Jessica Mendoza is in her fourth year as an analyst on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” teamed for the second season in a row with fellow analyst Alex Rodriguez, and Matt Vasgersian doing play-by-play. She’s also recently reconnected to her fishing roots and was doing a round of media interviews to encourage other women to help make fishing a family affair.
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I could have talked about both subjects for hours and hours, but Mendoza was in Oklahoma City for the women’s College World Series, so we had to keep the conversation in the half-hour range. That was still time to dig into a couple of topics, from her love of fishing to her remarkable, ground-breaking career as a baseball broadcaster.
Hope you enjoy this week’s edition of Baseball Voices.
The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
SPORTING NEWS: When my editor sent me the email pitch, he wrote, “Could there be a more perfect interview opportunity for you?” I’ve been doing a series of Q/As with baseball broadcasters and everyone who knows me knows my passion for fishing. So this was perfect. Let’s talk fishing. Why do you love it? How did you get started?
MENDOZA: Well, my mom actually taught me how to fish. We used to go when I was little, like 5 or 6 years old. I grew up in Southern California and so we’d actually go pier fishing. So I have these memories of going out on the pier, which is, I feel like, unique. Talking to so many people that fish, pier fishing is such a unique part of fishing that you don’t really hear. It’s not stereotypical. I loved it. I mean, just sitting out there, I’d hang my feet over the edge of the pier and still to this day, the smells that are on a pier, from seagull poop to all the different fish, there’s always a smell that is associated. But it’s funny because that smell is actually super nostalgic for me, so I love it.
Anyway, I grew up with that when I was little, and then sports kinda kicked in and it just sorta went away. I didn’t fish for a long, long time, at all. And it wasn’t until this year that I kind of started to get back into it. TakeMeFishing.org kind of took me under their wing, and their biggest goal is to try to encourage more women to fish. And the fact that there is a stereotype that fishing belongs to guys and the only people that fish are men. What I loved about it this year was just taking my own kids out and how much fun we have, because to be honest — I mean, you get this — we’re connected, whether it’s through TV or all the different media, by screen time, all of that is very much a part of our lives. I know it is mine.
SN: Yes, for sure.
MENDOZA: What I love with my kids, I mean, shoot, our cell phones don’t even work there, you know? Even compared to other sports that we can do together, this is a sport that has automatically carved in time to talk and converse. We’re not actively running around and doing crazy stuff, but we’re doing a sport that we can look at each other in the eye and enjoy each other.
SN: So what kind of fishing do you do with the boys?
MENDOZA: We’ve gone out on a canoe and fished. We’ve gone out to a couple of lakes. We have shore fished. I have two boys, but they have yet to catch a fish.
SN: Oh, really?
MENDOZA: It’s been this ongoing thing. We’re actually moving to Oregon from California. And one of our biggest, exciting goals — and TakeMeFishing.org has been like huge in this — is figuring out the best spots where we’re going to be living. And my No. 1 goal is to catch a fish for my son. For him to catch a fish.
SN: The look on a kid’s face when they catch their first one is always lots of fun.
MENDOZA: We actually had been deep sea fishing a few times too. My father’s family is from Mexico and so we’ll go down there.
SN: Do you remember from when you were a kid, any big fish that stood out to you? Maybe one you caught or saw someone catch on the pier?
MENDOZA: When we are down in Mexico, I remember with my mom’s help we caught a barracuda and then we ate it that night. And that, to me, was so cool, to be able to filet it, see the whole process. Especially a fish that big. We had a huge party and to see a fish that big, to see how many people that could actually feed, was pretty cool.
SN: Oh, that’s cool. I was snorkeling one time in Florida and I looked up and there was a barracuda like three feet in front of my head, and I was like, “Oh, hey, barracuda.”
MENDOZA: They swim right up at the top. And the way they breathe through their teeth, their mouth opens and closes and their teeth come from underneath. They are an intimidating fish. They’re right there, you know what I mean? And they’re not afraid to come right up to you.
SN: No, they are not. I guess they know they are the ones that have the teeth. Have you noticed the connection between baseball and fishing? When I was traveling through spring training this year, I asked a lot of guys random questions and one of them was, “What do you like to do with your free time?” And so many of the players said, “Fishing!” Have you noticed that, too, when you’re out talking with players during your game preparation?
