We Can See STARS

Chapter 11: Bennana Baseball, Late May/Early June 2020

You hated the summer heat in Scottsdale. Correction: you hated the summertime in general. The sun gives you headaches,the heat is unbearable, and it didn't matter if you had on the acceptable minimal amount of clothing, you would still always be sweating. But if there was one reason worth enduring all of this, it was Baseball. Yes, Baseball was one if not the only thing that made the summertime enjoyable to you. The color, the sounds, the smells that come with attending a baseball game on a summer evening was a source of comfort and happiness to you. The mere fact that you had decided to move to Scottsdale was a decision no one could really comprehend, but you were grateful that you took the leap of faith in order to fulfill a dream of yours: working for an MLB team.

About two and a half years ago, you were stuck in a rut and unhappy living in California. You had lived there your whole life, working in social media for a company which had given you a great amount of experience, however with no actual baseball team in the city you lived in, it was pretty much a dead end job. Every now and then you would share these frustrations to D and she would always encourage you to make a big change in your life, possibly even move to Arizona . It was definitely tempting. Living closer to your best friend, where the cost of living was cheaper. You also loved the Arizona landscape, and as an added bonus Arizona had all major sports teams. One night you decided to research apartments and job opportunities in Arizona and you came across an opening for a Social Media Relations position for Fox Sports. Before you knew it you were loading up the moving truck ready to make your journey to your new home. It took a while to adjust to this new life and the southwest world but having D there, helped you out tremendously. You quickly moved up in your position at Fox Sports. The night you begged D to accompany you to a party event, you spoke with someone your coworker knew that worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks. You managed to set up an interview to work directly with the team.

Now you found yourself sitting in your office inside Chase Field prepping the social media content for this weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The DBacks were keeping steady in their division. They got off to a rocky start but righted the ship and were now holding on to the second spot in the NL West, only 2 games back from the annoyingly good Dodgers. Making this series against the Brewers a must watch. Days when the team had a day off prior to a start of a series were always crazy busy. Different networks needed certain social media content and interviews with different players or coaching staff. The fact that a huge percentage of ball players were Latin or from the Caribbean, most of whom only spoke Spanish, they relied on you to help out with organizing the Spanish content that was needed. It was a lot of work but you loved it. You managed to finally finish up the social media schedule before heading out to lunch. Without it everyone would be lost. The schedule included the times and information the players needed in order to report to a certain network to be interviewed or who needed to go and record some content for the DBacks social media accounts. As you were heading down the tunnel that led to the players locker room weaving your way through the different groups of reporters and media in order to post the schedule you hear a familiar voice...

"And here's Ana from California standing at 5 feet tall and you. can't. teach. THAT!"

You stop in your tracks and turn around and are greeted by a smiling Jared with his well kept beard and styled hair, sunglasses hanging on the neckline of his usual T-shirt that hugged his toned arms, jeans and kicks. You thought you might see him for this series, granted he focused mostly on the AL East but he was known for having a soft spot for the Brewers and did a lot of content on them as well.

"Well if it isn't the Rocket himself!" You respond as you start walking towards him and the group he was with, which you figured were the rest of the "Stoolies". He comes towards you and gives you a hug. He did give one of the best hugs