In this lifestyle we expect the unexpected but it still slaps in you in the face when it happens. Rob has been injured for the past few weeks, nursing a minor elbow injury. As if the season wasn’t already a wash add in the injury and you basically can say this what this whole year has felt like. One unexpected situation after another, high anxiety, and stress. I am not even going to front with y’all or be positive here because in the scope of the 2020 baseball season it has been shitty. This the real life of a baseball wife. The real life of the baseball life.
We don’t really have an option but to keep trucking along and hang on by a thread with a bottle of wine or tequila in hand to self-soothe and laugh through the roller coaster of season. I have said it before but as a wife or girlfriend of a professional athlete you live through your husband’s dreams. You see how much work they put in to perfecting their craft and when things don’t fall into place for them, you feel their disappointments. Often times we struggle to find the words to say because there is nothing right to say and they are athletes so whatever we say doesn’t always help.
The stress that is put on them to perform as professional athletes is one thing but factor in the stress to support a family and live out your dreams…the stress can become high. We are only paid during season. Yep…6 months out of the year we have a paycheck and this year it was cut in half by only having a 3 month season.
I like to include you and share with you our struggles because I know for a fact that fans can dehumanize an athlete. If you don’t believe that then here is a prime example…when the players association were negotiating pay with the owners everyone was calling the players selfish and spoiled and NEWS FLASH we are NOT making hella cash but the truth is a very small percentage of baseball players have the guaranteed big contracts. I choose to share our lifestyle with you not because I need your sympathy, but because I believe we all go through the same struggles just walk a different path. I hope you understand how crappy the lifestyle can be, and yes it is rewarding at times but we have lows just like everyone else.
Rob is almost cleared from his minor elbow injury and I am praying he gets a chance back up in the big leagues as the season comes to an end very soon. In this lifestyle I am lucky to create long lasting friendships and that is what I will carry with me at the end of this season. That is something I will cherish forever because I could not do it without my baseball sisters. Sounds cheesy but community is so important and having friends during times like these can really help you continue to truck through seasons (year) like 2020.
Pray for Rob’s injury and take a shot for me as we round up another season in the books in a few short weeks.
Xo Natalie Z
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