In our next interview for the Women in Baseball series, we talk to Amber Theoharis, Sideline Reporter for the Baltimore Orioles.

With a bubbly personality and a passion for sports, Amber Theoharis is one of the region’s rising stars.  The Maryland native who spent her childhood summer nights cheering on her favorite player, Cal Ripken Jr, still feels blessed to spend night after night at ballparks around the country as a professional, accomplished sports journalist.

As a kid, Theoharis watched the Orioles all summer long.  Just as the hot summer day would cool off, her father would bring the television out onto their screened in porch.  Together, with a bag of peanuts, they talked baseball.  Her father coached Babe Ruth League baseball, and when he was busy teaching young men how to play, Amber and her sister learned, observed, played and fell in love with the game. 

Theoharis attended the University of Maryland and majored in Journalism, but had already completed internships with The George Michael Sports Machine and the Mary Matalin Show before she graduated.  She also served as a production assistant with ABC in Washington (WJLA).  General news reporting took Amber to Salsbury, MD and then to Long Island, NY to do live-breaking news for the 5 o’clock broadcast.

“That’s when I kind of had the epiphany of ‘alright…I’m not doing what I want to do.  I’m in the number one market, on the number one newscast.  I really have to do what I want to do.’  So I just jumped into sports….I took a pay cut, went down in market size about 30 markets just to have a chance to do sports cause I wanted to do it.  And I loved it.”

Amber took a job as a weekend sports anchor in Columbus, OH at WSYX covering Buckeyes football.  After a year and a half in Ohio, Fox 45 in Baltimore brought Amber back to the region as a sportscaster.  While at Fox, she won an Emmy, Maryland Sportscaster of the Year and several AP awards.  Gradually, Amber began freelance work with MASN for Ravens Xtra and before she knew it, she was the full-time Orioles sideline reporter.  She also started her own radio show, the A-List, and began writing for Press Box. 

All of those activities obviously keep Amber very busy.  She spends much of her day doing research before heading out to the park in the early afternoon.  Once she’s there, she plans and conducts pre-game interviews, and then throughout the game she does in-game reports.  When it’s over, she also conducts post-game interviews.  During the off-season, she’s busy researching all sports, planning stories, calling sources in other cities about trade rumors and securing guests for her radio show. 

For Amber, covering baseball, and her hometown team, is truly a dream come true, despite its grueling pace.  “You’re watching a sport for a living and talking about it, which I would be doing if I didn’t work in sports.  I would be going to the game and talking about it the next day.  So I truly get paid to do what I really, really love and what I really enjoy doing.  Sometimes I sit at the park and I’m right next to the dugout.  I’m thinking, ‘this isn’t real.  This is my life?’  I’m really blessed.”

Blessed as she may be, her path has not been without challenges.  But at her young age, Theoharis has already learned to turn those moments into learning experiences.  Amber recalls vividly an incident where her bubbly personality was misconstrued as flirting, prompting her to question how to be polite and still get respect in the industry.  “It’s a misconception of most men that aren’t used to women being there for a purpose that is non-sexual.  And they have trouble understanding that…Smiling is misinterpreted.  Being kind, or nice, or polite is misinterpreted.”

Though Amber spends every second of her day immersed in baseball, she has also faced the challenge of proving herself to a male audience, a demographic quick to point out any and every mistake. 

“Men make mistakes on the radio or on television all the time.  If Buster Olney makes a mistake, it’s ‘he didn’t get enough sleep last night,’ or ‘he’s having a bad day’ or ‘I knew what he meant.’  If a woman makes an even smaller mistake, it’s ‘oh she’s dumb, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.  See, see, see that’s why women shouldn’t be on.’  There’s no margin of error when you’re a woman. You actually have to work harder than a man.  I’ve always believed that.  You have to know more and work harder because people are so willing to jump down your throat if you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But Amber certainly knows what she’s talking about and she’s not about to let anyone bring her down.  A baseball fan through and through, Amber is “a true baseball purist,” through steroids, scandals and the challenges she’s faced.  “I still just think it is one of the most pure things left in America.  You can sit down with your grandfather and talk about players that he watched play and you still know about them today.  History is carried on in baseball through the generations.  The sport somehow does a good job of keeping past heroes and players alive.  You know, it’s because it is a game of numbers, it’s constantly compared to the numbers of the past.”

