Extra Innings: Spencer Schwartz’s Baseball Journey Through Adversity

[00:00:00] Spencer: Well, I worded out a message that me and my daughter recorded.

[00:00:04] Spencer: and post it onto Twitter. And the response was phenomenal. I mean, it got, like 000 views.

[00:00:12] Spencer: And I was overcome, uh, by the response because at that point, it really wasn’t about getting to the game. It was really about how these people wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself. 

[00:00:27] Spencer: And in between at the game, I had put out on social media.

[00:00:31] Spencer: You know, letting people know what section I was going to be at. you know, to just come by and to, to say hello. And we must’ve gotten about, uh, you know, 30 or 40 people. Uh, at least that’s how I like to remember it. You

[00:00:43] Spencer: But that day is the day I’ll, I’ll always remember. 

[00:00:47] Anna: What’s up Bucketheads. Thanks for tuning in and welcome to another episode of the extra innings on the baseball bucket list podcast. I’m your host Anna DiTommaso. And in the extra innings series, I catch up with former podcast guests to discuss bucket-list events and other important topics. On this episode, I’m joined by a good friend of the show, Spencer Schwartz from New Jersey. 

[00:01:07] Anna: You may remember Spencer from two previous episodes, episode number 87, where he shared his baseball story and episode number 100, where he interviewed me about my baseball story and the origin of baseball bucket list. 

[00:01:20] Anna: Now I know many of our listeners are connected with Spencer on the website and across other social media platforms and are aware of the most recent challenges he’s facing. But for those of you who don’t know, I’ll share a little bit of it here in the intro. Around the start of spring training this year, Spencer begin experiencing blurriness and one of his eyes. Over the next several days, he was examined by some of the leading eye doctors in the Northeast and was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder that would eventually cause him to lose his eyesight entirely. 

[00:01:49] Anna: In this episode, Spencer shares his story of how all of this happened. How the Twitter baseball community has really rallied behind him and how his blindness has impacted his baseball fandom. This is obviously a heavy topic,, but I think you’ll find inspiration and some feel-good stories woven throughout our conversation, including a great story of how several Yankees fans rallied around Spencer this spring to help him continue his yearly tradition of attending opening day at Yankee Stadium. 

[00:02:17] Anna: Now some good news to share is that since Spencer and I recorded this. He started to regain a bit of his vision. he was quick to point out that it’s not to the point where he can see a ball field. Because of course that’s what all baseball fans would use as the measuring stick. But I’m hopeful. It’s a sign of good things to come. This interview was a good one. I hope you’ll enjoy it now without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy some extra baseball banter with Spencer Schwartz. 

[00:02:43] Anna: Spencer thank you so much for joining us again on the Baseball Bucket List You are actually the first person to be on the show three separate times, so I’m glad to hear your voice and have you back on. How are things up north there?

[00:03:00] Spencer: thank you Anna. We are in the middle of a, uh, the start of a heat wave. Uh, the weather forecast shows that it’s going to be in the 90s for the next week. In particular, it’s going to be about 96 degrees in this part of New Jersey. So we’ve got a hot week coming. It’s a truly weather for the boys of summer, but looking forward to it.

[00:03:21] Spencer: These are the days that we may have wished for, uh, when people were complaining how cold it was in December and January and February. So I myself do not mind these heat waves. But, uh, this is also the kind of weather I report, or I rather remind people about when they’re complaining about that cold weather in the, uh, the December months.

[00:03:44] Anna: Yeah, it sounds like y’all have a little bit of Texas weather for the summer and, you know, occasionally we get some of that northern coldness during our winters, but I know, I know the feeling where it’s, uh, just totally opposite of, of what you’re kind of expecting. You feel a little bit like a fish out of water.

[00:04:02] Spencer: Yeah, I much rather wear t shirts and shorts, you know, than wearing a long clothes and having to worry about a jacket and pull over and a hat and, you know, keep your hands covered with gloves. So it’s okay by me.

[00:04:15] Anna: definitely, definitely. Well, I’m glad you’re back. I know a lot of listeners on the show are connected with you on social media, and, um, a lot of folks will have some insight already as to kind of this, this new challenge you’re in the midst of dealing with right now. Um, And, and you were gracious enough to, to offer to come back on the show and talk about how this has affected, you know, your love of baseball and your ability to kind of consume the game.

[00:04:45] Anna: But for folks who don’t know your story, would you mind kind of catching them up to speed?

