The 22-year-old Feliz also sent her multiple messages on Instagram, most of which went unanswered. Sheridan says relief pitcher Daritzon Feliz had approached her a few months prior on the road, proposing a date when he saw her in the hallway of the team hotel. Or other times there’s a flirtation there that’s unwanted.” “They’re always either super cautious of you, because some of them don’t get who you are and why are you even here. “It was rare for me to have those casual moments with them,” she says. Some of them were drinking, and some chatted with her.Īn integral part of a broadcaster’s job is building trust and relationships with players, so that they will talk to you about their arsenal, their background, their walk-up songs. Later in the day, a bunch of players filtered back to the hotel and ended up at the pool as well. 29, to enjoy the full day, with many players’ families coming to meet them and hang out at the beach, which was walkable from the team’s hotel. The Hillcats were coming off a six-game series in Kannapolis, N.C., when the schedule gave Lynchburg a boon: a Monday off day in Myrtle Beach. The COVID-19 pandemic cost minor league baseball its 2020 season, meaning that minus writing a few press releases, Sheridan didn’t fully start her job until 2021. “I can’t help but think,” she says, “it was retaliation.” Not long after seeing the post, Sheridan began receiving LinkedIn messages and texts from broadcasters she didn’t know who had seen the job posting: Could she perhaps put in a good word for them? Strangers were asking her to help them get a job that, up until that morning, she’d thought was hers.Īmid the silence from the team, when she had so many questions and no answers, sitting in the cold, dark, rented apartment, what Sheridan kept coming back to, the reason she believed she hadn’t been retained but was never told: “It was the worst 24 hours I’ve ever had in this industry,” she says. She made more calls, some ending with her in tears, but still no word from the Hillcats. She called other broadcasters, seeking advice, but no one could tell her how to handle this particular situation. She then called assistant GM Matt Ramstead. She called Lynchburg’s team president and general manager Chris Jones and left a message. What should I do? She texted Bremer, who responded: Call the most important person there and ask for an explanation. It couldn’t be her job, right? Maybe she was getting an assistant, or an intern.īut the posting sure seemed like it was for her job. She posted a screenshot of the job listing to a group chat of minor league female broadcasters. ( The Athletic has viewed these text messages.) 5, 2020, coincided with National Girls and Women in Sports Day.īremer’s text to Sheridan included a link to a job posting: For the position of radio broadcaster for the Lynchburg Hillcats. It was no coincidence that the team’s announcement, on Feb. Sheridan’s “wealth of broadcasting experience” was praised by the team’s president. The Hillcats issued a press release about the historic addition of the then-23-year-old Sheridan, the first female broadcaster in team history. The job with the Hillcats was an important step for her - and for the team. In 2017, she was a summer intern in the Cape Cod League In 2019, she was an assistant broadcaster with the Houston Astros’ High-A team in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Syracuse alum was gradually working her way up the broadcasting ladder. Starting in February 2020, Sheridan had been the play-by-play voice for the Lynchburg (Va.) Hillcats, the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. It was a text from Erik Bremer, a friend and fellow minor league broadcaster.
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