he's chasing dreams hitting seams.
she's chasing dreams talking sports.
Before I get into how we travel with Grainger, I want to tell the story about Matt and I deciding to adopt her.
When I moved to Texas by myself, I knew I wanted to get a dog, I wanted to adopt and wanted to wait until Matt was back for the offseason. I began following all these shelters on Facebook and would check them everyday. I saw the picture of Grainger on the shelter page in Kingsville, Texas, page in November 2015. I knew instantly she was the one. I sent it to Matt. He agreed, and said we should name her Grainger. I loved it, and that was that with the name. We contacted the shelter and got the information we needed to go through the process. G was available in two days, and she was “first come first serve.” By the next day, there were over 100 comments on her picture with several people saying they wanted her. The night before adoption Matt and I were standing in PetSmart for over an hour just discussing if we should adopt her. I was working a ton of hours, and he was going to leave for the season soon. Talk about finances was in the mix. The last thing we wanted to do was neglect the dog and make an irresponsible decision. But we just couldn’t convince ourselves we shouldn’t. And now more than ever, I see what God’s bigger plan for adopting Grainger was/is. I loved having her when I was by myself in Texas of course, but having her while we’re traveling and while Matt is gone during baseball is the biggest blessing. Adoption day: Matt got up super early, drove an hour to Kingsville (I was at work) and was the first one at the shelter – even before the volunteers! Three other cars pulled in…all after Grainger. But the lady knew Matt was there first, and we got her! You guys, I can’t stress enough how important adopting is. We paid $25 that day for G, and got $10 back after getting her shots and fixed. FIFTEEN DOLLARS for our best friend. (Adopting > shopping. That’s my soapbox for the day.)
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Grainger and I have four days left before we see Matt after a Drillers 12-day road trip!! WHOOP!
How we went as many as three months without seeing each other last season is beyond me… As much as I miss being with Matt and going to watch him play, I have to be honest the break has been kind of nice. I didn’t realize how these 12 days where going to give me much needed time to just slow down. I love living life go, go, go all the time. And that is definitely what this baseball life entails. But it’s always nice to step back and breathe. This long road trip I’ve been able to put a lot of time into things I really enjoy doing. I always make sure I do things I enjoy, but with baseball and a job, I don’t put in as much time as I would like. And I’m perfectly OK with that. My job is really the only thing that kept in Tulsa during the 12-days. All of the other wives I know went home, and I was a little bit jealous at first! I work with kids at a YMCA part-time to bring in a little extra money and to get out and do something. During this long road trip, I’ve worked everyday, and I’ve had the opportunity to work double shifts a few times (more $$!). Work takes up my mornings, which means I get up and moving early because otherwise I would sleep late every day more than likely. (Fun fact: I love sleeping, and I’m good at it.) If you’ve kept up with my vlogs, you know I’ve been to five out of seven Texas League stadiums (not including Tulsa) which means I have been to five different cities. (Springfield, NW Arkansas and Frisco I have been to twice!)
If you’ve read my “Day in the Life: Minor Leaguer During Season” blog, you know Matt is at the field. A LOT. Because of that many people have asked me what I do when I’m on road trips…in a new city…by myself. I should preface all of this by saying if you aren’t a pretty independent girl you probably shouldn’t marry a baseball player. Lucky for me, I was raised to be an independent but outgoing person. Meaning I love being around people, but I also enjoy being by myself. Typical road trip days involve Matt and I getting up pretty late since we went to bed late, and he always needs full rest. We’ll usually go get brunch somewhere then hang out until he goes to the field. Our hanging out can be anywhere from going back to the hotel and watching TV to driving around and checking out the city we’re in. Really just depends on what he is up for. (Cause ya know he is the one playing baseball every.single.day) On road trips, there are two guys to a hotel room. We’re lucky enough to have great friends who do not mind Grainger and I staying in the team hotel room with them. (Thanks, Mike and Timmy!) On several of the road trips, Ashley has made the trip so it’s basically like we’re in the apartment! If we got our own room, we would have to pay for it ourselves. If that were the case, I would not be going on as many road trips because we can’t afford that. 25. That’s how many players can be active on the Tulsa Drillers roster throughout the season based on minor league baseball regulations.
If you check the Drillers website right now, there are 39 players on the roster which means several are on the DL (disabled list) and a few of the players listed are not even on the team at the moment. (some in Arizona for injury rehab) After checking some rosters in the system and recalling several from memory, I came up with 17 additional players that have been on the Drillers roster at some point in the season. (And I could have missed someone.) That makes 56 different players on the Drillers so far this season. With about a month left in the regular season plus playoffs (if they make the playoffs.) I couldn’t find a very good number of how many players a minor league team averages a season, but I would be comfortable in saying 56 is probably way over the average. What is even crazier is Matt is the only one out of the 56 who has been active on the Drillers roster since the first game of the season. Moves up, down, rehab assignments, inactive, DLs, trades and even retirement have been the stories throughout the Drillers roster changes.
The first half of the 2017 season is complete (plus a few games.) The Drillers were in the chase to clinch the first half, but couldn’t pull out the wins over Northwest Arkansas. No one wants to clinch the first half anyway…The Naturals clinched the North Division at ONEOK Field and had their champagne shower celebration on the field. It was funny to watch. ANYWAY.
During Spring Training, we wrote what a day in the life of a minor leaguer was like so we wanted to do the same for in season. 10 a.m. – Wake-up 10 a.m. until leave for the field – Eat breakfast, play with Grainger, watch TV, etc. 12:45 p.m. – Leave the apartment to go to the field 1 p.m. – Get to the field and eat lunch 1:30 p.m. – Warm-up on the elliptical and roll out on the foam roller 1:45 p.m. – Go see trainer for treatment (knee, lower body stretch, ultrasound) 2 p.m. – Front flips in the cage 2:30 - 3:45 p.m. – Down time to do NeuroScouting, watch film on opposing pitcher/previous at-bats, play some ping-pong 3:45 p.m. – Position players stretch |
Matt & Jesica BeatyWelcome in to dreams and seams! A tell-all blog about our career dreams and path to reaching those dreams with some commentary about sports and life plus some videos too. "Strive for the impossible because it makes the possible seem effortless." -Matt Beaty Categories
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