As family and most friends know, my little bro got all grown up and married recently, and now right out of college at MSU, is off to Toronto (in the northern nation…. what’s it called?) and is covering the Blue Jays for MLB.com. Jordan has been an advid baseball player and writer since as soon as I taught him to throw. (Yes, I taught him everything he knew about baseball up to around age 7, after that, he’s always known more than me, and surpassed his baseball mentor quickly in skill.) One thing we both share is a love for writing – I write about and for children’s ministry, he writes about baseball.
Well, after writing for the Lansing State Journal during college (for fun search for jordan bastian on LSJ, and get 61 pages of results!), his major league coverage has begun!
Please pray for my brother – its a tough job, he has to go to every baseball game, get there early, meet pro players, write about them, watch the game, plus he has several deadlines throughout the game (Jordan puts your schedule in comments!) and then after the game has to do more interviews. It’s very stressful and time consuming. I mean, he has to do what he loves all day almost every day, and get paid to watch baseball from a press box. My heart goes out to him. Hang in there bro!
Very cool to be writing for MLB.com. Of all the major sports leagues, I feel that MLB has it right when it comes to the online world. They’ve been doing a nice job.
Too bad baseball in just inferior to Arena Football! :)
OH MY GOSH JORDAN, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!! EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
I’m so proud of you and am so excited. I’m so excited, but I’m in the library here at University California San Diego. I would have screamed with excitement if I didn’t have to be quiet.
Karl, thanks for teaching Jordan everything you know about Baseball. I don’t know what he would have done without you. :-)
Love you both,
Melissa
Karl requested I leave what my schedule is like, so here goes:
1. I arrive four hours before gametime
2. About 3 1/2 hours before the game I head down to the clubhouse and field to check on any new developments/transactions, etc;
3. Back in the press box I have to send the three pitching probables for the next games with a 25-word blurb on each — due an hour before the first pitch
4. I go eat a gourmet dinner in the press box dining room. Mmmmm.
5. A 700-800 word “notebook” is due by the third inning, which includes all the updates i collected before the game.
6. A running game story, with no quotes, is due by the eight inning. As you may know, baseball games go NINE innings. So, writing a complete game story is fun when the game is still going on. You have to keep talking with your producer online to give him/her updates.
7. After the game you have to head back to the clubhouse to collect quotes about the game
8. An hour after you are back in the press box your full 700-800 word game story with quotes — plus any other sidebar stories that might arise are due. (Like the Melvin Mora injury that Karl posted on his blog)
9. A full preview of the next game is due after that, which includes the next day’s pitchers, some stats, and a 4-5 paragraph blurb about the game.
10. Then, I head home to find my wife sound asleep and dinner is in the fridge in a nice little plastic container. I have the best wife ever! Yesterday she made hamburgers and I think spaghetti is tonight!
I started covering full-days on Monday, but have had news clips since last Tuesday. You can find those at Toronto’s site and Baltimore’s site. In July, I will be covering the Mariners, Angels, Devil Rays and maybe the A’s.
Next week I will have JordanBastian.com ready with links to all my stories. Until then, thanks for being interested.
It’s a rough life watching baseball.
That is very cool–so at least 2 people in your family get paid for doing what they love. Let’s see–which member of your family gets paid for playing with toys?
I rescue the love these two brothers feel for each other. I smell It from Argentina.
the only child Natalia(ha,ha, It’s true)
Hey I’m proud of all of you!!!!! It’s so wonderful to see you all grown up and playing and doing what you love. Now you’d all better be praying for me as I’m playing with Tricia and Parker for the summer. By the way, I’m doing what I enjoy…playing with kids! I love you all. Aunt Linda xoxo
That’s Awesome!!! I would just like to extend a HUGE WELCOME to Toronto. As a Torontonian we love baseball and are behind the Blue Jays 100% — keep up the good work!!!
Melissa Matheson
Children’s Director
The Stone Church
Visit http://www.JordanBastian.com to learn more about what I do and have done — or just to read my blog to see what Kell and I are up to in Toronto.