While heroes of yesterday like Cal Ripken Jr. have left an impression on Amber, so too have the stars of today.   After working in the field, Theoharis has learned an important distinction. “There’s a difference between being a good baseball player and a good person.”  Some players, like Kevin Millar, have earned Amber’s respect for their conduct on and off the field.  She also admires Derek Jeter.  For him “to be that consistent, for that long and that poised and that clutch, and still be nice to people…under the microscope that is the New York media…I’m in awe of that.”

Theoharis has interviewed Jeter a number of times, as a reporter in the American League East, and as you might guess, she doesn’t think there’s a better division in all of baseball.  “It doesn’t get more talented, more high-stakes than that,” and of course, her belief reflects a strong endorsement of the designated hitter, a position that gives “players that are the true sluggers of the game a chance to play longer.”  After all, she says, “pitchers are such a specialty.  They should just go out there and pitch.”

Amber could talk about control, location and velocity, maple and ash bats, superstitions, heroes and home runs for hours.  She only wishes more women would do the same.

“Women are scared to talk about sports because they are told they don’t know anything about it.  That drives me crazy.  You’re trained to be passive and not to speak up when you think you know something about baseball.  You’re so scared you’re going to say something wrong and then really look like an idiot.”

Amber questions whether baseball has done enough to bring women into the game.  She applauds the efforts of the Baltimore Ravens.  Their annual Football 101 program teaches women about the game, taking them onto the field and into the locker room.  The ladies are treated to seminars by women in the industry, like Amber herself.  After learning more about the game, female fans are more likely to feel like they know enough to participate in the discussion. 

“Have confidence.  Don’t let people tell you who you are.  Don’t live up to others’ low expectations of you.  Especially in sports, nobody expects anything from you because they don’t expect you to succeed.  So, just don’t believe that.  You know who you are.  You know what you know.  Do your homework.  Read.  Your biggest weapon is knowledge.  If you’re prepared and you know what you’re talking about people can’t pigeon-hole you.”

For Amber, nothing is important than knowing who you are and being yourself. 

“I was told to change my name.  I was told to cut my hair.  I was told to wear sports bras so that my boobs didn’t show. I was told to do a lot of things to make me not who I am.  And they wanted me to be everything but who I really was.  And it was such a relief when finally one day, I thought, I’m not going to try to look different.  I’m going to be armed with knowledge and do my research and do my homework, and force people to listen to me.  You have to be loud.  You have to be bold and you have to be not scared to fail.  Cause you will. Sometimes you’re wrong.  And you’re like, ‘so what I was wrong.  Why am I not allowed to be wrong?  Cause I’m a woman?’  You need to get over it and not kick yourself.  So, I think that’s what it is.  Just be confident.”

There’s no greater advice for young women, except maybe the words she received from one of her mentors, Mary Matalin.  Amber was young when she worked for Matalin, but even then her politics didn’t align with the famous Republican strategist.   Once, on air, Matalin asked Amber what she thought on a particular topic and Amber was frightened to disagree. 

“I remember she said to me, Amber, I don’t care if I agree with you or I disagree with you, you make somebody angry or you make somebody happy.  Just as long as it’s your own thought, I will always respect you. Come up with your own thought.  And stand by it.  As long as it’s your own, it’s never going to be wrong.  Don’t try to say what other people think you should say and don’t be scared to offend people.”

Matalin, a strong woman in her own right, inspired Theoharis then and continues to inspire her today.  Another mentor, Carol Costello, currently at CNN, encouraged Amber to define her own course in an industry that makes it very difficult to do so.

“Some people tell you as a woman you can’t have kids or get married if you want to be successful.  No, damn it.  I want to do it.  If I want to do that, I’m going to make that decision.  Carol taught me that I have choices in everything in life.  You can have a life and you can still be happy.  People told me I would never come back and work in my hometown.  Baltimore’s too big of a market.  You’ll never succeed.  I came back at 26.  You know, that was only six or seven years after I started.  I moved around the country, but I came back.”

