intro

Welcome to our blog! 
We’re just three normal girls living normal lives with our normal guys… Just kidding!
We're three sometimes normal girls living essentially nomadic gypsy lives with our guys, who happen to play professional baseball. Little did we know that three years after our husbands pitched on the same team one summer in college that we would be close friends sharing in a very unpredictable yet beautiful journey through minor league baseball and beyond! On this blog we'll share with you our "Life In the 10th Inning" because for us, life goes on after the field lights go off. 
We hope you enjoy!

xoxo,
Allison, Jackie & Monica

Click here to learn a little more about us!

intro picture

intro picture

Sunday, April 26, 2015

ALLISON: I Believe in the Church of Baseball




Long before I met Adam I was a fan of diamonds- both of the baseball variety and otherwise if I’m being really honest. When I began my love affair with “America’s Pastime” as a young girl I had no idea what kind of real life love affair it would lead me to and how the game would become a part of my story. Accidentally (but luckily!) for me, the man of my dreams helped my love for one diamond flourish while Adam pledged his forever love with the other, more glamorous, form of diamond.

Not only is baseball an integral part of America’s athletic history but for many families some of their fondest memories of being together is loading up the car and heading out to a ballgame. There is something about a father taking his son (or daughter, hello!) to his first baseball game and seeing his innocent eyes glimmer with the anticipation of nabbing a foul ball, getting an autograph from their favorite player or eating a GIANT spool of cotton candy.

I remember going to a Texas Rangers’ game with my dad when I was young and I was DYING for a game-used Todd Zeile bat that they were selling at the gift shop*. I silently pouted until the 7th inning when my dad finally gave in (as he usually did) and bought me that bat. I was over the moon! I still have it in my old room at my mom’s house and it always brings back vivid memories of nearly 20 years ago.

My first experience at a park other than the Rangersfield was also memorable. My family and I were in New York and went to a Yankees game at old Yankee Stadium when I was probably 8 or 9. It was an afternoon game in the middle of summer, blazing hot, and we happened to have seats right near the visitors’ bullpen. When the opposing team’s starter began to tire in the stifling summer heat several relievers started to loosen their arms and warm-up. Y’all, all hell broke loose. Suddenly, hot and incredibly sweaty New Yorkers unleashed their ruthless verbal attacks on the bullpen guys. I can’t be certain, but to this day I’m not sure that I have heard such a filthy monologueexcept maybe on an episode of The Sopranos. But I freaking LOVED IT! 


I was hooked on the atmosphere, the American spirit that baseball embodied and the camaraderie that the game seemed to produce for fans and players alike. I have now been to a World Series game, many College World Series games, seven different major league ballparks and my list of minor league ballparks is growing by the baseball season. 




But I ask myself… aside from getting to see my husband wear baseball pants every day for six months out of the year, why do I love baseball so much? Why has this game that many people find “boring” or “slow” captured my soul?

Baseball is a sport of combined power, finesse and perfection. The backdrop of the game not only allows for social interaction with friends and family without deterring you from the action on the field, but it DEMANDS conversation. It is simple enough for young children to understand but complex enough to keep even the oldest of fans engaged. The outcome of the game is never definite until the final out is made. Both teams have an equal opportunity to score every game. Its one of the only sports where the defense controls the game. You can be successful 3 out of 10 times and find yourself on the positive side of the performance spectrum. Baseball is physically inviting to boys and men of all shapes and sizes. The constant mental game of chess between the pitcher and the batters is complex and intricate.  There is constant non-verbal communication happening on the field. “Free baseball” makes you hang on every pitch. 

Baseball players never really seem to grow up; they make fun of each other, make up secret handshakes and create their own language, similar to small children on a playground. The smell of the grass, hot dogs and beer immediately creates a vibrant environment of youth. The game itself is unselfish. The unspoken rules of baseball are essential yet can be detrimental. Magic is made in October. Ninety feet have, and always will be, ninety feet. Sixty feet and six inches have, and always will be, sixty feet and six inches. The tradition of the game meshes generations. The ever changing, yet consistent nature of the game keeps it traditional as well as making it modern. I could go on forever, but you get the point. Plus, let’s face it; boys running around in baseball pants is never a bad thing! 


