With college graduations currently going on around the country, many with diplomas in hand are facing the harsh realities of finding a job or a career.

So many people from every walk of life firmly believe that being a minor league baseball general manager is a “dream job.”

In reality, it is.  But then again – like all jobs – there are good days and others that are, shall we say, better than others.

Take, for example, the up-and-down (mostly down) day that Asheville Tourists General Manager Larry Hawkins had on Thursday, May 8, when the RiverDogs were in town:

 

• Hawkins – thinking that it would be another “average” day, arrived at work at 7:30 a.m. only to learn that the grounds crew accidently left the sprinklers on under the tarp;
• The game between the RiverDogs and Hawkins’ Tourists began with an one-hour rain delay;
• Rain continued throughout the night;
• The Tourists hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score, sending the tilt into extra innings;
• But, of course, it began to rain shortly afterwards;
• The Tourists, with runners on second and third base with one and the meat of their order coming to bat, fail to push the winning run across, therefore extending the game;
• And, as if it were scripted, the rain picks up again;
• In the top of the 12^th inning, the visiting RiverDogs score two-runs on a pair of bases-loaded walks to take the lead;
• As with most general managers, Hawkins wants his Tourists to score either three runs or one (or none).  But in the bottom of the 12^th, the Tourists come up with a 2-run home run of their own to knot the score and extend the game further;
• Guess what?  More rain and another delay as there is standing water at shortstop and down the first base line, there’s roughly two inches of mud that has to be addressed as the grounds crew attempts to make the field playable again;
• The first pitch in the top of the 13^th inning flies over the fence for a one-run lead by the RiverDogs;
• The Tourists fail to score in the bottom of the 13^th, and the club fails to gain ground on the league-leading RiverDogs;
• Game concludes at 12:40 a.m. and Hawkins finally gets to bed at 1:45 a.m.;
• And, of course, that was yesterday and he was back in the office at 7:30 a.m. after a game that started on Thursday and ended on Friday.

To all of the recent graduates out there, we offer our most sincere congratulations and best wishes as you enter the working world.  But after seeing a day in the life of Larry Hawkins, going for your master's degree is also a viable option.