Batter Up: More than a Game with Suzie Cool
When Pittsburgh hometown girl Suzie Cool stepped onto the field at the beautiful PNC Park for her first game as a ball girl for the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was the moment when she knew she wanted to make sports part of her forever. Through her skill, work ethic, and love for the game, she made this possible.
Suzie grew up with two older brothers that played baseball which helped spark her interest in the game early on. In high school she was a multi-sport athlete but when considering taking a sport to the next level in college she was forced to choose just one. Suzie chose softball which she felt personally was not her best sport. But it allowed for the start of her current work ethic.
Considered to be an underdog, Suzie went from people not wanting her on the team to the other teams fearing her at the plate and in the field.
“I kind of blossomed my junior year and I think this where my work ethic started. I think why I was so passionate about it was because my dad never gave up on me. And he's like ‘We're going to go to hitting lessons, we're going to go to the field, you're going to take fly balls.’ And it was every single day for three hours for two years.” She kept working to make herself better.
Suzie got offered multiple Division 1 scholarships for softball and was even invited to the USA Future Showcase event. Unfortunately, an injury prevented her from playing Division 1. Despite this, the effort she put in just made her love the game that much more. She ended up at Saint Vincent University in Pennsylvania playing Division 3 softball.
As far as her professional career, as Suzie was growing up it was clear she was born with a broadcasting persona. When she was younger, she would spend her time making home videos and while in school, would always opt to make a video for a project instead of writing a paper or making a PowerPoint. From here she knew she wanted to do something on camera.
While at college she was in the communications program focusing on public relations and advertising. Thinking about the different realms to take with this career, she thought about being a meteorologist or a news reporter, but nothing clicked. Then she was offered the opportunity to become ball girl for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I'll never forget that day and I don't know why it never sat with me before because I grew up playing sports, I had two brothers have played sports, But when I walked out onto that warning track I will never forget like looking up in the stands and be like, ‘Wow, like this is this is what I have to do, how can I make this my forever?’”
After that time, she never looked back.
“And the endeavor started literally in that moment, and just from then on, I just took every opportunity that I got to network as much as I could to get me to that next job or the next opportunity.”
She first was a media relations intern for the Pittsburgh Penguins and through her time there she got connected to other individuals who were working for AT&T Sports Network in Pittsburgh She also became an intern for that network.
While there she made the most of the opportunity, by working hard, and forming relationships.
“I made sure like every time there were their stats or game notes that needed to be handed to camera people, I was handing it to them, and I made sure I knew every one of them by name.”
After her internship a job opportunity arose from the network, and she became their social media coordinator. Everything for Suzie began to fall into place from there as she began to find herself involved with multitudes of different opportunities- which included being a producer for a sports radio show in Pittsburgh, an in-arena host for the Wheeling Nailers (hockey), in-game host with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (soccer), and a video board co-host with the Pirates (baseball). On top of all that she was also working at her local gym and attending grad school.
“I was waking up at 4:30 in the morning and was working at my gym at five and would work until 11. I'd go into the soccer stadium. I did whatever I needed to do there. I had about a two-hour window to do any homework and get ready for the rest of my day.
And then I would scoot on to the TV Station, do anything that they needed me to do. Then I go to PNC Park, do my pregame and then for the rest of the night I was on the TV truck or ball girl-ing. I'd be there until like 11-midnight every single night and I get up and I do it again.”
While at grad school, she got the opportunity to attend the 2017 MLB Winter Meetings, enabling her to seek out some jobs. After receiving a couple “no’s”, she accepted a job as a media and graphics assistant with the Salem Red Sox, an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, competing in the Carolina League.
Though enjoying her involvement with the sport, she wondered what was next in her career and felt curious about what else she could be doing to move forward. She found some inspiration when she stumbled upon broadcaster Melanie Newman’s Twitter account. She saw all the amazing things Melanie was doing as a female broadcaster in the minor leagues.
“I was like, ‘wow, this is like really cool, like I wish I could do something like that’, and I was like, wait, ‘why can't I?’ After I had that thought I went into my GM’s office and I was like, ‘can I do this?’”
Suzie even offered to pay for her own food and travel just for the chance and opportunity. She got the green light and made history by becoming the first female to broadcast a game in the Carolina League. But this was not the only time she would make some sort of history during her time in Salem.