What I think baseball boils down to is its uncanny ability to mirror everyday life. One of my favorite aspects of the game that simulates life is that the main goal of baseball is always to come home. You methodically move around the diamond until you end up where you want to be, at home; if you dont end up successful you know that you put in your best effort to get there. Isnt that everybodys goal at the end of the day, to come home? Home is a place of comfort, relaxation and love, which are things that everyone strives for to some extent. The game is effortlessly relatable to each of our very own daily struggles and successes. You can fail miserably today and yet still have the gift of opportunity to be the hero tomorrow. Redemption is always only a day away. You have to be able to accept that the past is the past and in order to succeed you have to look forward with optimism and excitement. Slumps will happen, but you always have a chance to hit a game-winning grand slam the next day if you are patient and persistent.

Over the last several years the baseball field has become a place of tranquility and friendship for me. It’s a place for me to catch up with my friends while watching my husband chase his dreams. It’s a sacred place where I can set aside the rigors of adulthood while enjoying the fact that no matter what, this game will forever be a part of my marriage, my family and my story. What could be better? Not much… not much at all.

Xoxo,
AP

*Ironically, Adam played with Todd Zeile’s nephew, Shane, at UCLA. You can imagine the look on his face when Adam told him that I still have his uncle’s bat in my room.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Let's Talk Baseball!



One thing that we have noticed since being thrown head-first into this lifestyle is how little people know about what happens “behind the scenes” of professional baseball! The “business side” of baseball is something that drastically affects us and especially our guys, and it's something that most people know next to nothing about if they haven’t experienced it firsthand. Even we are learning things almost every day as our guys navigate through their respective systems. SO! We figured it would be a good start to make our first post a little bit informative and explain some of the basics of the MLB/MiLB as well as share some of our FAVORITE (and by favorite we mean NOT so favorite) questions that we are frequently asked. 


THE MLB DRAFT: Let's start from the beginning: The most common way a player enters the world of professional baseball is by being selected in the MLB Draft, which takes place every June. The players (and their families) find out what team they have been drafted to when the MLB Commissioner announces it to the entire nation - not a minute before. The MLB Draft experience is almost a preview of the life to follow; it is insanely exciting, exhilarating and terrifying all at once. The seemingly endless wait for someone else to make the decision about where you will build your life next is a TOTALLY foreign feeling. The Draft was one of the most amazing memories (for all of us!); being there with our guys in the moment that a life-long dream of theirs came true and the moment they were called on by a professional team to join the organization is an irreplaceable feeling. 


With our honeys on draft day!


(We were a little busy during the draft-
Adam was winning the CWS!)

THE SYSTEM: Immediately following the draft is when one of the most common misconceptions occurs: when our boys were drafted, they did not go straight to play with the MLB team! Most people don’t know that every major league team that we see on ESPN or MLB Network has SIX different minor league teams all feeding into the big league club. After the draft, the boys are sent to the lowest level of the minor leagues and must work their way up through the system. This is one of the biggest differences between baseball and almost every other professional sport, which makes it hard for people to understand. The players must be promoted (based on performance and many other factors) several times before reaching the big leagues and they are never guaranteed ANY time with the MLB team when they sign their first contract with the organization. The different levels of the minor leagues are:

Rookie Ball
Class A Short Season
Class A (aka Low-A)
Class A Advanced (aka High-A)
Double A (AA)
Triple A  (AAA)

Yes – this means that our guys are competing with roughly 180 other players in their own organization to even set foot on a big league field. Let that marinate… 

When a player signs a minor league contract, which is the first step after the draft, they are committing to seven years with the organization. This means the organization has complete control over the path our guys take through the minors and the plan they have for them can change at any second – which means that any plans WE might have can also change at any second. No matter what level a player is at (even in the big leagues) the organization can promote, demote, or even release him at ANY POINT during the season with NO notice. This literally means a player and his family could be settled in one city, receive a phone call that he is being moved and have to pack up and leave that night or the next morning. HELLO, ANXIETY! Potentially the craziest part about this aspect of the MLB/MiLB is that all of the minor league teams teams are always in different cities and almost ALWAYS all in different states!

