beginning paragraph here describing a scene with main character, Chenay "Rush" Rushmore, working very late in her office on initial draft research. her partner Gina enters the office and reminds her that she wants her home and ready to take the next day off for their anniversary. Rush pulls her down to the empty chair beside her and starts showing her some of her stats and names. this is a ritual for them every year - Gina will let Rush bounce draft thoughts off her and Rush will stay out of the office on their anniversary, though she rarely gets off her blackberry.
The game was in her blood. Thirty years as a general manager, the first woman in the role, the youngest anyone to be named to it (though in fairness, Epstein at his installation had only two months on her at hers). Her half brother had been a scout, took her on trips when she was in high school, dreamed with her of a day she'd make as much as Felix Hernandez just for throwing a ball. She'd had the velo of your average sinkerballer, the control of Buehrle. She was scouted by top baseball colleges who thought she'd put their softball teams on the map, but they didn't like that she wasn't interested in soft pitch. Varitek, then coaching Georgia Tech softball, personally called her and talked her into signing up with them, swearing he'd get her a bullpen session with the baseball coaches.
She lost her dream quickly when she was assaulted by a male pitcher at a team party, for being an "uppity bitch" encroaching on their territory, and the tryout never happened. She kept pitching to keep her scholarship, but her excitement was rekindled only by her economics courses, which she eventually took as her major.
She was a first generation college student, her grades decent in high school, but her SAT scores would never have gotten her accepted at GT if she didn't have the athletic skills. Her great-uncle was the moderately successful major leaguer Randy Winn, and several cousins had been in scouting or coaching after falling out at the minors. They were a sports family and nobody expected brains of her, much less demanded them.
When she finished her third semester with a 4.0 after barely scraping a 3.0 her first year, heads turned. She struggled mightily to keep the grades in the spring among her demanding softball schedule, but despite her papers always coming first, she still led them to the college world series that second year. With softball, she realized she had to choose between a personal life and grades, and opted for the latter, instead enjoying the occasional one night stand with opposing players while on the road. She was driven by her first taste of intellectual success, seduced by the notion of making money with her mind instead of her athletic prowess - something she'd never considered possible before.
Of course, she'd always known that going pro was going to be a stretch, but it had never even occurred to her that she might have other avenues to wealth. But at college, new possiblities opened. Maybe the WNBA "stars" were content to live the life of an athlete while being paid like a corporate secretary, but it wouldn't be the life for her. After graduating with honors, she returned to her family in Philadelphia, but spurned her roots by doing so to attend Wharton. Here, finally relinquishing the life of a full time athlete, she permitted herself to date, network, and plan her career. She was sure she'd going into investing, the market capturing her like nothing before had.
Baseball was a fading pastime. She joined her brother still when he came to town to scout for the Twins, and her father brought her to plenty of Phillies games. But she'd gotten a taste of how huge the world was beyond sports and the promise filled her with excitement. When she picked up a cute comedian who'd made some sharp baseball jokes at her favorite dyke bar's open mic night, she thought nothing of what it was that had brought them together.
