Minnesota Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson attended the first Sports Journalism & Communications Boot Camp, hosted at Bowling Green State University in May, with the objective of improving his writing skills and advancing towards a future career in journalism or communications. What he didn’t know was that he would leave as a published journalist. Faculty and staff were so impressed with Erin’s article comparing and contrasting the life of an undrafted free agent in the NFL to that of a minor league baseball player that they selected it to run in the Toledo Blade. An excerpt and full link to the article are below.
NFL player learns of hard road for baseball brethren
The road to baseball’s major leagues is filled with speed bumps and setbacks
BY ERIN HENDERSON
As I arrived at Fifth Third Field, where the Toledo Mud Hens play their home games, I could not help but feel as if I had underestimated what it takes to make it in major league baseball.
Professional football players often joke in the locker room about how we should have played baseball, and how much easier it would have been. We see the huge guaranteed contracts and the bright lights of Sunday Night Baseball, and assume baseball players are living the good life. I never gave much thought to what it takes to get to the big show.
Yes, there are the high-draft-pick superstars who reach their dreams immediately. But some have to drive a different road, one filled with speed bumps and setbacks, while they try never to lose sight of the ultimate goal: the big leagues.
Early in our mock press conference, Joe Napoli, Mud Hens president and general manager, said that in the past 10 years, the Mud Hens have had roughly 30 players called up to the major leagues. This set off bells in my head: I thought to myself, here we have a Triple-A team with direct affiliation to the Detroit Tigers, and only 30 players had a chance to play in the majors.
I had to know more. After the press conference, I was able to take Mr. Napoli to the side and pick his brain. I looked him in the eye and asked him: “Just how hard is it to get called up?”
Read the full article here.