MENDOZA: Absolutely. I kind of feel like it’s the first thing on every media guide bio. The sports kind of go hand-in-hand, and I’d throw golf in there, too. Just the love of being outside, one. I think there’s something to baseball, golf, fishing that there’s downtime within all of those sports. Even though you’re still doing the sport and everything that’s involved, there’s still this time to be able to think and have conversations. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with what you enjoy from a sport.
SN: Sure. That makes a lot of sense. I could talk fishing all day, but I want to about your broadcasting journey as well, so let’s start here: How did you get the idea that broadcasting was going to be the next step for you?
MENDOZA: It was when I was competing. We were playing in China, that’s what I remember, and I was doing an interview after the game. After I did the interview, they approached me and were like, “Gosh, have you ever thought about getting involved in television? You’re passionate in the way you describe things.” And I kind of laughed because I was like, “No. Oh, my gosh, I’d be fired the first day. I have no filter, was not going to be able to say whatever I want. Like, there’s no way.” And I didn’t have the background. I went to Stanford, got my master’s, I was moving to D.C. for an internship to basically help change our education system. That’s where I was headed, and then I made the Olympic team, so my career — my “other” career, I should say — got pushed back. I kept thinking I would take that internship. It was funny. But I made the 2004 Olympic team, I made the ’08 Olympic team and it was a 12-year delay.
But after that producer approached me, they ended up following up and just asked me to audition. And, of course, this was for softball. This was 13 years ago, too, which is crazy. And then, obviously, the real transition was when I switched over to baseball five years ago. But I’d never had broadcasting in my mind. I ended up auditioning just because, you know, what do I have to lose?
SN: Right, right.
MENDOZA: I didn’t think I’d be very good. And then the moment I sat down I was like, “Wow, this just feels right.” It was something about it. Not that it was easy by any means, but it just felt right, if that makes sense.
SN: Oh, yeah, for sure. And so, kind of the same question for baseball. When did the baseball thought come into your mind? When did that become part of your equation?
MENDOZA: I’m in Oklahoma City right now for the women’s College World Series, and it was 10 years ago that John Kruk joined us in the booth for this event, never having played softball. He had a passion for it, always wanted to do it. He came in, and, of course, there was a ton of skepticism on our end. He’s never played, you know, and this is our pride and joy. To have a baseball guy come in, can he do it? And he freaking crushed it. I mean, I sat next to him for 10 games and watched him, heard him, listened to him. We’d go back and forth, and I felt like you could just put in softball or baseball. It didn’t matter. He was really, really good. And he kind of turned to me and was like, you should do this in baseball.
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SN: Really?
MENDOZA: I never had really thought about it. It kind of just opened that thought, like, “Yeah, why can’t it be the reverse?” Because it was just always so assumed, of course, a baseball guy could come in, but my mind never went to, “Could a softball person do baseball?” And then I started to notice the Doris Burkes. I started to notice Julie Foudy doing the men’s World Cup. All of a sudden I just started to notice that, “Wait, this is happening.” And I think what Krukie did for me was just help me see because it wasn’t just as simple as like men’s basketball to women’s basketball or men’s soccer to women’s soccer. It’s softball and baseball. It’s not just a perfect match. And what Krukie helped bridge for me was he really broke down pitchers in softball in a way that was from the hitter’s perspective, anyway.
SN: Right.
MENDOZA: So if the pitcher’s trying to come in and then throw you an offspeed, it doesn’t matter if it’s coming from underhand or overhand, it’s the same sequencing. He’s not going to sit there and tell us how she throws the riseball just the same way he’s not going to tell me how Clayton Kershaw throws his curveball. So that really changed things for me. And at that time I was starting to do college football, starting to do other sports, so I was able to side-door to baseball as a reporter, where you’re very accepted, right? It’s a very easy transition to be a reporter. I started in Omaha, for the men’s College World Series. But what I did, instead of being a classic reporter, I basically became a sideline analyst. I was doing everything I would do in the booth. I was just doing it from a geographical position that was acceptable.
SN: Isn’t that weird?
MENDOZA: Right? Being on the sideline, it was like, “Oh, yeah, she can do this!” It’s not until I went to the booth that things changed.
SN: Is that something you were pushing for, to get back to the booth?
MENDOZA: No. Actually, it’s funny. I was so happy because I was able to do a lot. I had great producers who allowed me to break down Mike Trout’s swing. Like, they just went with it. I became an analyst right away. So I didn’t really feel this desire to go to the booth because I was able to do everything I wanted to do. My boss was the one that was like, “You know, Jess, if you really want to be taken seriously as an analyst, we’ve gotta get you in the booth.”