[00:04:52] Spencer: Yeah, I’d be happy to. On February 29th, I went into my office I practiced, uh, I had a dental practice and I noticed a little bit of blurring in my left eye. I went and I checked it and, um, I wear contacts, so the blurring wasn’t anything that I hadn’t experienced before. I decided to just, uh, let it rest, uh, hoping that a good night’s sleep would improve the problem. And if it didn’t, then I would take action. Well, I woke up the next day, and my left eye Uh, had gotten even worse.

[00:05:28] Spencer: So I told my wife, and we went into action. We called up our primary doctor, primarily for the purpose of getting a referral to an ophthalmologist, which they gave us. Uh, but we ended up using the ophthalmologist that we take my daughter to, who is very, very good. this was on a Friday.

[00:05:48] Spencer: Um, I was expecting in calling that office for them to say they didn’t have any appointments available. Uh, but to my surprise, they got me in right away. I went, I got examined by, uh, by Dr. Wasserman. He, uh, informed me that my condition was such that it was beyond what he, could help me out with.

[00:06:08] Spencer: Which was a little telling for me, because he has a very good reputation. but he referred me to, uh, another doctor, another ophthalmologist named Dr. Friedman. And my condition was such that he personally Got on the phone, called up Dr. Friedman and persuaded his office to see me right away. And they weren’t too far from his office, so it wasn’t a long drive to get there.

[00:06:32] Spencer: But after the examination with Dr. Friedman, Um, he looked at me very seriously and said, you have to get to Will’s Eye emergency room in Philadelphia for the problem that you have.

[00:06:45] Spencer: And this was pretty startling to me. And after that appointment and after, you know, some final discussion with him, uh, it left me very distressed. I even, uh, I cried actually, after we went out of the office, I told my wife, you know, I’ve, I’ve got a serious problem and it really shook me. So we went home, uh, it was spring training.

[00:07:08] Spencer: This was now, uh, March 1st. And, uh, I sat down to watch a Yankees game. But as the night went further along, I noticed that my right eye started to blur and I told this to my wife and I started getting really worried.

[00:07:24] Spencer: We had planned to go to the Will’s Eye emergency room in Philadelphia the next morning. But now I felt I was facing the prospect. of waking up the next day without any eyesight and that really shook me. So my mother doesn’t live too far from us. We called my mother and asked her to come over to keep an eye on the girls, uh, my two daughters, and we drove to Philadelphia in the middle of the night to the Will’s Eye Emergency Room.

[00:07:52] Spencer: It is an emergency room that is exclusively for patients that have eye problems. Uh, it’s been around for over a hundred years. So this was all, this was all new to me. But, um, when I went into the, uh, emergency room, my eyesight had just about completely, completely disappeared, completely gone.

[00:08:15] Spencer: And, uh, I was blinded. 

[00:08:17] Spencer: Um, for your listeners in case they’re, they’re interested in knowing what, what ultimately was diagnosed is that I had an autoimmune condition, an autoimmune condition that led to a vasculitis.

[00:08:29] Spencer: The vasculitis resulted in my blindness. Um, the thing that made me, made my case very, very unusual is that in general when patients get vasculitis. There are other organs associated with it. So mine exclusively, my vasculitis exclusively targeted my eyesight and, uh, the, the, the doctors, you know, they, they, they, Found my case to be very puzzling to them and, uh, rare.

[00:08:59] 

[00:08:59] Spencer: And it’s, uh, as you can imagine, it was very, uh, very traumatic. Um, my composure that you hear on the phone today, I would attribute that to just, you know, having acclimated to my situation. But in those early days when I was in the hospital, uh, it was, it was very traumatic. I had, um, uh, panic attacks, uh, especially feeling like claustrophobic.

[00:09:24] Spencer: Uh, but other panic attacks as well, just associated with the, the reality of, you know, being blind and the thought of not being able to see my daughters again, not being able to see my wife again, my mother and my sisters as well. It was, it was very, it was very heavy and it was a very traumatic time.

[00:09:42] Anna: I’m not, I’m not sure where to start with that. I think,

[00:09:49] Spencer: Yeah. I don’t mean

[00:09:50] Spencer: to get you. 

[00:09:51] Anna: no, no, I mean, it’s just, it’s the reality of the situation, you know, and I can remember kind of keeping tabs on this whole situation as it was unfolding on, on Twitter, you and your wife. and then your daughter, eventually, like, were doing such a great job knowing that there would be so many people in the Twitterverse that, uh, you and I met in, originally, who were super, super concerned about you, you know?

