What Baseball Means To Me AKA My second essay for MLB application

Hello Major League Baseball!  My name is Keely Flanagan, I’m a 20-year old college student.  I’m originally a Bay Area, California resident who currently attends USC in Los Angeles.  And no, this has NOT caused me to become a Dodger’s fan.  I bleed orange and black.

I remember vividly my first experience at a major league baseball game.  I’m sure every essay you’ve read probably starts with this exact anecdote, but that’s because the first time is so meaningful to so many people.  It’s a memory that people across the country cherish and share with family and friends.  My first game was the Oakland Coliseum when I was about 3 years old. I don’t remember the game at all; in fact, I actually spent the entire time with my mom looking for a playground in the ballpark.   I guess my love for the game would have to wait a few years.

This very moment occurred at my first ever play-off game.  It was Game 2 of the 2000 NL divisional series between my SF Giants and the NY Mets.  JT Snow, my all-time favorite player (originally because 7-year old me thought the name sounded cool), was up to bat in the bottom of the ninth.  We were trailing 4-1.  I remember clearly his one epic swing of the bat: a 3-run home run that cleared the seats on the right field side.  As I watched the ball go yard, the thought that it was, in fact, a home run never crossed my mind.  I thought for certain it was a foul ball – until my Dad lifted me up onto his shoulders, screaming and crying like a little boy.  That was also the first moment I had ever seen my Dad cry.

Baseball has empowered me in more ways than 500 words can express.  I have such a deep love and appreciation for the game and what it has done for me personally, this job would be a small token in which I can give back to the thing that has given me so much.  Baseball got me through some of the toughest challenges in my life.  Whenever I have felt down and out, baseball has always been there to inspire and pick up the pieces. 

But baseball has provided more than merely helping me to work through adversity: it has strengthened the bond I share with my dad, and it’s helped my love life as tremendously.  In all honesty, what guy doesn’t drool over a chick who can recite batting averages by heart, and can tell the difference between a change-up and fastball just watching from the third base side at AT&T Park?  Let’s just say I do very well. 

Let me end with this: I love baseball.  Pure and simple.  Every aspect of the game is perfect.  The subtle difference between a slider and curveball is poetry, how one millisecond determines whether a ball goes yard or foul, and the various curses and superstitions that have become paramount in American culture: all perfect aspects of the game I love.  This is an opportunity that I cannot pass up: I am willing to leave school and take a semester off, and I would do so a heartbeat if offered this dream job.  I am willing to give everything I have, body, mind, and spirit, to baseball.   It’s the least I can sacrifice for the one thing in life I am completely and utterly passionate about.  Baseball is my life.

Year of the Pitcher - AKA my first essay in my MLB application

Baseball has once again become a game dominated by the pitcher.  Yes, there are still the home run kings and power hitters of the early 2000’s – however, the 2010 season can confidently be labeled “the year of the pitcher.” Just look at the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants: they charged their way through the playoffs solely on the strength of their starting pitchers and lights-out bull-pen.

The necessity for teams to develop strong pitching staffs is made evident by the Cliff Lee saga that swept the headlines at the start of the off-season.  Where would the playoff proven left-hander end up?  The top two contenders appeared to be his former team, the Texas Rangers against the perennial big-spending New York Yankees.  However, seemingly from out of left-field (ha puns), Lee accepted an $11 million a year contract from another former team of his, the Philadelphia Phillies.

It’s no mystery that many top teams have worked to build an elite 5 and 6 man rotation in the off-season.  The Philadelphia Phillies are at the front of the pack in terms of creating a seemingly unstoppable force of all-star pitchers.  The combination of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels is unprecedented.  What is also unprecedented is the payroll: the combination of these contracts culminates in roughly $70 million a year for the four all-star starters plus #5 starter Joe Blanton.  With the addition of Cliff Lee, the Phills were forced to make the tough decision to pass on free-agent Jayson Werth, a power hitting, gold-glove worthy outfielder who signed with the up and coming Washington Nationals.

This decision is symbolic of the new trend that favors the pitcher.  Although Werth eventually signed a $126 million contract with the Nat’s, it’s interesting to note that he was dropped by the Phillies in favor of a star pitcher.

 Other position players have faced adversity in attaining lucrative contracts from teams, and teams they have provided equally lucrative service to.  Who could have predicted the resigning of Derek Jeter, the face of the Yankees organization, would turn as ugly and drawn-out as it ended up?  In the National League, the St. Louis cardinals were unable to meet the deadline set by first baseman Albert Pujols, a consistent MVP favorite and arguably the best position player in the game today.

This past season is the start of a new era, marked by the increased emphasis on pitching.  The story of 2011 will be a continuation of where 2010 left off, with the primary debate facing baseball pundits being what team has the best pitching staff, and how much of an impact will these power arms will have in lifting a ball club into the playoffs.  

Possible MLB job over the season?

Ok.  So I know this is really, REALLY reaching for the stars.  But hey, what do I really have to lose?

My mom (and sole official follower of my blog - yay Mommy!) told me today about an opportunity to be a correspondent/writer/viewer of the 2011 baseball season for Major League Baseball.  The dream job.  The only coveat is that I would need to live in New York City for the duration of the season, thereby take at least a semester off of school.

However, this is really the opportunity of a lifetime.  My mom assured me that she would support such a venture: school isn't going to go away.  I am blessed to have the means to take school off and come back later, to have supportive parents who always allow me to follow my dreams, and a family who has bestowed upon me a love and passion for the game of baseball.

Working for Major League Baseball is just that: a dream job for me.  There is not much that would propel me to leave school and take a semester off, but I am not thinking twice about applying for this.  Baseball is my lifeblood - as illustrated by my last blog post, I would not be the same person without baseball.  It has taught me and provided me with so much in my life.  I'm getting emotional just writing this, thinking about the profound effect this past season especially had on me.  In all honesty, the Giants winning the world series this year was more than I needed.  It saved me in many ways.  I was going through one of the hardest periods of my life, and just when I was ready to throw in the towel and spiral out of control, there was baseball.  There was my team, the plucky underdog throughout the playoffs, grinding it out everyday against "superior" ball clubs.  They beat the odds and won their first world series ever in the city of San Francisco - this inspired me more and touched me in ways other people may never fully understand or even be able to comprehend.

The ability and opportunity to surround my life, even if just for a season, with the game that has saved me over and over again, that has picked me up when I have been down, that has stayed with me through both the good times and the bad, that has never for an iota of a second let me down, would be a dream come true.  I would relish the opportunity to give back to the game that has given me so much.

So...look for updates on my application!  It's a real shot in the dark, but nothing in life isn't worth a good 'ol try.  :)