When the original dates for players to report for Spring Training past due to the lock out I wasn’t sure the 2022 MLB Spring Training would happen. Like most fans and people who work during the season, we waited every day for the two sides to come together to work out a deal. Days flew by like a Jacob deGrom fastball, but still no baseball. Until one day they agreed to end the lock out and then two days later I started my MLB Spring Training season.
The second series of the season brought in the St. Louis Cardinals to loanDepot Park to face the Marlins. I was definitely excited for the Cardinals vs Marlins matchup as it gave me an opportunity to see Nolan Arenado with his new team as well as photography Yadier Molina for the first time. I think the biggest gift the Cardinals vs Marlins series gave me and others was that the roof was finally open for all three games at loanDepot Park.
The 2021 MLB Opening Day marked the start of my third season as a photographer for Major League Baseball and like the start of the 2020 season, we still were dealing with the effects of Covid. This year was a little different as I was not shooting from the photo wells to start the season, but from the stands. Was it ideal, no, but you play the hand you were dealt not the one you hoped for. The big difference to start this season was that fans were allowed back to the games albeit a limited number of fans to start the season.
The 2020 MLB season was definitely a unique one. 2020 in general was a whole other story to be honest. For the 2020 MLB season I was tested for Covid numerous times a week and I was the only sports photographer, other than the Marlins team photographer, in the well shooting. There were 60 games in 60 days and I had a stretch of 14 games in 10 days including a few double headers. The 2020 MLB season truly was an experience and one that I’m more than ok with not having again.
Opening Day in baseball is always filled with a regal pomp and pageantry, but Opening Day 2020 was filled with a lot less. While having sports is a great escape from what is happening in the real world, this year there was no escaping what was happening all around. From the Covid-19 and the calls for Social Justice, baseball took a backseat and put these causes into their forefront all the while providing a distraction, albeit a brief one, from the chaos and turmoil gripping the country.
Shooting Spring Training for MLB was just a unique experience. The stadiums were smaller and the fans were even closer to the action which provided a more family friendly environment. Photographing Spring Training also afforded me the opportunity to photograph teams and players that I wouldn’t normally get the chance to like photographing the Red-Sox or Toronto BlueJays. I probably would have had more opportunities, but the coronavirus changed everything.
With the 2019 MLB season, as well as my first season as a MLB photographer, in the books; I thought I share some of my favorite photos from the past 2019 MLB season. It was a great season for me and I can’t wait until the 2020 starts!
There are four teams in Major League Baseball that are like royalty. They are the Yankees, Red-Sox, Cubs and the Dodgers. I finally had my chance to photograph royalty when the Los Angeles Dodgers came to Miami to take on the Miami Marlins in a three game series.
When I took the job as a photographer for Major League Baseball, I had no idea what to expect. As someone who grew up loving baseball and breathed it every day my love and passion for the game faded as I got older. Granted a certain owner named Jeffery Loria was a huge factor in my love fading, but baseball wasn’t fun anymore for me. That was until I started photographing baseball games for MLB.