[00:10:18] Anna: and so, kind of, kind of having to look on as a outsider and see how all of this was unfolding, It was pretty concerning. And you know, one of the things that I’ve always known about you is that you, you’ve tended to be a fairly positive guy throughout, most things I would say. So I, I’m sure that that has served you well.

[00:10:40] Anna: And I know that you also have an incredible family, which is just another blessing. Um, man, it’s a, it’s a tough scenario and you know, I know that everybody listening is wishing you well, that’s for sure. 

[00:10:54] Spencer: Um, first of all, uh, Twitter was. More of a lifeline for me than I could have imagined. Uh, I was so appreciative of everybody, uh, writing me comments or even just giving me a, a like by pressing the heart buttons for my videos, I did not expect them to get the response they did.

[00:11:15] Spencer: I did not expect them to get the reach that they did. Um, and I felt that and I felt that energy and I’m very thankful to everyone that reached out to me. It was not really possible for me to give a personal response. Which I had always preferred to do to everyone that, uh, that wrote to me. Um, but I always wanted to make sure that, uh, whether they followed me or not, that people knew that I got their message, that I saw their message and that it meant something to me.

[00:11:46] Spencer: I never looked at it with any type of a trivial point of view. All the messages were, were very important to me. Um, it was such that I wish I could have gone to. each person you included. and just, you know, personally, you know, thank them and told them how much their, their kindness meant to me.

[00:12:06] Spencer: It really did. And to that, what I would say is, if you, you know, to any of your listeners out there, if you’re ever faced with any type of crisis, hopefully you won’t go through something that I’m going through with. But if you’re ever faced with any type of crisis, um, social media is your friend. Reach out to social media.

[00:12:25] Spencer: Don’t regress. Don’t let yourself, uh, uh, drift away from it. Uh, because I found that, um, uh, there were some people, you know, who went through some Uh, challenges in their lives, and then they re, they did recede from Twitter, or they receded from Instagram, or whether, whatever their preferred social media outlet was.

[00:12:45] Spencer: Um, I found it to be just the opposite. I’m also a big believer that In general, if we live in a world where you can have virtual money like Bitcoin, you can have virtual friends like on Twitter. That is to say, I don’t look at people on Twitter as just, you know, computers and, and, and, and computer language.

[00:13:07] Spencer: These are real people. And some people you can tell that there is a real connection that you have with them. And. I’ve met with, uh, some people from Twitter, and for the most part, everybody that I’ve met on Twitter, I get along with terrifically in, in real life. You know, you’re gonna have a couple bad apples here and there, but for the most part, if you feel like a connection, you know, with someone on Twitter, you’re probably gonna get along with them in real life, and I would gather that you’ve You’ve experienced that as well.

[00:13:36] Spencer: And forgive me, I don’t mean to get long winded, Anna, but you know, as it relates to your show, when I was in the hospital, one of the things that helped me get through that was, uh, it was spring training. So I listened to as many, uh, baseball games. As I possibly could, I have the MLB app.

[00:13:54] Spencer: Now I wasn’t able to operate my phone on my own. So I have the doctors and the nurses and anybody that would come into my room, you know, put on a game for me, uh, or put on a sports station for me. So I could, uh, so I could listen to it. It was also the NBA season. I’m a Brooklyn Nets fan, so I made sure to tune into my Brooklyn Nets games.

[00:14:15] Spencer: But these baseball games and these sporting events, they really were the highlight of my day. 

[00:14:21] Anna: it’s a really good example of, of the way that sports and baseball in particular can be there for you when you really need it in ways that you, you know, never really, you necessarily would have fathomed before or even thought about, but, um, to anyone who is listening, to Spencer’s point, if you are a baseball fan, and you’re not on Twitter, and you’re not involved in this brilliant community of baseball fans throughout Twitter.

[00:14:52] Anna: I’d suggest that you register for an account today because he’s absolutely right. I mean, some of my, my best friends in the game have come from just Twitter connections, which, you know, you wouldn’t necessarily think. Anything of, or you wouldn’t even expect that, but, um, The, the community is just, it’s, it’s full of Loving, caring, um, Intelligent, funny, incredible People, and, you know, our, our little niche is Primarily baseball fans who are Good people to start with, is what I always say.

[00:15:25] Anna: Sure.