TRADES: Under his contract, a player can also be traded to a different organization at any point during the off-season as well as during the regular season until the end of July. Thankfully there is a trade deadline, whew! Minor league players have no control in any of these situations and often find out if they’ve been traded on Twitter or by watching ESPN. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. News of trades travel fast and the player is seemingly never the first to find out. Trades also HAPPEN fast! If our guys get traded, they are no longer the property of their current organization and are immediately the property of a new team. Yes, we meant to use the word property there- it's the truth. This means they need to get up and get out to the new city/team ASAP, often leaving their significant other behind to pack up their life and make the move.

SPRING TRAINING: Every year players attend Spring Training in either Arizona or Florida, depending on what organization they are with. Spring Training lasts from about mid-February to the end of March – our guys are all starting pitchers, which means they are the first to report and have a longer ST than position players. Spring Training is essentially one extremely long try out, with almost no days off. A lot of people don’t know that players aren’t paid for their time in Spring Training but are still at the field almost all hours of the day. At the very end of ST, the players are officially assigned to a team. Sometimes players aren’t told until the LAST DAY, giving them 3-4 days to move to a new city and find a new place to live (teams only pay for 3 nights in a hotel). Since all teams are in different cities/states, this period usually results in a extremely hectic week for both the players and their spouses – but hey, at least this is the one time of the year we know to EXPECT it!

For us wifeys, this usually means packing up our apartment or house and waiting for a phone call telling us where we are going to be making a new home. Yes, sometimes we get the call on the day that we're planning on moving. Picture this: your car is packed up, your apartment is empty and the movers have already come but you have yet to have a destination. This mad dash also means arranging to find a place to live, renting furniture and setting up all of your bills (cable/internet, electricity, gas, etc) in a new place that you haven't even seen yet while you're on the road to a new town.

Spring Training kicks off each season and following begins another year of travel, unexpected phone calls and set backs, and a lot of excitement. We are with our guys every step of the way, just like other spouses are there for their partners no matter what their profession may be. A difficult part for us (and our guys), is that a lot of people make a lot of assumptions about this lifestyle that most people know very little about.

SOME NEED-TO-KNOWS: It’s very interesting to see people’s reactions if we share that our guys play baseball for a living – a lot of times they are unfortunately negative. Because of this, players (and sometimes us too), make up an occupation to tell people what they do when asked in public, or what someone with a Washington license is doing in Tennessee. Coming up with a fake job is much easier than explaining  “No, I’m not on the major league team” and dealing with the assumptions that come with being a professional athlete. Some of our favorite “occupations” include, but are not limited to: IT guy for the local school district, contractor, real estate, or one of the creators of the app “Words With Friends.”

One major assumption that people often make is that our guys make a ton of money! If you're reading this there is a good chance that you make more money than a minor league baseball player. While some players are lucky enough to receive a large signing bonus when they are drafted, most players aren't as fortunate. Minor leaguers are paid below-minimum wage (considering how many hours and days they work per month, plus unpaid travel time), usually making somewhere between $1,200 and $2,200 per month during the regular season (about April through September, only 6 months out of the year) and as we mentioned, they receive no pay during Spring Training.

Every team will play 140 games in about 150 days, meaning that for six months there are only TEN days "off," although most players will have certain workouts or throwing programs that they still have to complete on off-days. This means no weekends, no holidays, no vacations. Throw in taxes and clubhouse fees, which can be anywhere from $10/day to $20/day depending on which level the player is at, and finances during the season can become a real struggle if you don't have a significant signing bonus in the bank to fall back on. Because of this, players wives (or girlfriends) often opt to live in the couples' "home base" or off-season home to maintain a steady job and income even though they'd prefer to be with their spouse during the season. NOT glamorous.