And it was actually funny because it was him who opened my eyes, like, you’re doing all these awesome breakdowns, but people still think of you as the person who is just asking questions and telling stories about puppies, you know? Even if you’re not doing that at all. And so he was the one that was kind of like, “That geographical change,” and I remember him saying this, “Just going basically a hundred yards from the field up to that booth is really going to change people’s perceptions and how they’ll listen to you.” And I mean, pardon my French, but I was kind of like, “Oh, s—.” Like, “Here we go, you know?”
SN: You’ve obviously enjoyed that geographical change, right? It fits you well.
MENDOZA: Honestly, I love it so much. As much as I loved doing the same on the sideline, being in the booth, I mean, gosh, just allows it for people to really understand that this is possible. And they can hate it, I get it. And they can love it. And it’s usually a strong reaction. My thing is just doing it more to where people aren’t so reactive either way. It’s just more of a voice, and they can almost judge me based on the words I’m using, not because I’m different, if that makes sense.
SN: Sure. And it takes a while to get there, you think?
MENDOZA: Yes.
SN: To me, it feels like it takes a certain type of approach to life, an attitude that drives you be a leader like you are. And that got me to wondering, was there somebody when you were a kid or growing up who told you that you couldn’t do something and you said, ”Yes, I can do that.” Is there anything like that stands out to you in your background?
MENDOZA: It’s funny, because I would say the opposite. My dad was the head baseball coach at a local college, and he had a son and three daughters. I was always with the boys. I was in the dugout. I played with the boys. I played baseball when I was the only girl on my team, but I don’t ever remember it like that. I look back on it now and I see pictures, but I literally had no idea I was the only girl on my team. When I was around college baseball players my whole childhood, I wasn’t a girl. I was just a baller that was out there learning how to chew tobacco and the things these boys taught me at 20 years old, and I’m like 5. It was just my childhood. The point is, my dad never treated me different.
He wasn’t like, “This is my girl. I’m going to protect her from all this.” He was like, “I want you to be around it.” He never raised us as girls. He raised us as athletes, for sure. He was a baseball coach and he coached us. I had a baseball swing my whole life. When I was growing up, everyone had a different, very specific softball swing that was very short. And I had a big stride and I had, you know, a baseball swing, and people did not like it. And that was probably the only thing I noticed growing up. I guess to your point, no one ever told me I couldn’t. My thing, up until literally criticism of being in the booth, I was almost naive the entire time thinking, “Why not?” Like, it never even occurred to me that you couldn’t. And I think about that with my own kids. Honestly, you see it generationally. I mean, there are kids growing up now who don’t really know any different. That’s the whole goal, right? Girls play sports, boys play sports, girls can do things that boys can. All of this seems very obvious to me, and my dad even at a time when it wasn’t, it was always genderless. Girls, boys, it didn’t matter.
SN: That actually kind of leads me into my next question, talking about generations and stuff. We have a baby girl who’s 9 months old now, and she’s just rambunctious and crawling everywhere and about to start walking. What do you see, looking into the future? When my girl is 18, what do you see the baseball broadcasting world and the front-office world looking like?
MENDOZA: Well, I think that’s the key. It’s more about the front office. It’s more the people who are making decisions, right? Whether it’s front office, whether it’s the VPs at ESPN and CBS and Fox and TNT. And it’s not that they have to be women, but whoever they are, female, male, is just that the people who are hiring aren’t going after the same person. We can’t just replace so-and-so with the same person that looks and sounds exactly like what just was. Trying of think differently, act differently.
I believe the landscape could stay the same, and I could still be the only one doing this at ESPN if we don’t have more forward-thinking people making decisions. Because it’s not just a matter of more women doing it. That’s part of it now. You’ve gotta see it to be it, right? There are young girls now, I hope, who see me doing baseball games.
And I know it, even being here at the women’s College World Series, I get more questions from these college athletes not about the Olympics or playing or anything, but they all want to know, “How’d you get into broadcasting?” And that’s so cool. So you think of these hundreds of girls here that play the sport — and thousands more outside of here — and now one of the things they can think about to do next is broadcasting. And not just softball, but baseball. And that’s important, but we need those that are hiring to not think the same way their predecessors thought.