[00:15:27] Spencer: Yeah, you’ll, again, to repeat, you’ll always find some bad apples here and there. Most of the time, and for the most part, you’re gonna have good experiences, and the people that you get along with on Twitter, you’re gonna get along with in real life. And they’re real people and that’s real positive energy that they’re sending out to you

[00:15:45] Anna: It’s definitely true. Definitely true. All right. I want to pivot now, you know, you have been a longtime Yankees season ticket holder, longtime Yankees fan, you know, you live in Jersey. So it’s not easy to get to the Bronx often, but, um, you, you did hold onto your tickets. And, I’d like to discuss, I know that you’ve been to a handful of games this year, and, Again, the outpouring of support, the people who would come through your section to just say hello and, you know, give you a hug and stuff, it was, it was pretty powerful to see, but um, can you share a little bit about what that game day experience has kind of transitioned to for you?

[00:16:32] Spencer: That was another, that was another thing where I had to be very thankful to social media, Twitter in particular, while I was in the hospital, of course, with so much time on my hands. One thing that occurred to me is that I did have tickets for opening day. And one of the things that I immediately, you know, reconciled was, you know, because of my illness.

[00:16:54] Spencer: I’m probably not going to get to opening day. In fact, let’s take out that. Probably I am not going to opening day. That’s just not happening. Let’s not put any energy towards, will I make it? Will I not make it? You’re not going to make it. Uh, so just forget about it. And it’s not the worst thing in the world either.

[00:17:12] Spencer: You can watch it from your TV. You can listen to it on the radio. By the way, when I say watch TV, I mean, having the TV on and listening to the commentator, certainly not watching anything at this point. Um, when I got out of the hospital about a day or two later, my daughter, Victoria, whom I’ve taken to opening day, uh, the past three years.

[00:17:33] Spencer: Very innocently asked are we still going to opening day and you know the question You know it got to me and I failed to say no as I had told myself in the hospital I failed to say no and with that I started thinking well, let’s not dismiss the idea immediately And in the back of my mind, you know, something I could no longer ignore was the possibility of maybe going on to Twitter and maybe sending out some kind of message and maybe getting some help from the people in Yankee’s Twitter in particular to be able to still get to opening day.

[00:18:12] Spencer: Well, I worded out a message that me and my daughter recorded.

[00:18:17] Spencer: and post it onto Twitter. And the response was phenomenal. The response really blew me away. People saw the message. They tagged people related to the Yankees, like broadcasters, uh, or the, the Yes Network, which is the primary network that the Yankees are broadcast on. And they retweeted it. I mean, it got, you know, like 50, 000, 50, 000 views.

[00:18:43] Spencer: And so many likes as well. And I was overcome, uh, by the response because at that point, it really wasn’t about getting to the game. It was really about how these people wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself. 

[00:18:59] Spencer: And so they set into motion, um, you know, getting the word out and the word did get out, uh, some people really high up in the Yankee ranks, they saw my message and they, uh, uh, they, they set things into motion to help, uh, get me to the stadium. So ultimately what happened was One of their season ticket holders who has, he’s got a very high plan.

[00:19:22] Spencer: Like he works in the, um, the suites or his seats, I should say, are in the suites. So he knows like, you know, uh, a lot of people high up on the Yankee chain. And, um, he’s sort of an ambassador for the, uh, for the Yankees as well. In other words, if they need something, you know, they’ll ask him, you know, it’s like volunteer.

[00:19:40] Spencer: Uh, for these kinds of things. So we got somebody to take us, uh, take us up to the stadium. Uh, they stayed with me at the game because I couldn’t be there, uh, by myself, uh, with my daughter. And that was also a requirement of my wife and they took us home. And in between at the game, I had put out on social media.

[00:20:01] Spencer: You know, letting people know what section I was going to be at. And if they came by, you know, to just come by and to, to say hello. And we must’ve gotten about, uh, you know, 30 or 40 people. Uh, at least that’s how I like to remember it. You know, that came by and I wore an all white Yankee cap and I brought a Sharpie marker and everybody that came by to say hello, I had them sign the hat.

[00:20:24] Spencer: That’s, uh, somewhere on Twitter too. That really just, it, it made my day. And again, feeling the warmth of human kindness in that manner, uh, it just, it made for such a memorable day. The Yankees lost that day as well. They lost three to nothing. so it wasn’t really such a great ga great day, you know, from a, a Yankees fan point of view.

