My overall experience was very easy finding a pen pal because the first person I emailed agreed to help this semester. In class, it was mentioned that someone in the previous semester had someone from a minor league baseball team, which reminded me of all the memories I had going to the local minor league team years ago. I wanted to originally find someone from that team, but they did not have anyone that I felt would fit into the project guidelines. I ended up finding a list of all the minor league baseball teams and found the Norfolk Tides, and figured I could potentially find someone, to which I stumbled upon John Stanley, the Director for Communications for the Norfolk Tides. I found his email on the website and sent him the assignment sheet and a brief overview of myself and the assignment. He replied very soon after agreeing and just had our first Zoom meeting together on January 31, 2023.
John Stanley has been with the Norfolk Tides since 2021, with a long history of media relations and communications work in the baseball realm. His passion for baseball began young and traveled with him until graduation as he played for his school’s team. After graduating from Ithaca College in May 2016 with a B.A. in journalism, he moved to Norfolk and began work with Virginia Wesleyan University, where he began work as the Director of Communications and Interns for the newly founded, Virginia Beach Collegiate Baseball League. He spent years working among various sports organizations like the New York Yankees, Salt Lake Bees, Nashville Sounds, and the Kansas City Royals until he landed his current position in June of 2021. During our first meeting together, he shared many memories of his journey post-college and emphasized the importance of doing what you love, taking a chance, and having patience with the process. I can’t wait to share more of what I learned from and about him in future assignments, as talking to him, I can feel his passion and love for his career in everything he said, so this will be an exciting semester working together!