Travel for our guys during season is not easy either. Minor league players travel from town to town for away series on buses- NOT private planes. These bus rides can be anywhere from 2 hours to over 12 hours! As a player moves his way up the minor league levels, their standard of living improves (as does their pay slightly); the buses and hotels for traveling will usually get nicer as a player moves up. Difficult living situations can also create another dimension of challenges as a player tries to work hard and perform his best through the organization’s minor leagues.


BASEBALL WIFE FAQs:
One of the most difficult aspects of being with a professional athlete is that suddenly everybody thinks that your life, your decisions and your guy's career should be public knowledge. We've come up with a few "Baseball Wife Frequently Asked Questions" that we have experienced and what our responses are:

“Oh, so you’re a ‘baseball wife’…?”
People have all sorts of assumptions about this title and there are people out there who give women in our position a bad name. Yes, we are married to baseball players; that does in fact make us “baseball wives.” That does NOT mean that we do not have our own jobs, dreams, aspirations, and personalities. It is not easy to make the sacrifices we have, but people do crazy things for the ones they love. We are women with degrees, and because of this lifestyle, we are also women with more experience, perspective, and creativity than a lot of people our age. We are extremely independent and driven women to be able to have our own careers no matter the circumstance, and meet new friends, no matter the city. Above all, we are dedicated to the loves of our life, just as they are dedicated to us.

"How much does he make?" 
This is probably one of the most frequent yet most invasive question that we are asked almost regularly. Most people don't go around asking doctors, accountants or retail managers how much money they make, do they? No, because it's rude. Just because my husband's job title has "professional athlete" in it doesn't mean that it's okay to ask what our income is or how we financially support ourselves.


"Don't you worry about there being any other... women?"
No SERIOUSLY, people say stuff like this to us. It's unfortunate that when people hear the words "professional athlete" they automatically associate it with a "sex, drugs and rock and roll" kind of fantasy world that admittedly, some athletes choose for themselves. But honestly, how dare someone ask such an outlandish question without knowing us as women, our husbands as men and the trust that we each have in our relationships?  
Yes, there are people like that out there (whether professional athletes or not), but what people fail to recognize is that far more often or not, these players are normal people trying to live their lives as normally as possible and have a successful career. 

"Well, what if he doesn't make it?" 
Then we take a step back, reevaluate and go forward with a new plan. Just like anybody else would do if their spouse was suddenly facing a career change.

"What are YOU going to do if he doesn't make it?" 
Not really sure what kind of response people think they are going to get when they ask this question, which when you think about it is very offensive. We don't love our guys because they play baseball. So if he doesn't make it, we each have a college education, we are smart women and we will proceed with our lives-- our husbands "making it" has nothing to do with our personal abilities to be successful and have a career. We support and help our spouses as much as we can in order to help them achieve their dreams and we aren't suddenly going to leave them if they fall short. We know that if the tables were turned and our guys had to make sacrifices for our dreams, as we do for theirs, they would do it with no hesitation. That's what marriage and companionship is about and this doesn't change when the dream is to be a successful professional athlete. 


"How do you do it?"
Just like most everybody else would if their spouse got another job in another city across the country. If it's feasible (financially, logistically or otherwise) anybody would most likely make adjustments to be with their spouse. It's AMAZING what you can do when you're faced with a different circumstance- even if it's completely foreign! And of course, thanks to all of our close family and friends for the endless support.

Anybody still here?? Well there you have it, the not-so-short-but-necessarily-lengthy basics of life in the MiLB! Thanks for sticking with us!

xoxo
Al, Jax, & Mon



Wednesday, April 15, 2015

A Little Bit About Us...