[00:20:44] Spencer: But that day is the day I’ll, I’ll always remember.

[00:20:48] Anna: Yeah, that’s an incredible memory. I mean, and I love, I love to hear that humanity kind of stepped up for you. Obviously baseball fans, and then the subset of Yankee fans, and then, you know, even to to Narrowed down further to the folks who were at that game who took time to walk across the stadium to come say hello to you is It’s pretty special I’m glad that you were able to get that message out and that it was so well received and that you know You were just kind of surrounded with with some love that day, which you you definitely needed and deserved

[00:21:25] Spencer: I’ll always, I’ll always remember that day. A funny thing also, Anna, this is gonna sound kind of strange. Even though I’m blind, I do have memories of that game. Like, I don’t remember just darkness and hearing voices. I, for whatever reason, have images of meeting, you know, guys like, uh, John, you know, who’s a Canadian but is a Yankee fan.

[00:21:48] Spencer: And he came over and he sat by me and my daughter and he called the play by play for me so I knew what was going on. Or Keith, who’s the, uh, the, the radio host on, uh, one of the New York stations here. Uh, I knew him before he was on the, the radio. And, uh, he came by to say hello to me. And all my fellow Yankee fans who, a lot of them I’ve known from Twitter, they came by and, and said hello to me.

[00:22:10] Spencer: It was just an, an, an honor. Unimaginable experience, and I, I, I just remember them, you know, I don’t remember blackness and sound, I, I have this vision of seeing the people, and, um, you know, what they were dressed in, and smiles, and just really enjoying the, uh, really enjoying the day, and really enjoying the game, it’s, it’s a funny thing, 

[00:22:33] Anna: Yeah, it makes me happy to hear that though. It really does. And you know, that’s what’s that’s what’s kind of unique about your situation Spencer is I have a friend Reggie Deal. He’s been on the podcast He was born blind and he’s been a baseball fan his whole life. But obviously you’re in a different circumstance here having memories centered around visual cues and and things like that, so It doesn’t really surprise me that you can kind of see that imagery in your mind’s eye You

[00:23:03] Anna: But what a, what a cool experience.

[00:23:06] Anna: I’m just so glad. And you know, the Yankees may have lost that day, but they’ve put together a pretty decent season so far, especially when you take into account all of the, the injuries and, um, you know, that sort of thing that they’ve, they’ve had to deal with lately. So, um, doing all right.

[00:23:23] Spencer: It’s a well, it’s a great season. but you know, it’s a little disheartening for me because, you know, I can’t see the players. I don’t see what’s going on. I think that brings me around also to what I really wanted to talk about with your, um, with your listeners, and I suppose Reggie may have talked about this as well.

[00:23:40] Spencer: And I kind of apologize to Reggie and to other members of the blind community too, because I don’t want to come off like I’m the only guy in the world, you know, that’s got this problem. I know that there are millions of people with blindness, so I don’t want to, I don’t want to project a woe is me kind of, uh, kind of attitude.

[00:23:57] Spencer: There are probably blind people who hear me talk and think, oh come on buddy, get, get over yourself already. I’ve been living with this for, for a long time. I’m new to the blind game, so, you know, unfortunately, it’s, it’s something that, uh, I talk about, uh, and, and probably, uh, uh, probably do it in a way where I, I make it sound like a, for lack of a better way of putting it, a bigger deal than it, than it really is, at least to people who have really overcome, uh, the challenges of blindness.

[00:24:23] Spencer: but, uh, you know, how, how does that affect you as a fan? I mean, the first thing is, Obviously, you can’t see the games, so you’re doing a lot of listening. Uh, the choice is, you know, do you listen on the television? Uh, why would I even watch the television, uh, the television broadcast? I watch the television broadcast because, first of all, that brings like an avenue of normalcy to me.

[00:24:48] Spencer: Uh, it’s the way that I used to watch most of the Yankee games, the way I used to get most of my information on the team, and so I may not be getting a hundred percent of what I got before. But it does give me an avenue of normalcy. I will say that when I tune into the radio broadcast, I distinctly hear the difference between listening to a game on the radio and what you get from television and on television, it’s definitely broadcast.

[00:25:16] Spencer: Uh, with the mindset that the viewers are watching everything that’s going on, and they don’t have to, uh, discuss every single play, uh, every strike, every ball. But on the radio, they are doing that. So I get a much better experience of the game when I hear it on the radio. Um, I think what, what discourages me from listening on the radio is that it feels more like even even something from the early 20th century.

