Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Monday, April 30, 2007
Women launch baseball blog: Babeslovebaseball.com shares their passion for and knowledge of the game
 Twenty-six-year-old Suzie Zaudtke juggles being a stay-at-home mom to her two daughters, Sophie, 5, (pictured) and Nora, 19, months, with www.babeslovebaseball.com, her blog about baseball. (Photo by Andrew Link of the Winona Daily News) |
One of Suzie Zaudtke’s earliest memories is waving a Homer Hanky while watching the Minnesota Twins play in the 1987 World Series.
In between learning her ABCs, her dad would teach her about ERAs and RBIs.
Now, the 26-year-old shares her love and knowledge of baseball on www.babeslovebaseball.com.
Zaudtke started her first baseball blog when she was pregnant with her 19-month-old daughter Nora.
“It was a fat lazy pregnancy, and I needed something to do,” Zaudtke said.
Not one for crafts, a friend suggested that she focus on her beloved Minnesota Twins. Zaudtke blogged away, making friends with Boston Red Sox fan and New York Daily News reporter Lizzy Nielson. The two not only bonded over the sport but over online posters who
didn’t seem to think women could know much about baseball.
“People expect me to say Joe Mauer is cute — and he is cute — but there’s a whole lot more to him than that,” Zaudtke said.
The site covers both the American and National Leagues and offers game summaries, previews and updates on players.
The pair’s site was launched this past winter, averaging between 1,000 and 2,000 hits a day. Zaudtke says they make about $3 a month off their labor of love.
Zaudtke moved to Winona from Rochester about seven years ago. Her husband, Jason, works two jobs so she can stay at home with Nora and five-year-old Sophie.
Sophie is already a baseball fan and pretty good player, and has tallied six homeruns so far this year.
“Look at that big ball field,” was Sophie’s reaction when mom took her to see the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome when she was 2.
Her favorite player?
“Johan Santana,” Sophie says without hesitation.
Zaudtke likes to post
at least once every day,
sometimes doing so before the kids wake up. She didn’t get to go to a game last year but hopes to this summer now that the kids are a little older.
Baseball has been accused of being too slow and boring but Zaudtke strongly disagrees.
“The pitchers are my favorite part. They really have to do their homework,” Zaudtke said. “There’s a lot more to it than people realize.”
Zaudtke would love to be a baseball analyst someday, but for now she feels lucky to spend time at home with her kids while sharing her opinions with whomever logs on to the Web site.
She predicts a Twins and Braves match up for this year’s World Series, although that’s who she always picks.
“That’s who I always pick, although one of these years they might come through,” Zaudtke said.
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
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