I knew that this summer was going to be a busy one. To make NW Baseball Report and 9 Inning Photography successful I have to get out to as many games/tournaments as possible. I was honored to be hired to photograph one tournament this summer but at this point all the other games and events I’m attending are because I want to get out and cover as many games as possible.
This has actually resulted in some things that I expected and a few things I didn’t expect.
One of the things I really enjoy and expect about going out and covering games is being able to talk with college coaches that I know and meeting new college coaches. I’m not going to lie, but getting ‘insider information’ about different things that are going on across the NW college baseball landscape is pretty cool.
I also expected on some level to have players come up and talk with me. However, I’ve been a little amazed at just how many players have mentioned that they follow NW Baseball Report. In the past, doing 9 Inning Know It All, I would normally have 1 or 2 players from a team say something, but even just last week I had half of a team talk about NW Baseball Report with me. That alone makes me really excited about what I’m doing with the site.
The thing that has caught me off guard the most, in a great way, is the number of parents who have stopped me to tell me they enjoy what I’m doing and taking the time to encourage me a little bit. I’ve had parents of players at like Lower Columbia talk with me, but that is partly because when I cover as many games as I do I get to know the parents pretty well. To go to random tourneys in the area and have parents come talk to me is something I’ve not really had before and wasn’t expecting it.
Honestly this makes me more excited to keep getting out to games and tournaments as much as possible, like next week when I will be in Centralia trying to cover as many teams as I can at the GSL College Showcase event.
To everyone who has supported or encouraged me in doing NW Baseball Report or 9 Inning Know It All I just want to say a huge thank you. Doing these sites is a little bit of a risk because it does cost me financially, it takes quite a bit of time, and can be a little exhausting. However, getting encouragement from so many, as well as getting supported financially by players, parents and teams purchasing photos, is really big to keeping the sites going.
If you are a player, parent, coach, or just a fan of the site please say hi, and if you are looking for ways to help support what is happening with NW Baseball Report here are a few options. Supporting the site allows me to continue my plan to always keep the site and podcast free for everyone to enjoy. In addition articles like the Player Spotlights, Team Season Preview Articles and Season Recaps will always be put together for free to help promote baseball in the NW.
- Purchasing photos of your player/team from games I cover. You can see all the photos from this year, 2020, 2019 and 2018 on the 9 Inning Photography Site. You can buy individual photos (digital and prints available), and I have options for teams wanting to buy all photos from a game or weekend if I cover a team a few times.
- Hiring me to specifically come out and cover your player, team or tournament. This makes sure that I am at your games and taking photos of your team. Some tournaments have multiple games going on at the same time so this is a great option to help me know which fields to focus on.
- Becoming a monthly supporter on the NW Baseball Report Patreon Page. This helps to cover the costs of all the sites, the subscription costs for the podcast, and helps me get to more games when I’m not hired to go. Most of the games I attend and cover I’m not hired by anyone, but I go because I want to give coverage to as many teams and tournaments as I can. Patreon supporters give me the foundation to know that even if I don’t sell any photos I at least have basic costs like gas covered for events.
Once again to everyone who has supported NW Baseball Report I want to say thank you. It has been so much fun this year trying something new.