[00:25:47] Spencer: In the early 20th century, my grandfather used to tell me about this. You know, the way you would sometimes watch a ball game is you would go down to a corner store, somebody would be listening on the radio and they would have like a map of the baseball diamond and they would just be moving parts that represented players to let you know, you know, if a player was on base, if a run was scored, And that’s what the radio feels like to me.

[00:26:09] Spencer: I feel like I’m getting it. I feel like I’m getting the game, uh, secondarily. Uh, whereas on, on, on television, you know, you feel like you’re with the, you’re, you feel like you’re with the announcers. You feel like you’re, at the game, uh, more so than, than you do with the radio announcers. But, you know, you get a better call from the, uh, from the radio, but that’s really been one big thing that’s, uh, that’s changed, uh, my love, uh, for baseball is how I get the games.

[00:26:36] Spencer: And how I watch the games.

[00:26:38] Anna: It’s a good point. You know, obviously to your point, the, the radio call is going to be so much more detailed about exactly what’s going on on the field, but you know, that’s not the reason that everybody loves baseball is the intricacies of the game like that. You know, a lot of it has to do with the overall environment and the TV Call does a much better job of capturing that you’ve got the the in game interviews, too you know you they get to talk to the manager at times during in between innings or fans or correspondants and things like that So it definitely makes sense that even though they’re not doing as good of a job Describing the game that you still feel more involved Yeah.

[00:27:22] Spencer: that’s a, that’s a point that you bring up too, that I, you know, for my situation, um, and that’s a reason why I, I, that’s something I don’t like about, um, the television broadcast is that sometimes. These in game interviews, you know, with the players or with the coaches, it loses sight of the game so you can’t follow with what’s happening with the game and it gets even more annoying.

[00:27:46] Spencer: Like when they get a sponsor, like I remember I was watching a game and they had somebody who would just open a brewery. I’m sitting there thinking, I want to hear about your brewery. Just, you know, let me, let me know what’s happening with the, uh, the game that happens more so in spring training. Um, but still it, for, for me as a blind person, it, uh, it took away, but I can see like, you know, if you’re, if you have your vision and you have your ears.

[00:28:12] Spencer: You know, then it’s, it’s no big deal. I can certainly understand that. I see it from that perspective.

[00:28:17] Anna: what’s next for you? You know, kind of, what are you thinking in terms of, of moving forward with your love of the game? Are you gonna be more of a consumer of audio or are you, do you think you’ll still get to a handful of games each year? Kind of, you know, what does that, what does that seem like to you?

[00:28:39] Spencer: I haven’t like written out any specific goals, but you know, I do want to get to the stadium as I went yesterday and I’ll discuss with you some of the challenges. Uh, in that, um, you know, I, I love the game. I want to follow the game. This, this problem that I have, it’s taken that away. Now, of course, you know, you know, my, my kids and my wife, my family, that’s the most.

[00:29:03] Spencer: The important thing, I want to be able to see them, but you know, my love of the game is one of the primary things, you know, that, uh, it’s, it’s taken away and I don’t want to lose that just the same way that I didn’t want to lose my followers and be forgotten on, on Twitter. So, the first thing is to just try to keep up with baseball as best as you can.

[00:29:27] Spencer: These days, I, I listen to games. Um, with the MLB app,

[00:29:31] Spencer: also with the games, uh, at least with the Yankee games, they only give you the games. So you can’t, uh, listen to the post game interviews or the post game productions, uh, unless you want to listen to the radio. So that becomes like another.

[00:29:46] Spencer: Another project that you have to, uh, that you have to contend with. Um, as far as, uh, you know, my season tickets, um, I obviously got my tickets before.

[00:29:57] Spencer: You know, this, uh, this happened. Um, but the, the question is, am I going to keep the tickets? and I want to keep my tickets. I, I haven’t thrown my hands in the air and said, well, I’m blind. I’m not going to be able to keep my season ticket account. Uh, I suppose that would be easier to let go of if I was, you know, like a five year or six year season ticket holder, but this is my 25th year.

[00:30:24] Spencer: And so when you reach 25 years, you really are going to look into every way that you can to be able to, uh, to keep your plan. And so right now my mindset is to be able to, uh, uh, to keep my plan. Um, one of the things I do is I do put. The majority of my tickets on the, uh, on the secondary ticket, uh, secondary ticket line, uh, stub hub in particular.

