Sideline Stories: Emma Tiedemann, Director of Broadcasting, Portland Sea Dogs
The first day of work for people is typically a day full of excitement and nerves. New place, new people, new coffee maker. Now throw in a global pandemic. I moved from Kentucky to Maine in March of 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. I showed up to Hadlock Field for my first day with the Portland Sea Dogs eager to start my new job: Director of Broadcasting and Play-By-Play Broadcaster. At 8:45am that morning, we had a socially distanced staff meeting and were told to start working from home immediately. The Minor League Baseball season was then cancelled and my first year in Maine was drastically different than what I expected.
Even though so much time has passed since my last baseball broadcast, I can still recall what that final call was – honestly, it was a memorable one. I was the voice of the Lexington Legends, the Single A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. On Friday September 13, 2019, the Legends were facing the Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League Championship. In the bottom of the 13th inning, the Legends hit a walk off home run to secure their third SAL Championship, with a final score of 3-1. I still get goosebumps thinking about that night. That type of game, with the ode to the Friday 13th storyline, can only happen in baseball. It is what makes me so eager for our Sea Dogs season to begin.
Since graduating from the University of Missouri, I have lived in Texas, Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota and Kentucky. I am very well accustomed to being the new person and learning about a new place to call home. Getting to know a new city during a global pandemic is challenging. Like a lot of people, I took to the streets or trails running around the area, taking mental notes of places I wanted to visit once they were open again. Despite only takeout food and an empty Old Port, I fell in love with the city of Portland.
Every time I introduce myself people rave about the Sea Dogs. Everyone seems to have a unique memory about their time at Hadlock Field. Funny enough, they could be baseball related or, quite frequently, Slugger related. That, to me, is the beauty of baseball. People gathering to cheer on their hometown team, but it is what happens off the field that is sometimes the most meaningful.
So with May 4th fast approaching, I can’t wait for my first memory of a Sea Dogs game: in the broadcast booth, putting my headset on and, at long last, calling my first game over the airwaves.