And we’re lucky she did.  You can watch Amber on MASN’s Orioles broadcasts, read her column, The Broad Side, at Press Box and her blog on MASN’s website, and listen to her radio show, The A List, on 105.7 FM in Baltimore.  You can also support the cause that’s closest to Amber’s heart, the Walk for Hope.  We thank Amber for taking time out of her very busy schedule to meet with us. 

Note:  The Washington Nationals are conducting a Baseball 101 event this weekend, similar to the Ravens’ event mentioned by Amber.  It’s a great opportunity for women to learn more about the game right from the coaches.  

The next feature in our Women in Baseball series profiles Andrea Larson, Corporate Communications Manager for the Minnesota Twins.

Andrea Larson, the Corporate Communications Manager for the Minnesota Twins, has always been a baseball fan. Growing up in the Twins Cities area, Andrea has been a Twins fan since birth. She calls her parents “obsessed fans.” In fact some of her favorite baseball memories come from attending World Series games in 1987 and 1991 and several Breakfast of Champions events in the community where she would meet players get autographs as a child. Her parents actually went to all seven games of the ’87 series. Though she shares her passion for the game with her father (pictured below) and brother, the Larson family women know their baseball too. Andrea’s 89-year-old grandmother is also an avid Twins fan. “My Grandma is probably the biggest Twins fan I know, besides my mom. My Grandma still talks about the Twins all the time.” In such a dedicated family, it seems natural that Andrea would be raised a true baseball fan.

Andrea’s journey into the Twins Organization started after she graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in communications. She then earned her MBA in Sports Management from the University of St. Thomas. Andrea started her career at public relations agencies like BSMG World Wide, and later Fleishman Hillard in Minneapolis. After a brief stint at United Health Group, Andrea read in the local paper that the Twins public relations manager was leaving the organization. “I thought that there might be a job opportunity and I applied. I heard there were 300 resumes or something like that, I didn’t know anyone or anything like that, but somehow I guess I had what they were looking for.” The 2008 season will be Andrea’s third season with the club.

A typical day for Andrea includes managing all media and community relations off the field, “the business side of things” as she calls it. She handles the promotions and plans events. In addition, Andrea is in charge of maintaining the Twins website. This season Andrea and her colleagues are all pretty busy with plans for their new ballpark, which opens in 2010.

Andrea feels lucky to be doing her dream job. She knew working in baseball wasn’t always glamorous, but it was a challenge she was ready for.

“This is what you sign up for when you work in baseball. It was no secret when I signed up here, and they made it very clear, that it’s long hours and a lot of work. It’s fun but you spend a lot of time at it and you are very busy. It was definitely a challenge I was ready for.”

But that’s Andrea, a young woman who quietly works hard and gets the job done without focusing too much on the challenges. “You know I don’t really focus on the fact that I’m a female in the industry. I’d like to think that there aren’t issues, and if there are, I don’t pay too much attention to it. The people here are very fair and diplomatic.” Though Andrea hasn’t experienced many challenges in the baseball world, she still looks up to women that have had success in the industry, like Dodgers president Jamie McCourt.

As a female baseball fan herself, Andrea often considers the female demographic when planning events and promotions for the Twins organization. “Women I think appreciate the finesses of the game. It’s not a violent sport, it’s a structured game, and it’s fun to watch and cheer.” The market for the female baseball fan is continually growing and the Twins are trying hard to capitalize on that growth. “We are really trying to focus on that market. Baseball is very popular with women and I think it’s a market we can capitalize on even more.”

Because the Twins are such a big part of the fabric in the twin cities area, Andrea’s favorite part of her job is sharing the team’s community focus with the media. “I mean people are obsessed with the Twins, at every level, so it’s fun to be able to share that information via the media with all of the public.”

Some of Andrea’s favorite community events geared to women include the Mother’s Day festivities and the special Wine, Women and Baseball events. Mother’s Day is special for Andrea, not just because of the pink bats. “The Mom’s and wives are very involved in the community. It’s a very active organization.” This year, more than 35 of them participated in the Susan G. Komen Walk for a Cure, including breast cancer survivor Jan Guerrier, mother of Matt Guerrier.