[00:30:51] Spencer: And, um, fortunately, you know, with the, the winning that the Yankees have done this year. Uh, that’s really made sales very brisk. So I project that the sales that I will have made with my season tickets will be able to, uh, help me renew my, um, my, my season account for, for next year. But even that’s a challenge in itself.

[00:31:13] Spencer: Now I need assistance with that. I can’t just go on to my. And, uh, you know, click, you know, purchase and, you know, put a credit card number in and buy the tickets. I just can’t do that. I need assistance with that. So now I’ve got to get in touch with my season ticket holder rep. If I don’t have a family member that might be able to help me out with that.

[00:31:33] Spencer: So it’s, it’s complicated. It’s very complicated. I think the lesson of that is make sure that if you, if you do have season tickets, make sure that, uh, you have a good relationship with your family. With your, uh, with your representative, they might also compliment, give you some complimentary tickets too, uh, every now and then.

[00:31:50] Spencer: So that’s definitely something to, uh, to consider. Um, but yeah, I, I, I, I do want to, uh, I do want to keep them, even if I don’t go to the, uh, majority of the games and on the issue of getting to games, um, that’s, that’s a challenge in itself. There’s so many avenues. To think about, you know, going to a game, especially if you live far from the stadium, which I do, I live in South Jersey.

[00:32:16] Spencer: Uh, I live a little over 60 miles from Yankee stadium and, uh, getting to Yankee stadium is not an easy thing to, uh, to be able to do. It’s, it’s quite challenging. 

[00:32:28] Spencer: I think it’s important to point out to your listeners. My season tickets are in the bleachers. They’re in the bleachers because when I finally finished up with my studies, one of the first gifts that I bought myself was a very small and cheap season ticket packet to the Yankees.

[00:32:43] Spencer: It was

[00:32:45] Spencer: The bare minimum to get myself guaranteed seats into the, uh, into the playoffs. Okay. Now, um, I’m at a point in life where I don’t like to sit in the bleachers. I like to sit as close to home plate as best as I can. So in order to do that, you have to buy a ticket online. But again, you have to have like a certain mindset, a certain experience to be able to go online, You know, find a ticket, navigate the ticket site so that you can find a ticket to get to the game that you want to, and that’s, you know, not so easy.

[00:33:18] Spencer: You know, if you’re a person that doesn’t have that type of experience or even that type of enthusiasm, you know, for going to concerts or for going to a sporting events. all these factors, um, you know, come into mind, you know, when you’re, when, when suddenly, you know, doing the things that you love to do become a serious challenge.

[00:33:39] Anna: I’m glad that you have some people in your life that are willing to help you make that. You know, I’m sitting there listening and kind of thinking my way through what you’re describing. On top of just going to a major league ballpark and being surrounded by 40, 000 other people, you’ve got to also then remember that you.

[00:33:58] Anna: smack dab in the middle of New York. So, uh, that just amplifies it, you know, 10 X compared to like what I would see in, in St. Petersburg, Florida or Arlington, Texas. So, um, I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective, but those are some really good points. Spencer, where do we send people if they want to follow along with you online? Maybe they want to send you some well wishes or ask you some questions about your Yankees fandom. Where do we send them?

[00:34:26] Spencer: Sure, I appreciate that, Anna. On Twitter, now known as X, my name is, uh, at musician DMD, uh, but I wrote that M U Z I X N D M D, uh, because it’s really cool to, uh, misspell words. Uh, and put an X and a Z in your word. It’s very rock and roll. Um, that’s where they can find me. And I’m most renown for the hashtag, N Y Y cap of the day.

[00:34:56] Spencer: The New York Yankee cap of the day. That’s like a separate issue. Also, fortunately, I’m, I’m manic about keeping my caps, uh, in order. So I’m able to still wear my caps and we still try to give a cap. You know, uh, to keep up with that, uh, with that tradition. And if you want to talk about your niches, that’s my little niche, uh, in the Twitter verse, but that’s where they can find me on a social, uh, or on social media, I also want to point out that, um, if any of your followers who don’t follow me now, if they do follow me, please forgive me if I don’t follow you back right away.

[00:35:32] Spencer: Uh, again, it’s just very, very challenging, uh, for me to be able to follow back people. Um, my family’s been, you know, great with helping me with, uh, my Twitter needs. They feed that beast, but they also get some Twitter fatigue as well. And, you know, again, they’re not as You know, fluent with it as a regular Twitter users like you and I are.