 

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." 
-Helen Keller




ALLISON:
My husband and I have lived in five states in the last year, we have a 3.5 year age difference (although nobody ever guesses it) and we are dutifully and lovingly raising a moose German Shepherd as I tow our life across the country several times a year in a U-Haul trailer. My name is Allison Plutko and I'm currently living the #superglam baseball gypsy life as my dude, Adam, chases his dreams of being a big leaguer. My dog, Netflix and wine keep me sane for six months out of the year while the other six months I enjoy a relatively normal life. 

Adam and I got married this past November after meeting at UCLA where he played baseball and I did gymnastics- yes, we keep foam rollers and athletic tape in our house and yes, our dog is constantly ripping the seams off of old baseballs. Adam is currently with the Cleveland Indians and we are currently living in Akron, OH where Adam is with the AA Akron Rubberducks. 

The #basic AP low-down:
  • I'm from Texas and I will not hesitate to brag about that.
  • I am an avid runner and reader. 
  • I love anything hot pink and/or sparkly.
  • I did gymnastics for nearly 20 years of my life.
  • I don't keep plain wine glasses in our house- only fun/decorated ones.
  • I wear a necklace with my daddy's initials monogrammed on it at all times.
  • I don't cook- thankfully I married someone who does!
  • I'm wearing athletic clothes 99% of the time.
Xoxo,
AP


  



JACKIE:
Well hi there!! I'm a San Diego native and new mama to a beautiful baby boy. Trevor and I were married in November of 2014 and welcomed our son Isaac into the world on October 2, 2015. I'm a registered nurse and Gonzaga University alum (Go Zags!). We are currently navigating the crazy baseball waters in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization after spending our first 2 years of pro ball with the Miami Marlins!

So some basics about me and my super wild and exciting life:
  • I am a food network junkie & LOVE to cook every day
  • Coffee and wine are daily necessities in my life
  • My husband and I are devout Catholics, and our faith has a huge role in our relationship and lives
  • Everyone in my immediate family has this innate ability to quote lines from movies we haven't seen in over 10 years
  • I am a sucker for literally any Tom Hanks movie and my all-time favorite is Sleepless in Seattle
  • My husband says to put that I'm a sore loser....
  • On that note, we love playing board games and cards when we have down time at home
  • I have a huge & super supportive family that I'm extremely close to. If you were friends with my husband on Facebook you'd see at least 3 different posts on his wall from my family every day he's starting (Hi, Arnold!)

Well that's all for now, I hope you enjoy our blog and this little snippet of our lives through the minor leagues!

Xoxo, 
Jax





MONICA:
I am a Seattleite/Pacific Northwester currently living a relatively nomad life as I bounce back and forth between my original home, and Memphis, TN where my future hubby (WE'RE ENGAGED!!!) is playing for the Memphis Redbirds. My man & I met our freshman year of college at Gonzaga University & quickly learned the ups and downs of a long distance, baseball oriented relationship. Sports marketing is my gig and I am lucky enough to be able to continue my career as I travel around the country to be with my fiancé while he chases his dreams. Between my work and his, we have called 6 different cities, in 5 different states "home" in the last 6 months. We will be married this December(!!!) and could not be more excited to see where our adventures together take us!

Here are some facts about me my best friends would be quick to share:
  • I am always and forever thinking I have more time in my day than I actually do
  • I am a major people person & social bug - alone time is not for me
  • I am a peanut butter addict - I generally go through at least one jar a week (oops!)
  • I am a bit of a yoga & fitness nut and plan to incorporate that passion into my career 
  • The only things I have mastered in the kitchen are my future hubby's favorite dinner & a killer green smoothie
  • Like my fellow baseball sisters, I am a major WINE-O - a love that was only deepened after studying abroad in Italy    
  • I'm an adrenaline junkie - I love heights! Cliff diving, bungee jumping, and scaling tall buildings are some of my favorite things to do
  • I am an eternal optimist, sometimes to a fault (hence the bungee jumping) 
  • If you catch me in jeans, consider me dressed up - my closet is full of more yoga clothes and running shoes than anything else.
  • I am an ultimate planner at heart, a trait I am slowly being forced out of thanks to this crazy lifestyle
I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our unpredictable life!
xoxo
Mon