An under-contemplated element of life for a professional baseball player is the life of a spouse. There’s a lot about that life that is probably uniquely challenging, from the intense and erratic daily schedule to the lengthy road trips, to the month and a half spent in Arizona or Florida for Spring Training. Some spouses can travel regularly with the player, but some cannot. Where the spouse has a job and/or the couple has kids, it’s gotta be all that much harder.
We think a fair amount about a player’s family life in a general sense, and we know, as humans, your home and personal life can impact your on-field performance. But it’s that word “personal” in there that rightly prevents us from digging too deeply on aspects of a spouse’s life that might directly impact a baseball player. It goes just past that border from, “this has an impact,” to “you know, this is none of our business.”
One exception that I think is pretty reasonable – and nice! – to discuss, though, is that of Mallory Swanson, who is a star player for the Chicago Red Stars. Her husband, Dansby, has mentioned how nice it was that they could be playing professional sports at the same time and in the same home city. That has to be so comforting for them, and might even be an off-the-field boost to their respective on-field performance. It’s really not that hard to imagine.
Also, although I’m not a huge soccer fan off-hand, I do think it’s cool to have Cubs-connected rooting interest on the Red Stars (in addition to some overlap in ownership – Laura Ricketts leads the group that bought the Red Stars last year).
So, then, for both our fandom purposes and for their life purposes, this seems like really awesome news:
Per the Tribune, Mallory Swanson is signing a five-year deal to stay with the Chicago Red Stars, and it makes her the highest-paid player in the NWSL. Heck yeah. Get paid.
Obviously we know that the geography of these things can change over the course of a long-term contract, but still. Each of Mallory and Dansby knowing that they are under contract here in Chicago for at least the next five years together? That’s gotta feel so good. My wife and I work in the same city, and let me tell you how easy it is to take that for granted when you aren’t confronted with the crazy schedule of a professional athlete, much less two of them!
So here’s to the Swansons, and another 5+ years together in Chicago.