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Reflections on 2131 after ESPN Aired the Game Last Night
* Last night as I was grading papers and preparing a lecture for online delivery, my husband called me into the family room. “ESPN is airing the full 2131 game,” he said. He was referring to Cal Ripken’s historic night at Camden Yards with the Baltimore Orioles when he surpassed Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak record, a record we will most likely never see broken again. The quality of the video wasn’t good, and my husband and I watched Mike Mussina on the mound. A wave of nostalgia came over me. I was on the field that night, as an employee of the ballclub, executing my duties. That was a…
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Love and The Orioles
* My husband and I met while working in the front office for the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards back in the 90s. Many of you know this story, or may have heard it once or twice before here on Steph’s Scribe. But now the story has come full circle. My husband left the club in 1994, and I stayed until late 1998; he went on to have a long career in media and sales—spending time at the Wizards and Capitals, Redskins Radio, CBS Radio, RadioOne, MASN, and Comcast. Last month, he returned to the Orioles, the place where he began his career and is serving as the VP of…
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Writing About Baseball: The Slump from The Postcard & Other Short Stories
I’ll always have a little bit of baseball in my soul, even all these years later after having worked for the Orioles. The truth is, I grew up in baseball. I did. From the age of 19 through my early 30s, I learned so much from working for the Baltimore Orioles organization. That experience molded me and helped me in the careers I have chosen now. It also gave me some pretty remarkable friendships (and I also got a husband and two great kids out of the deal). One of those careers I have today is that of a writer of novels and short stories. Today, I decided to share…
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Back at Camden Yards, Pangs of Nostalgia and Thankfulness
* This morning I took a ride to Camden Yards. It was surreal—like going back in time to the commute I did for many years from 1992 through 1998 when I was a full-time employee of the ballclub. (Prior to that, beginning in 1985, I commuted to old Memorial Stadium). I had to pick up something from our friend Mark at the Orioles offices for my son’s birthday. On my drive in, as I am often capable of doing, I became nostalgic remembering old times. I also got to thinking about how that job of working for the Orioles completely transformed my life. And I don’t write that lightly. It…
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On the Road to Event Planning
This week, my colleagues Leeanne Bell McManus, Chip Rouse, and I received page proofs of our textbook entitled “Event Planning: Communicating Theory and Practice” which is being published by Kendall Hunt. The year plus of work on this book has been interesting for me, to say the least. As someone who was trained in academia later in life, having worked in the field of public relations, community relations, and publications first, writing a textbook required a whole different set of skills than does writing fiction. And yet both endeavors are rewarding. I wanted to take a moment to thank Leeanne and Chip for working with me on this project. I…
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Baseball, Baltimore & Boisterous Real Fans: Well Worth the Wait
As I sat in the Club Level at Camden Yards on Thursday night, excited for Game One of the ALDS to begin between the hometown Baltimore Orioles and the visiting Detroit Tigers, I basked in the atmosphere. The ballpark hummed. Why, it was only a few years ago when it was devoid of Orioles fans while intruders, fans of the successful Red Sox and Yankees, took over the seats during non-glorious seasons. Thursday night was a different story; Camden Yards was cradling 48,000+ energetic fans donned in orange and white and black. The ballpark was smiling. Two gentlemen in their 20s sat down in front of me. They were both…
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The True Meaning of Friendship
Last Friday night, I organized a reunion. It wasn’t a high school or college reunion. It was a reunion of people who worked together in Baltimore for a baseball team called the Orioles. Having spent many seasons as an employee of the club, and having many friends who did the same (some of them still there enjoying last year’s great season as well as this one), we decided it was time for a big get-together. Many folks may say that it sounds crazy that former colleagues want to get together—but the fact of the matter is—that’s where many of us “grew up” in our 20s and 30s when we were…
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Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast?
The White Queen in Alice in Wonderland said, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” What impossible things do we all believe in? Here are six I’ve chosen to share . . . 1—I believe in ghosts. In some form or another, I do believe they exist, and they are here not to harm, but to educate. 2—People can move objects with their minds. If you don’t believe it’s possible, see this clip from “60 Minutes.” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57559641/paralyzed-woman-controls-robotic-arm-with-her-mind/ 3—Witches do exist. 4—You are capable of changing. There just needs to be a desire to do so. 5—The Orioles can make it to the World Series, quite…
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The New Thing: Writing About Baseball (And love. And death.)
It’s quite a combination, I know. Taking the subject of baseball and rolling it into a novel women will want to read. Women’s fiction…contemporary romance…and baseball? Who is she kidding? one might ask. Here’s the thing: I’m finally up for the challenge. At about 35,000 words already written for the novel (BENEATH THE MIMOSA TREE was 59,000 words), I am making some serious headway with the main character I like, but who has some issues to overcome. Incidentally, she works in professional baseball. And that’s about all I’ll say right now. It’s taken me years to write a novel with baseball as one of its “characters,” just as New York…
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Revenge
With all due respect to Yankees fans, people like my cousin Chrysti, Louis, my Jersey relatives and my husband’s relatives, my kid-sitter Lauren, and my former counterpart at the Yankees who’s still a fan, Gregg Mazzola, it’s time. Time for revenge. As a front office employee during the 1996 ALCS, I sat and cried when the Yankees beat us. I could smell my World Series ring. I thought it would be the year. The team was good, Davey Johnson was at the helm, and the Orioles were strong. Of course, a World Series didn’t come to pass for Baltimore. But tonight, who knows what will happen. We’ve waited patiently for…
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The Pink Panther, Mark, and Me
Last night, my family and I went to Camden Yards. Some of you readers know that I worked for the Orioles for many years. The Orioles and Camden Yards are sentimental to me for so many reasons, namely because I met my husband and some of my best friends there, and also because it was just a great place to work. Time spent at the Orioles was a pleasure, and one that I remember fondly. The pictured Pink Panther is no longer mine. He belongs to my friend Mark Hromalik, the assistant director of sales. Mark and I worked together, and when I left, I bestowed my Pink Panther to…
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Orioles Magic, Old & New
* * * It was 1995. Cal was set to tie—and then break—Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak record. I worked for the Orioles as the Director of Publishing. It was a great year to be a member of the Orioles front office. In about seven weeks, we put together Cal’s Commemorative Book, a publication created by our organization that celebrated Cal and his accomplishments that was sold on September 6, 1995. Besides my debut novel that was released in March, it’s the only other print publication I’m immensely proud to have been a part of, and it was an honor to serve as its editor. On the evening of 2131,…
