In the past, I have written quite a bit about baseball. They were always enjoyable articles to write and I've been pleased with how they turned out. Baseball has been a love of mine since I was four years old and it hasn't diminished in a long time. But one thing that came up would be something that I would not forget.
Back in January, I got an email saying that I could sign up to volunteer at Major League Baseball's All-Star Week. This year, the festivities were being held in my home city of Cleveland, Ohio, and I was so excited that a celebration of baseball was coming to where I live.
Known as the Mid-Summer Classic, All-Star Week consists of various activities that lead up to the main event. On Monday, there will be a home run derby where eight players, four from the American League and four from the National League, play in a bracket to see who can hit the most home runs in a certain amount of time. The next day is the All-Star Game, where baseball players from the American League and National League play a friendly game of baseball (AL versus NL).
Back to the email. So after getting the email, I decided to forward it to both my parents to say "hey look at this cool opportunity." Next thing I know, my dad and I signed up to be volunteers at the festivities.
Months later, in May, I get an email saying that my profile thing has been opened and I can do all of these things like filling out information and select my information session time slot. I went to the information session and then I answered questions after the info session. Then they said that they will email me the link to do the background check and then I can select the time slots for volunteering.
Selecting the time slots were hard because when my time slot was opened I was at my job. But I was able to get three time-slots I needed and with that, I waited for Friday, July 5th, to come around.
But before that, I had to go to a volunteer orientation. We got our credentials, got information about Play Ball Park, and we even got a tour of Play Ball Park while it was still in construction before anyone, including the media (that's what we were told). Then Friday came around and my dad and I went downtown for our first shift.
My dad was stationed by the Negro League section and then moved to the world's largest baseball. I was at the front greeting people and answering questions as they came in. The next day, my dad was outside by the zip line and I was inside keeping the time of people bouncing on a giant inflatable home plate (it was kind of like the people are celebrating hitting a walk-off grand slam because why not).
Today is my last volunteer shift because tomorrow and Tuesday I have to work from nine to three. It was a great experience to have and I know I will definitely do this again.
So...trip to Los Angeles next year?