[00:35:55] Spencer: So it could be some time, you know, before I get to following back, you know, some of the great people who have followed me and please under please understand that don’t give up on me.

[00:36:06] Anna: Yeah, that’s a, a good little note to share, but, um, that was one of the things I was super excited to, to see that, that you kept going was the cap of the day, and I know that your daughter, Victoria, was, was, helps you a lot with that, um, because I just, uh, that’s one of the things I think is so cool about, about your passion for the game and collecting headwear, and, I was, I’m glad to see that you’re, you’re keeping that tradition alive.

[00:36:31] Spencer: Oh, thank you, Anna. Yeah. It’s very important to me. I mean, it’s as simple as I love hats

[00:36:37] Anna: Right.

[00:36:38] Spencer: I love, I love using hats as a vehicle, you know, to like, uh, portray. You know, your enthusiasm for your sports team, uh, your past guests and one of your best ones, uh, Patrick Larson. I love, you know, how he uses his caps to tell the story of minor league teams.

[00:36:53] Spencer: Um, but yes, the caps are definitely, uh, you know, central to, uh, to my life and I still have them and, uh, I, you know, some people, they still, uh, they still really dig, you know, seeing me post a cap each day and, uh, they’re, they’re still, uh, enthusiastic and they give me encouragement to, uh, To continue that.

[00:37:11] Spencer: So, uh, I’m gonna keep doing it for as, as long as I possibly can and, and for as long as, uh, people will be interested if they want it, I’ll give it

[00:37:21] Anna: I’m glad to hear that. Spencer, I can’t thank you enough for, for taking time to do this and being kind enough to share your story with everyone. I know that, anybody and everybody listening, I can speak for them and, and let you know that they’re sending you the best vibes and, and well wishes. And, um, I just really am grateful that you took time to come back on and chat with us.

[00:37:43] Spencer: Sure thing. And I appreciate that. Uh, uh, just one last thing I do want to get, get out there is, um, you know, this is the baseball bucket, uh, formerly the baseball bucket list. And uh, when I was originally on with you, I explained to you that my. My only, uh, baseball bucket, uh, list wish, uh, was to meet Reggie Jackson.

[00:38:00] Spencer: And that, uh, that wish came true, uh, in February came really just weeks before my, uh, my blindness, uh, set in. So, uh, that’s a, uh, the bucket list, you know, I accomplished the bucket list and I, I think I further validated, uh, my, uh, contributions and, uh, my, um, association with your, with your podcast. I also want to say that, um, you know, your podcast is one of the things That, um, helps bring a level of, uh, normalcy to me.

[00:38:29] Spencer: Uh, for a while, I wasn’t able to, uh, to get the podcast. Again, that has to do with, you know, using the phone and, and operating the phone. And it’s just, you know, it could be challenging, you know, for my, for my family to, to find these things. So that was just one of the things that for a while, you know, didn’t get done, but, uh, we got you back, Anna.

[00:38:47] Spencer: So I’m going back to all these episodes that, uh, I missed on. Um, I recently did episodes 1 40 to 1 49. So now I’m going to the 1 30. So I’m sort of like working backwards, but I appreciate you having me back on. And again, I came on today because, you know, I’m hoping that, you know, uh, for anybody that might find themselves in a challenging situation, I certainly don’t want anybody to go blind and lose their eyesight like I have, but, uh, you know, I hope this gives encouragement, you know, to people.

[00:39:16] Spencer: who, uh, have a physical challenge, uh, and see how they might be able to overcome it. You know, in particular with, uh, you know, how they keep baseball in their lives.

[00:39:26] Anna: Yeah. I think it will, so I, I can’t thank you enough, Spencer. I, I really appreciate it.

[00:39:31] Spencer: You got it, Anna.

[00:39:32] Anna: And that will wrap up this episode of extra innings special, thanks to Spencer shorts for joining us again and sharing his story. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, if you think you might like to be a guest on the show. Or a repeat guest on the show had the baseball bucket list.com/podcast and fill out an application. I’d absolutely love to hear from you. 

[00:39:51] Anna: While you’re there, take some time to check out the site, build your own baseball bucket lists. Track your ballpark visits and connect with other fans. And if you find yourself enjoying the show each week, please take a moment to rate and review it in the podcast app of your choice. 

[00:40:03] Anna: I would really, really appreciate it. That’s it for. This week. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you. Next episode.