MLB Dream Job Essay #1

My name is Murrell, and here is one of the essays I wrote for the MLB Dream Job.  This one is on why I love baseball.

Baseball has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  Even though my Dad was a fan of the Reds, I grew up a Cubs fan and would rush home from school to catch the last few innings of their day games on TV.  My Dad and I spent years of my youth collecting baseball cards, with my prize cards being two Mickey Mantle cards from the 60’s.  We still exchange phone calls whenever the Reds and Cubs play so the winner can give the loser a hard time.  That loser is usually me,

Growing up I played Little League baseball for a coach who was one of the most influential people in my life.  He taught me about the rules of the game, sportsmanship, and life in general.  I still watch the Little League World Series because it reminds me of those days.  He took the team to a Chicago Cubs game, my first major league game, and it’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.  The highlight was getting an autograph from catcher Jody Davis. 

When I was in high school I was the official scorer for that same Little League, and my former coach was the league president.  I would sit in the booth and pretend to do play-by-play for the games.  Often he would take me home at night, and we’d sit in his truck and talk until midnight.  Sometimes we’d talk about baseball, sometimes about life.  He knew a lot about both, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him.

Eventually I got a job at the ESPN Radio affiliate in South Bend, IN.  When I started there we broadcast games for Notre Dame, including their baseball team.  This was first time I really followed college baseball.  Eventually we started airing games for the South Bend Silverhawks, the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  This allowed me to learn about baseball at another level, and really see the impact of how trading a star player for prospects forces changes at every level of an organization.  Notre Dame plays an exhibition game against the Silverhawks, billed as “Silver Versus Gold”.  I aired the first game between the teams for Notre Dame, and aired the next 2 for the Silverhawks. 

I’ve always been a “stat nerd”.  I was in the baseball card club in Junior High, and the other kids were consistently frustrated that I would usually get 9 or 10 questions correct out of 10 on our trivia games.  I’ve owned two different baseball encyclopedias in my life, and have studied them well enough to know that there was a real player named Bud Weiser, and that the Moonlight Graham mentioned in ‘Field of Dreams’ was also a real player. 

So I guess the short answer is that the reason I love baseball is because it’s played a major part in making me who I am today.