Here's the Pitch!

 

Sheridan on the Mound

Never thought of myself as an athlete (good thing, because no one else ever thought of me as an athlete either). I really identified with Tony Fauci when he threw out the first pitch at the Nationals’ opening game, not because I have ANY science cred whatsoever, but because he did a terrible job. I felt briefly heartened, as you do when you discover that a celebrity has a weak spot (did you know Sandra Bullock can’t swim?), and thus is demoted to the human level YOU inhabit. But then I read that the Good Doctor captained his high school basketball team. Never mind. 

As much as I appreciate any expression of physical prowess, which is not very much, I have a great respect for pitchers. They are on the spot, every single inning of every single game. All focus is on them, and the pressure is tremendous. Sheridan had a brief, but stellar, career as a middle school pitcher for the Sandy Run team. Even at age 13, Sher was always Joe Cool, hurling his fastballs and change ups, retiring batter after batter, somehow managing to ignore all the shouting and screaming parents in the stands. Looking back, I wonder if this is where he honed his relaxed and confident music performance attitude. I can’t think of anything that would faze him on stage, even if the audience suddenly started yelling “Strike him out, you bum!” in mid-sonata. 

But there is one type of pitching which I can say I do fairly well. It involves no bats or balls. I pitch story ideas to magazine and newspaper editors, and so far my record is pretty good. In my kind of pitching, you must strongly and clearly (yet succinctly) sell your concept. But also give enough detail. But not too much. I challenge myself to come up with just the right word combo to make the publication’s rep want to assign me the piece. I have developed great relationships with certain editors, and have a good sense of the types of articles that appeal to them. Others are more blue sky, but I’ve disciplined myself to try anyway, even if I’m not the perfect fit. I once successfully sold a piece on Easter to a Jewish website, and for awhile I was cranking out articles for Coldwell Banker Real Estate (me, who doesn’t know her twin from her rancher). Of course, I’ve had failures, such as my rejected pitch to Money magazine (why they didn’t want a piece about my fiscal calamities astounds me), but generally I’ve had more hits than misses.

On the mound or at the keyboard, all pitchers share certain qualities. We all use tools we have developed, whether it be powerful throwing arms or a boatload o’ modifiers. We all risk appearing foolish. We all work hard to win the game (baseball or publishing). And we persevere through disappointment. 

In extra innings this morning (tenth pitch to The New York Times). This girl is outta here!

Eight articles accepted so far...just pitched them again...