My Journey To Where I Am Today

My journey starts out differently than most, I suppose. I'd like to start from the very beginning, from when I was born a Phillies fan. I had stayed a Phillies fan for most of my life, with a quick pit stop to the Giants when they traded my childhood hero Hunter Pence over there. Eventually, I found my way back to the Phillies. I was raised that way - it was my dad's team, and his dad's before him. I came back to them and have happily settled into being bad for a few years, in hopes of being a great team again soon. The reason I preface my story with this backstory is to lead into where I started with fake baseball, which was with Reddit and eventually the Subreddit "/r/Phillies". There is a great group of people over there and although I mostly just lurked, I found my way onto an app that I had used many times before, but mostly just for finding friends to play games with, not really for sports. I enjoyed the experience of Discord and I found my way there from Phillies Subreddit and onto the Phillies discord. From there I met the likes of Jayy and Jaam who had large parts on that Discord, and who talked about fake baseball from time to time. I eventually bit the bullet and asked what this fake baseball nonsense was. They told me a little but recommended I check it out for myself.

So I did check it out. I asked all the newbie questions, trying to get a gauge for what this madness was that I had just jumped into. I conducted a few press conferences to spike interest in myself. It worked, I think - I had 3 or 4 general managers offer me spots on their team, if I remember correctly. I also remember thinking that this decision will impact my entire experience with fake baseball and that it was a super important decision that I didn't want to mess up. Looking back now I see that there were no wrong answers, as every team seems to have active and loyal players who all love to be a part of this community. I don't remember the 4th team (if there was one), but I recall the Diamondbacks, Phillies, and Giants all having interest in me. Some might look back and say that I should have signed with the Phillies to be on a winning team, or the Giants to get a little more balance between winning and playing. At the end of the day, however, I went with the Diamondbacks. It helped that I had known Jaam from before my time in fake baseball, but it was mostly motivated by playing time. More importantly, I wanted to be a bigger part of a team - I wanted to serve an important role in getting a team into a place where we were competing for trophies.

Unfortunately, that never really happened in Arizona. We ended up finishing 9-9, which felt a lot better than what our record showed. .500 is nice and all, but we obviously wanted to be a playoff team and that unfortunately didn't happen for us. And to top it off, I feel like I was a huge part of that problem - I was absolutely terrible at the plate. I hit below .200, hit into multiple double plays, and was just all around pretty unfortunate. Which sucks, because I wanted to be better for my team. While I couldn't hit well for myself, however, I tried constantly to help my teammates with swing suggestions and even a scouting report here and there. So much so that I ended up winning "Best Coach" in the Snakes (the Diamondbacks little postseason award show). Winning was a huge honor for me and really showed me that I could be more than what my stat line showed.

From day one, I always wanted more. I wanted to be a bigger part in MLR; not just a bigger role, but to be more involved in the community. I saw what the community had to offer and it sucked me in and left me wanting more.

In a way, I had found more. I found a team with a great atmosphere and with active people, a team that wanted to win and that would help their teammates do so - I loved it. I loved being able to help out my teammates and watch them succeed even when I wasn't. But I still wanted more. When I saw NPR GM positions open up I signed up right away. NPR was a minor leagues of sorts. Jayy ran the league at the time and said he had chosen me for the 4th and final GM spot in the 4 team league. I gladly accepted, but instead of a draft I had to go sign players that had signed up, so anybody could sign with any team they wanted. This kind of sucked for me... I was the new guy (I still am) and I had to sign people who mostly had relationships with the other GM's already. But some players gave me a shot (mostly newer guys who also didn't know anyone else). And right away we already had a chip on our shoulder. We were determined to show that we had what it takes to win games. And well, we did. We went 2-0 before the whole league reshuffle happened, and I was really proud of that 2-0.

Jayy decided to step down from the league, leaving it for dead. The other GM's and I stepped up and asked if we could run the league and not let it die, which Jayy was ok with. Soon after, Chuck and Caleb fell off the map, leaving just Sael and I to run what we had left. We did this with no problems - although the league was sort of dying out. Soon after the pin, Sael decided it was a good idea to invite all of the new guys to play in the NPR and we went from a measly 4 teams to 10 teams. Then Sael decided it was a good time to take off for a few days, leaving me responsible to organize the chaos he left (No offense to Sael, I love him to death). I feel like I did a pretty good job with it, all things considered. I got teams set up, found GM's, organized a draft, and everything else that was thrown at me, all in about 2 days. And I'm proud of that. I couldn't have done it without Smudge though, he was right there with me doing a lot of the backend stuff that saved me a lot of headache and time. The draft had come and gone, me with my new team and players who I love, (and I hope love me). I still mostly run that league, although I've fallen a little bit behind as of the time I'm writing this because I've been swarmed with things I need to do IRL. But the league is still running strong and I think everyone is having a pretty fun time with it.

With this success, I signed up to be a GM in MLR. I genuinely didn't think I would get a team, and it took a fluke of sorts for me to get one in the end. I kept bugging Sam to keep me in the loop on what was happening behind the scenes, but all he would tell me is that I got a good recommendation (thanks again to Jaam). So I waited and eventually got a spot after the Mariners disintegrated. I decided to relocate that team to Cincinnati (which lasted for about a week), and then I moved them to the grand city that is the Big Apple. Some ask why I did this if I knew people were going to hate me, which I don't want. And I really don't have an answer for them. I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and turn the very hated Yankees into an actual likable team in MLR. And that is the challenge I'm faced with today.

As far as where I want to take the Yankees into the future, that's a big question. I want the team to succeed, as any GM would. But far more important to me is I want my players to strive for the same things that I strive for. I want an atmosphere that encourages players to want to be more involved in the league, because it's something they want to be a bigger part of. Something that I had in Arizona, that I want to be able to share with my players. I want a winning clubhouse, sure. But what's far more important is my player's happiness. I want them to look forward to being involved with my team, to have a break from whatever stress or annoyances they may have in real life.

As we come towards the present it's nice to reflect on my journey, on all the great people who helped me out or influenced me along the way. Although it's not been a terribly long time, it has been wonderful in every experience I've had. I've made many friends and learned many things, and have become a part of this great new community. I have many people to thank for getting me here, who hopefully all know who they are. I hope to continue to be friends with all of them as my future grows in fake baseball. Thanks for everything, and here's to so much more.

- Tequila Sunrise