SN: You kind of just answered part of my next question. When you’re talking to girls, whether they’re 6 years old or 15 years old or in college, what are some of the things they ask you? What do they want to know from you, as this person who has the job that they suddenly realize is possible when they grow up?
MENDOZA: It’s a lot of “how?” How do I do this? How did you do it? How do I put my myself in a position? What do I do next? You know, the path isn’t set yet. Right now there are only a few of us, and all of us have very unique paths. Mine wasn’t, “OK, I took classes in college and I majored in broadcasting or journalism or communications.” No, that wasn’t my path. I mean, shoot, I played in the Olympics, which now it’s returning next year in Tokyo, but it might not be there after that. So even that path might not even be there, you know? So my biggest thing in talking to them is trying to just get connected. And this is what’s cool now, especially in college, is there’s now all this opportunity at the college level because there is the SEC Network or ACC Network or even your local college that broadcast every sport. You can get reps, you can meet people, you can make mistakes, you can ask questions, you can see if this is something you want to do. You can talk to your boss and be like, “What opportunities are there for me to do men’s sports?” It’s just putting yourself out there. It doesn’t have to be going to ESPN, but it can be a very local level.
SN: When people talk about you, they say you’re a role model to girls everywhere. What does that mean to you, the idea of being a role model?
MENDOZA: I think it’s just responsibility. That’s how I view it. I don’t see it as something like, “Oh, wow, this is really great and look at how people look at me.” It’s more about, “What am I doing to allow them the same opportunity?” And a lot of the decisions that I make, I have to realize that it’s not about me, it’s about a whole lot of other people. And that’s pressure, but like Billy Jean King always said, “Pressure is a privilege.”
SN: I love that.
MENDOZA: I crave it, just like the same part of me that used to crave being up in the bottom of the seventh at the Olympic Games. I crave these moments that are going to create opportunity, and also failure. I mean, I can strike out in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded at the Olympics just as easily — actually even more chances of me striking out than of me getting a hit — but don’t you want to be there? Isn’t that what we live for? To be up to bat in the biggest moments?
So, for me, I recognize that there’s a whole lot of responsibility and a whole lot of pressure. I need to make sure that I’m not just doing this job for me, but as I prep for a baseball game and maybe I don’t want to put in that extra effort, I think, “This isn’t about me.” If I have to stay up two extra hours later and not get a good night’s sleep, I can’t mess up tomorrow on the broadcast. I have to make sure that I have all my ducks lined up, that I am doing everything I possibly can. Because it’s not just about me.
So I don’t think of it so much as role model right now, or at all. It’s more of responsibility. I’m not there for them to model me. I’m here to make sure that this door stays open and that it never closes.
SN: I like that. That’s awesome. I have just a couple more and then I’ll let you go. You’ve been very generous with your time and I appreciate that. Your role with the Mets, it’s still new. When people ask you what you do on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, what do you tell them? How do you describe your role with the club?
MENDOZA: It changes week to week. We just finished up the start of the draft. I was with the team last week, and when I was with them, a lot of it was very draft-focused, watching a lot of college baseball, just giving my two cents. It was cool. I mean, sitting down with David Wright and Brodie, the three of us just kind of going through our thoughts and the future of the Mets, not just next year and in two years, but the next five. It was just a really cool conversation, input, all of it. And that was that week. Back in spring training, it was much more focused on a lot of the different pitching technologies, and sitting in on pitching meetings with Jacob deGrom and talking about Rapsodo and Edgertronic cameras and all the different ways that you can look and evaluate your own technique.
So it varies. Every week is different. And that’s what I really enjoy about it. There is so much within the game of baseball, especially now that it’s very front-office driven. I’m getting to not only learn but also give input as this landscape is changing.
SN: So do you feel you’re almost kind of like a Brodie’s right-hand person, almost, someone to bounce ideas off of and that kind of thing?
MENDOZA: Oh, I’m not his right hand. I’m not with them every day.
SN: Maybe a right hand, not the right hand?
MENDOZA: (laughs) Yeah, maybe like a pinkie toe?
SN: Maybe a jack-of-all-trades would be better?
MENDOZA: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’m definitely, for sure, his adviser. I go to him, I work for him. I was just texting him today about the draft. My relationship is with him, and his needs, and they change. He’ll shoot me a text, “Hey, what do you think about this? Hey, I’d love for you to watch the SEC Tournament, give me your take on this guy.” Stuff like that. That’s what it is. What he needs is what I work for.
