Special thanks to the Seattle Mariners organization for its cooperation to the reporter and photographer working on this story.
On a Friday evening, two young women are walking from their small locker room towards the baseball diamond at Safeco Field. They look up and see that the roof is closed. The lights are on, and they start getting ready to do their jobs.
For Seattle University softball players Katie Antich and Katie Gould, their jobs are to sit along the stands near the first and third base foul lines and gather up any foul balls that come their way. Meanwhile, they get to see a Major League Baseball game, on this night featuring the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners, from a great seat.
“It is about connecting with the fans and getting to know the people who are sitting in those seats near you,” Antich said. “A lot of the little kids who come down for a ball, this is their first Mariners ballgame. It is always really fun to see how happy those kids get being at their first live game. I get to watch Mariners baseball games. It is what I have wanted to do so I was little. It is the greatest job ever.”
Every spring the Mariners send out applications for their “fielder” position, looking mainly for women of high school and college age. head softball coach Dan Powers received some of these applications and handed them out to members of his team, including Antich and Gould. Garrett Cook, the manager of event services and tours for the Mariners, receives these applications and begins the process of finding new talent.
“We have a tryout that consists of two different levels. First, we want to see what kind of fielder the candidate is. We have the applicants take ground balls on the field, about ten of them. The second part is in place because our fielders are going to be a member of the crew that interacts with our fans. We are looking for outgoing people, so we put them through an interview, similar to a business interview. We have five judges. I am not one of the judges, I just oversee the process. We make our picks based on the judges’ scores,” Cook said.
The tryout process became a little more difficult for Gould after she hurt her leg during the first weekend of the softball season. Despite a fractured femur, Gould still passed the tryout and interview, diving for a couple of the ground balls to prove that she could do the job in spite of her injured status. This would be Gould’s second game of the summer after being medically cleared to participate.
“Being in this atmosphere with professional athletes has been a great experience in helping my recovery along. This is just a great opportunity to be involved with a professional team and see that atmosphere and see if working for a professional sports organization is something I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to do physical therapy or something with athletes and helping people, so I guess being a ballgirl is a good start,” said Gould.
Both girls emphasized that the interaction with the young fans is the best part of the job. Whenever they do receive a foul ball, which was rare on this particular night, they seek out children who, in most cases, hold their gloves out with the hopes of being rewarded. The impact that Antich and Gould make during a game can be felt long after the game is over.
During the pregame meeting with Cook, Antich told a story of how she was leaving Safeco Field one night and encountered a young girl, no older than five or six years old, who had been sitting close to the field that night. Antich could sense that the girl wanted to say something but was shy at first. Finally, after an adult nearby asked the young girl what she wanted to say to Antich, the girl told Antich that she did a great job and then gave Antich a hug.
“That was the best moment for me so far in this job,” Antich said later. “You really don’t think you are that special, but that young girl was the happiest girl in the entire world because she saw me, a Mariners ballgirl. They come up to you and just want a hug from you. It is the greatest feeling, and it makes you feel so good that you are a part of something this big like Major League Baseball.”
“When I worked my first game on the field, this little boy was sitting close by, and he was talking to me the whole time about his favorite games,” added Gould. “It was just really cute, that he loved baseball so much. He was so excited to see me too and get my autograph.”
They wear white Mariners jerseys during the game with their first names and the number 09 on the back, but they will have to buy them from the club if they want to keep them after the season. They are also supplied with blue jackets to wear when the temperature drops, but it takes a bit of mind-reading and silent communication between the two, as they are supposed to put the jackets on at the same time.
On this particular night, the Mariners fell behind 3-0, and the foul balls were few and far between. In fact, during the first 4 ? innings, neither girl earned a chance, with Antich perched along the first-base line and Gould ready to go along the third-base line. As is customary, they switched positions halfway through the game, and Antich was able to make a couple of plays cleanly during the second half of the contest. Meanwhile, Gould did not see a foul ball the entire night, but continued to interact with the fans throughout the game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the home team broke through, starting with a home run from Russell Branyan. With Adrian Beltre on base and two outs, pinch hitter Ken Griffey, Jr., stepped to the plate to a huge ovation, made only louder when he sent the first pitch he saw into the seats in right-center field to tie the game. A single by Chris Woodward, a triple by Rob Johnson, and three strikeouts by David Aardsma later, and the crowd, including the ballgirls, were celebrating a Mariner win.
“They are 8-0 when I am working as a ballgirl,” Antich told Gould after the game. Besides the seemingly good luck they have brought to the organization this season, Antich and Gould have impressed their superiors.
“Katie Antich is a former Gonzaga Prep Bulldog, which is my alma mater, so I knew she would be good,” Cook said with a smile. “Katie Gould has done a great job too. They are really outgoing girls. They have a good sense of humor and really interact well with the crowd. So far they are part of the best group of girls we have ever had.”
Antich and Gould are not the only two student-athletes from the 2008-09 season at Safeco Field on a consistent basis. Senior basketball players Austen Powers and Shaun Burl are part of the Navigators, the Mariner promotions team that helps with pregame and between-inning contests, a job the fielders also take on during days they are not along the baselines. On this night, Powers gave a hug to Antich and Gould before heading onto the field for the “Pop Fly ... With A Catch” pregame promotion, but Burl was not around for some unknown reason.
For both young women, this is the ultimate summer job. Antich grew up rooting for the Mariners and helps her father celebrate his birthday every year by watching Game Five of the 1995 American League Division Series with him. The team the Mariners defeated in that game, the New York Yankees, was Gould’s favorite team while she was growing up in , but she has become a Mariners fan, especially after earning this opportunity.
Just like on the softball team, there is a third Katie among the Mariner ballgirls this season. However, the next time you are at Safeco Field for the game, and the name Katie pops up as one of the ballgirls, chances are she will be a Seattle University softball player, just working a summer job like so many of her peers.