The next year, Salem hired Melanie as a broadcasting partner to Suzie and that year they both went on to become the first all-female broadcast team in all professional baseball.
Suzie with Melanie Newman, current play by play broadcaster for Baltimore Orioles
During the same time Suzie was in Salem so were Red Sox top prospects Jarren Duran and Bobby Dalbec, who are both now up with the Red Sox.
Suzie witnessed many Dalbec homeruns and saw him break offensive records while also witnessing Duran’s impressive speed. Below Suzie actually gives Jarren Duran a public apology.
“I do have to apologize, and I did apologize to him. When we were in Salem on one of the broadcasts, Ryan Fitzgerald, who is now actually up with the Woo Sox, was running the bases… and had a triple but on the broadcast, I was like, well ‘Ryan Fitzgerald is 100% like the fastest person I've ever seen.”
Suzie said Duran jokingly took offense to this statement as we all know Duran is all about speed.
“So, whenever Jaren hit that inside the park home run (a few weeks ago), I actually tagged him on my story and he responded and said, ‘you should have said I know you're faster than Fitzy now’. And I said, ‘I take back everything I said’… Just know he is trying to be the fastest player in Major League Baseball.”
He has been making a run for that title so far. And apparently, Duran still owes Suzie $23 after buying him a shirt during a Memorial Day in Salem. 😊
Suzie said it’s been incredibly motivating to see Duran and Dalbec with the success they’ve had as they have made their way to the top of the organization in Boston.
“It's like I'm trying to grow in the game just like they are. When they have these moments and you've seen them grind their way through advanced A, AA, and AAA you know it's special. It's not like somebody who just got drafted and gets to start in major league baseball the next day, like it's somebody who actually put in the work and put in the time. Especially like Duran, people didn't expect that from him probably five years ago.” Duran was an underdog in high school and college and put in lots of work to make it to where he is today in Boston.
Though proud of her accomplishments, there was a time where Suzie felt extremely stressed and discouraged and did not know if all the work was worth it. She found her mental health was suffering and contemplated giving up. One of her first bosses gave her a piece of advice by saying “every day that you stay in the business, somebody else drops out.”
“Whenever I was in my little studio apartment with like $.05 in my bank account in Salem, I would sit there scrolling through Instagram seeing people have jobs at ESPN or Fox Sports, and think like, ‘why can't that be me?’ I remember days where I had $.67 cents in my account or would be eating ramen noodles for three weeks straight. There were so many times where I was so close to just being like, ‘you know, I just want to live my life like a normal person.’ But then in the back of my mind, I always realized, there's somebody else thinking the same exact thing and they're giving up. Don't be that person, because every day that you stay in the business, somebody else drops out and you're one day closer to where you want to be.”
And all the grind, work ethic, and determination have not gone unnoticed. I personally cannot wait to watch her career in this industry flourish. She is an inspiration to women in the sports industry and this is exemplified by her achieving a dream, even when facing hardships. Her passion for the sports and her career are valuable traits to live by.
Currently Suzie is a Multimedia Journalist and in-arena host for the Rochester Americans (hockey) and the Rochester Knighthawks (lacrosse).
Her focus is on writing feature articles for the websites and social media platforms. She also conducts player interviews for practices, games and sit downs. She is the in-arena host for all Amerks home games. She is right where she is meant to be and cannot wait for the next opportunity to arise one day.
She said in the Boston Globe that her ultimate goal is to bring “value to a broadcast with a team on a daily basis, telling stories and building relationships.” She is well on her way.
“’No’ just means next opportunity. I've heard ‘no’, probably five billion times in my life and that just makes the ‘yes’, especially my ‘yes’ with Rochester, that much sweeter and that much more worth it because you waited for that, and you worked for it.”
When asking her what sports has meant to her, she shared with me this message she once wrote for Women in Baseball Week. Though she describes just baseball, she feels this way for all sports.
“Baseball has given me bravery beyond belief to jump into situations that I probably don't belong in, to make decisions that have completely changed my life and to completely embrace the unknown of what is coming next… Baseball gave me more than just grabbing a bat. Baseball gave me my life.”
