As my senior year is winding down, the more you cherish the moments you have left at Elder. Ohio University is the next step for me. What I have done as part of The Purple Quill will hopefully help position me for the task at hand in Athens. Being able to see what different jobs the Reds have to offer gave me a glimpse as to what a future could be in the Journalism world. Last week, after buying a trip to GABP for a 2 dollar Vanilla Coke, I got to experience GABP in a different way.

The day started off with meeting in the Seton parking garage. I witnessed fellow Quill member Cole Carle take 10 tries to back into a parking spot in an empty garage. After waiting for Mr. Rogers we headed off to GABP. Once we got there we got our media passes which was actually pretty cool. As a young aspiring journalist, being able to get my first media pass was awesome. I hope there are plenty more in the future. We made our way down into the visitor clubhouse area. In that area consists of both clubhouses and the entrance into the Diamond level suites. We went through a tunnel and past the umpires for the game, then arrived on the field. We witnessed the Reds players taking BP. Guys like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips and Billy Hamilton were down there getting some cuts in before the game. We ran into Elder alum Louis Faillace, who works in the visitor’s clubhouse as a bat boy.

After concluding the small chat I had with Lou, Johnny Cueto emerged from the dugout. It was cool to see all the Reds guys who were close to Johnny go up to him and have a conversation. His dreads were looking better than ever if I might add. Once that was all said and done we went back inside to the GABP media room. They still had the press conference room set up from Jake Arrieta’s no hitter. We got to talk to Rob Butcher who is the Reds Director of Media Relations. He told us how his job works and some of the keys to getting a job in the baseball business. He has gone to 18 All-Star games. He has worked for the Columbus Clippers, New York Yankees and now the Cincinnati Reds.

His job is to make sure the media has information on stats for the games along with getting media access to players and inside the clubhouse to conduct the interviews they need. After that was done, we then got to tour the press box, broadcast booths and radio rooms. This would conclude the tour part of the night which was a great experience for myself, Cole and Mr. Rogers.

Once we finished that up, I killed five hot dogs at the dollar stand. No shame in that. Cole challenged me to a hitting contest in the batting cages in the Kid Zone area of the ballpark. I then proceed to beat Cole in both a hitting challenged and pop a shot contest. It was no contest there. I had some great rips in the cage, while Cole’s hits were the equivalent of grounders and pop flies. I was ripping liners up the middle. I was the clear winner in that, followed that up with nailing 3 of my 5 shots in the pop-a-shot challenge. Cole only made one. With the contests all done, Cole owed me a bag of peanuts for my victory.

As for the game, it is self-explanatory. The Reds bullpen blew the game, which is no surprise. The highlight of the game was listening to the people berate Giants’ outfielder Hunter Pence. They made the loss a bit more enjoyable.

All in all it was a great experience to have heading in to college next year. These moments can help me get a better understanding of what it takes to make it in the journalism world.