The Twins will also hold eight or nine Wine, Women and Baseball events this season. The events are open to women only and include a pre-game happy hour and then tickets to that night’s game. “We have a tent and women come in and they get manicures, they can drink wine, they can have food and get their makeup done. We always have a special guest, either a Twins’ wife or someone from the community, that does a little Q&A with them. They are really fun; no boys allowed. It’s been a very popular event.” These events are so popular that the 250 available tickets always sell out fast.

Andrea counts herself lucky to be able to work for the team she grew up cheering on. She was working at various jobs for eight years before joining the Twins. Her advice to others is heartfelt,

Go for it, chase your dreams, but know you have to work hard. Just be patient and you will eventually find your niche… Don’t think just because you are a female it would be difficult for you; it’s something I don’t even think about.

A special thanks to Andrea for taking the time to speak with us, despite her busy schedule.

The first feature in our Women in Baseball series of interviews this season begins with Lucy Calautti, Director of Government Relations, Major League Baseball.

In 1962, a young girl waited patiently outside the Polo Grounds for her childhood baseball hero, Mets Short Stop Elio Chacon, to autograph a foul ball caught by her father.  Young Lucy Calautti could never have predicted that one day she’d be working at the right hand of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.  Some people spend a lifetime trying to find a job they love, but Lucy Calautti, Major League Baseball’s lobbyist, has achieved that dream. 

A Mets fan by birth, Lucy spent her summer nights as a child at the newly opened Shea Stadium, just one subway stop from her home in Flushing.  It was there that Lucy first fell in love with the American pastime.  “My generation of men and women in New York were huge baseball fans.  You rode the subway, you talked baseball.  I mean, that’s just the way it was.”

She left Flushing to join the Navy to help pay for college while the country was in the midst of the Vietnam War.  During those four years, she became close friends with the only other woman in her squadron, a friendship that prompted her to visit and eventually move to North Dakota.

In North Dakota, Lucy finished her college education and earned a degree in English.  She worked as a school teacher, but quickly fell in love with politics.  Her work in the women’s movement caught the attention of state official Byron Dorgan.  Dorgan encouraged Lucy to join his team as a writer and advisor.  She ran his race for the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually served as his Chief of Staff in Washington, all the while becoming “known in North Dakota as someone who really understood politics and policy and how to win battles.”

In 1986, she ran Kent Conrad’s successful race for the U.S. Senate.  She recalls, “He was 38 points behind and he actually ran against an incumbent and yet we won.  In North Dakota, they said it was the political story of the century.  And I like to joke that I was so proud of him that he won, that I married him.”  The two made their home in Washington where Lucy returned to work for Byron Dorgan, running his races and serving as his Chief of Staff.  

Then, after two decades in politics, “it just so happened, that Major League Baseball…was looking for an executive that would help them navigate their issues in Washington.”  Instantly, Lucy thought, “I am just exactly the right person for this job.”

As Major League Baseball’s lobbyist, Lucy spends her time in Washington as an “advocate for the Commissioner on issues for which Major League Baseball might need help from Congress.”  At the beginning of each year, Calautti sits down with each of the thirty clubs and the Commissioner to find out what issues or problems they have encountered that could be addressed administratively, through a federal agency or by Congress.

For example, Calautti says, “Some very important immigration issues emerged starting several years ago when I would do these interviews with the clubs and they needed me to get legislation passed to fix…problems that were keeping our foreign born players from coming into this country.”

Calautti’s typical day then involves:

…visiting with members of Congress, writing reports, giving them language that they can use to create a bill, sitting down with everybody on the appropriate committee and their staffs to go over why this is important, doing letters of support and bringing out baseball owners or officials from Major League Baseball to sit down with Congress to show the importance of these issues. 

After the bill is drafted and has achieved support from key members, Calautti helps to grind out the bill and persuade members of both the House and the Senate to get the legislation passed.  Like most lobbyists, she often hosts fundraisers for members of Congress to help them raise money for campaigns as well.
 
Of course, as we all know, there are times when Congress approaches Major League Baseball directly about issues.  For the past several years, Congress has taken an increased role in investigating steroid allegations.  During those times, Calautti has found herself explaining “to Congress and the Administration baseball’s position…on issues that we don’t necessary want Congress to fix but that Congress has decided they want to be involved in.” Part of her duties will require continued “work with Congress to oppose the legalization of any kinds of drugs or so called dietary supplements that metabolize in the body as steroids.”

