3 Things every baseball mom needs to know

I became a baseball mom 17 years ago at the time I am writing this blog post. I didn’t think much about it other than he wanted to play ball so we signed him up for coach pitch. We got our assignment as parents for snacks and drinks and which game we needed to bring them too.

We went shopping for his first pair of cleats and of course we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on pair shoes he would wear for about 6 weeks. I had no idea that day how many more pair I would be at a store or online to purchase.

1. Kiss your weekends goodbye

I never thought I would spend my evenings, weekends and so-called vacations at a baseball field. Not only did we spend lots of time there it felt weird if we weren’t there. Every summer for the next 6 years we spent every single weekend sitting out in the hot sun or under a tent sucking on ice chips eating food from the concession stand.

2. Consider a 2nd income stream

Youth baseball is big business! Expensive business. What’s even more expensive? Equipment! There are team bats and team helmets he could have worn. As a mom, the thought of putting someone else’s sweaty helmet on your nasty sweaty head was more than I could stand. Bat, cleats, and baseball bags, compression shorts and shirts. Plus they will ask for accessories like $50 necklaces, $10 sports bracelets, sleeves, the cool sunglasses. We’re at several hundred dollars already, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg moms. If your kid plays Travel Ball, there will be travel expenses. Some teams fundraise for much of these, some don’t. Definitely, something to consider when signing up or trying out.

We lived on a very tight budget and I always cringed when I thought about having to pay hotel, food and travel expenses. Some parents would huddle up in a hotel room with 4 adults and 3- 6 kids to save money. That was not going to be me.

I started a side project that I worked on while I was on the ball field to earn travel money.

3. Your car becomes a portable locker room

To this day I still have two chairs and an umbrella in the back of my Honda Pilot. I have paper towels, wipes, hand sanitizer, towels to sit on, towels for your shoes, blankets, for all weather and use. I like a clean car and it was a fight to keep the red clay dirt out of my Honda Odyssey Van at the time.

If you would have told me I would have ever bought a van I would have laughed and said something crude. It was the perfect size for more than one kid, and a place to change clothes and even take a nap in between games since I worked 13-hour night shifts and my husband worked swing shifts.

Your Fashion Style will change

The team shirts go on sale as soon as you find out the colour of the new uniforms with a hat to match everyone in the family. That way when you are at the ball field people know who you are connected to and if they will talk to you or not. It is true that some people will not talk too or smile at the parent with the other team colours on. It is like being back in high school.

Regardless you wear them proudly with your kids’ number on your back so people know the connection.

 

You are not the coach

We have had good coaches and some ok coaches but for the most part, the experience was ok. Most coaches are parents who volunteer their time and either is there for their kids or the love of the game of baseball. We have watched from the stand at comments and behaviours that I didn’t agree with but in the long run, as long as my son was happy and not upset by it we stayed on standby.

Batter up

Watching my son step up to the plate was always a breath taker. You always wanted him to be that kid who could smash it out of the park and in the beginning, it didn’t work out like that but as he got older there were many times at bat that he would swing and the crowd would go wild. Of course, as the mom, I would be screaming like a crazy person with pride.

Heading to the mound

He never wanted to be a pitcher. He was an above average centre fielder and had an outstanding talent as a batter. The weekend they needed someone else to pitch they called him in from the outfield to the mound. Not only did he do well he has travelled all the way to college as a pitcher and stood on baseball mound on some great fields.

The day he played a game on the St Louis Cardinal field with the Arches of St Louis in the background. I knew there was no going back.

We spent so much time with strangers until they are now like family. We have watched the boys who started the game of baseball grow up in high school, move on to college, graduate and some are engaged to be married. I had no idea what was coming from the first pair of cleats to the $300 glove, the $150 bat, the trip to the 2009 Little League World Series with the financial backing of our community, from Florida to Notre Dame standing on baseball fields all in between.

I would not change a thing. The experience was priceless watching my son play his craft, hanging in the stands waiting for the wave from the dugout “Mom I need something to drink.” and I would always shout back “Blue or green”.

How I survived to be a baseball mom

I worked 3 days a week. That doesn’t sound like a lot except they were 6pm-7AM hours and most of the time it was back to back getting off on Saturday morning to drive to the game if my husband was at work on ride and sleep if he was driving. I was exhausted on most weekends.

I would sit my chair and umbrella over to the side away from the crowd of people because I was numb from no sleep and couldn’t focus on conversations. Sometimes I will lean back and catch a nap if nobody was watching and most of the time I didn’t care if they did.

We needed extra money and $500 would be enough to keep the bank account from being drained if we were careful. I started working on a side project that helped fund our baseball seasons and off seasons I would work more to get enough coming in for the spring season. It worked.

I retired as a nurse in 2014 to be available to follow his college career and work from home, the ball field or a hotel room if needed from my phone. My business is mobile and ready to roll where ever I need to go. I have been able to pay cash for his college that was not covered by his scholarship and provide him with a work-free college lifestyle.

That is not something I saw happening in coach pitch. Health and wellness lined up for our family so did learning how to be a network marketer. If I can help other baseball moms with a side project to be able to buy the bats, gloves, shoes and travel easier it will be like passing the torch to the next generation of players. PLAY BALL!! [Click here to Connect]

Living the baseball mom life is not easy.  Truth is, you may run yourself ragged, you will lose sleep, and you will sacrifice a lot. But for every hardship, there is a reward. Watching our kids pour their hearts into their passion is worth it all. Us Baseball Moms wouldn’t have it any other way because we love our ballplayers, and they love the game.