I started out engaged in the comment community at Viva El Birdos. I was extremely lucky to come into the community at a time when the comments were vibrant, smart, intense, and challenging. It was a proving ground for your opinions about the team and about baseball, as well as a place where you could have your preconceived notions challenged. There was hardly a day that went by that I didn’t learn something there. Moving into recapping games gave me an avenue to start conversations with that commenter community and have a little fun with games (even the losses) as well.

I’ve been a member of the BCB community since before it was part of SB Nation. It’s a really incredible community of Cubs fans. When I was living in Boston, there was a New England BCB meetup when the Cubs played at Fenway for the first time in almost 100 years. It was a ton of fun. Cubs owner Tom Ricketts came by to say hi to our group and President of Business Operations Crane Kenney had an extra beer that he wound up giving me, so I like to say Crane Kenney bought me a beer once. Oh, and the best part. I met Al Yellon. We’ve been friends ever since. When I moved to Chicago a few years later I’d always sit with their group in left field when I had a bleacher ticket.

During the Cubs’ absolutely magical World Series run, I happened to let him know I had some cool pictures of the Wrigley Chalk Wall that spontaneously showed up after the Cubs won the NLCS. He asked if I wanted to write it up. I did, and he published it with a shout out to my old screen name. The next week I wound up writing up a piece about cover charges in the neighborhood and he was interested in that too. During the World Series he asked if I wanted to write for the front page more regularly, and while I think I said something like “absolutely, I can put together a piece or two a week.” I kind of left out the part where writing about baseball was a lifelong dream of mine. I still sort of pinch myself sometimes that I get to write about my favorite team and my favorite sport.

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.

I reached out to Matt Collins, who runs Over The Monster, and told him I was interested in writing before this season got started. We exchanged a few messages back and forth and eventually figured something out that works for both of us. He’s great to work with and makes it fun!

I’ve followed Purple Row on Twitter for a long time. Around Thanksgiving 2017, I was waiting for my mom in an optometrist’s office and reading on my phone when I saw that Purple Row was looking for writers, I filled out the Google doc and linked to my blog where I’d been writing about Peaky Blinders. I believe the universe sends opportunities when the time is right. For me, this was one of those opportunities.

As with many other fan bases, Braves fans are a passionate and active group on Twitter. I developed a relationship with many of the Talking Chop writers on Twitter, and was approached about writing. At first I didn’t think writing was something for me, but very soon after I realized that this was a new way for me to interact with other fans and share my passion for the team. It has been a very enjoyable experience for me, and I am really glad I gave it a chance.

I’ve formed friendships with many of the True Blue LA team members over the years while covering the Dodgers and Quakes, including Eric Stephen, Craig Minami, Dustin Nosler, David Young and Ryan Walton. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with them and the positive reception I’ve received.

I started off as a commenter at Twinkie Town. Back in the day, the way to promote your own personal blog was to read and comment on other people’s blogs and become part of the community. That’s what I did, but SB Nation’s extremely good commenting system sucked me in. I eventually started writing more and more for the site, and then woke up one day and was running it. Super-weird how that happens.