As Major League Baseball’s advocate on Capitol Hill, she also has the opportunity to introduce people in the political world to baseball, a task which admittedly is her favorite part of the job.  “I love when members of Congress want to sit down and talk baseball and ask me, ‘So, what do you think?  Are the Tigers going to be in first place this year? Is their pitching going to be as good as Cleveland’s?’ I love that members of Congress and other people in the world of politics and policy see me as a way to express their love of the game.”

But Lucy has another special task.  Every year, she introduces baseball players to the world of politics.  Calautti brings Major League Baseball’s 150-180 rookies to Washington for a civics lesson every summer.  She takes them to the floor of the Senate, the floor of the House and to the White House.  They also dine with her in the Capitol. 

Of course, Lucy’s dream job hasn’t come without challenges.  Throughout her whole life, Calautti has taken positions that had been ordinarily or previously been filled by men.  Starting with the Navy and throughout her twenty year career in government and politics, she was a trailblazer for other women.  Baseball, Calautti says, was not a huge reach for her personally but expectantly, she encountered additional challenges in the industry. 

There are certain things that women face if they are in a world where there are primarily men.  And it’s seems that having to prove oneself is a very important part of it.  And so, I do it.  I do it by putting my head down and doing my job really well and being accepted over time.  But is it instant acceptance? No.  Is it a little difficult sometimes for men who are, for example, in a sport to get used to having a woman around professionally? It can be.

Lucy compliments Commissioner Selig for making her transition easier, “because Bud Selig is very comfortable with strong professional women.  He’s married to one.  His daughter Wendy ran, as you know, a Major League Baseball club, so I was very fortunate in having his leadership.”

Calautti laughingly admits, however, that the Commissioner’s office really wasn’t interested in her extensive baseball knowledge. “I tried to regale them with it.  I knew everybody’s lineup and I memorized ERA’s and I just loved baseball.”  Instead, they wanted somebody who could navigate Washington.  It just so happened that the person they chose also loved the national pastime.  

Lucy loves the game because it’s intelligent – meaning it requires one to understand that there are lot of different things going on all at once.  During every pitch, from the pitcher and catcher battery that decides what to throw, to the batter and his team’s base runners, to the coaching staff’s strategic decisions to move outfielders or put on a shift, baseball requires fans to follow all of it simultaneously.

Her respect for baseball’s tradition requires a solid appreciation for statistics and records.  “Real baseball fans, they really pay attention to the numbers.  And that’s a very exciting part of the game.  The numbers seem to be more important at baseball than in any other game.” 

As you may have guessed, Lucy, a stickler for tradition, prefers the National League game and wants to see organizations develop their own players.  “I love the idea of a David Wright.  I think the fact that he’s homegrown.  When I say homegrown, I mean, he came through their system.  And I really like the idea of baseball returning to the idea of building up your own farm organization and bringing exciting young people to the game.  And, oh my heavens, he is a gamer.”

Though Calautti has wined and dined with both beltway and baseball insiders, she wishes she could spend a lunch hour with Hall of Fame pitcher, Sandy Koufax.  “Is he the greatest left-hander in history? Perhaps,” she wonders out loud.  Calautti shares with many baseball fans a deep respect for Koufax’s career and his ability to walk away from the game he loved and never look back at such a young age. 

She, too, has had a career worthy of respect.  Having paved the way with no professional female role models, Calautti takes to heart the task of providing advice and guidance to young people today. 

If you have a goal, if you want to break into an industry, make sure that you present the right skill sets.  I can’t tell you how often as a mentor to young people I find that they come to me and say, for example, ‘I’d really like to work in baseball or in sports because I love it so much.’  And I say to them, ‘that’s all well and fine.  Glad you love it.  But what do you bring to the table?’  You must make sure that if you want to break into a certain kind of industry, whether it is sports or anything else, that you’ve built up the education and experience that you can use to really sell what you are to your prospective company or organization.

Lucy used the skills she developed over twenty years in local, state and federal politics to land her dream job of representing Major League Baseball in Washington.  She has overcome challenges thrown her way and continues to be a great example to women in professional sports. 

A special thanks to Lucy for taking the time to speak with us, despite her busy schedule.