Q&A: Spencer Ward

 

He plays. He coaches. And, he sells tickets. Towering at 6’5”, 205lbs, Spencer Ward makes for an intimidating figure whenever he takes the mound this spring for the Browning Panthers. Not only does Spencer have a bright baseball future ahead of him he has already made a mark in the business of sports as an indie ticket broker. But the power-throwing righthander knows how to give back. Just ask the little leaguers he’s coaching. Atta’ boy Spencer!

 

What kind of season do you expect to have, any big rivals?

Well last year we lost in the semifinals to Loyola. York and Columbia Prep are our toughest rivals. Columbia won in the finals last year, so they’re a tough team to play. When we face Columbia, we have to play our best ball to win.

You are attending Trinity College in Hartford next year. are you excited to play at the next level?

Trinity won the Division III national championship last year, so they have a pretty good program. I think the competition will be solid. I’m looking forward to it.

What’s the best way to break in a new glove?

The best way to break in a new glove? (Grins) Well, I used to always put it under my mattress, but I’ve since stopped doing that. Now I just break it in naturally by using it.

Wood bats or metal bats?

(Without hesitation) Definitely wood bats. First of all as a pitcher you always like them for the obvious reasons. But even as a hitter, when you hit the ball on wood crisply, it just feels so much better than on metal.

Do you have any gametime superstitions?

Yes, but I’m not one of those people that says, you know, if I don’t take my four steps to the mound then that’s why I lost. One habit I have is that before every inning, I’ll turn around and face the outfield and sorta collect my thoughts and get ready for the inning.

Is it true that you already have your own ticket brokerage BUSINESS?

It was started by my brother and now it’s sorta run by the both of us. Basically we just buy up season tickets for teams and then sell them on an individual basis. The way it started was during the 2003 World Series against the Marlins, and the tickets were going for way too much money. My brother and I really wanted to go to the game, and my dad wouldn’t get us tickets. So we took all our savings and we bought four tickets and then resold those tickets for more money. And then with the extra money we got, we bought two tickets for ourselves. So we got to go to the World Series after all!

What lessons from sports might you be able to apply to your business?

The level of work that it takes to really thrive at what you do.

Most days I wake up at 5:30am to go to the gym, and its that sort of work that’s required if you really want to be great at what you do. Without baseball it would have taken me longer to learn that lesson.

How does playing a team sport help you succeed in other areas of your life?

In basketball, when you’re down by two with less than a minute left, or in baseball you’re in the bottom of the 9th and you’re down 1, you really learn what people are made of. It’s not so much whether they get the hit or not, but whether they’re aggressive, or if they attack the situation or they let the situation come to them.

You also coach little league. How’s that going?

I just coached my first game. I coach 10-year-olds. It’s that first level where they pitch to each other. That was my favorite time as a kid. I’m coaching now with my brother and dad. We always played little league and he always coached us. Now we’re just doing it together.

I also want to coach higher levels. At some point I won’t be able to play anymore, but I don’t want to lose that competitiveness that you can only find in sports.

What’s your one tip for little league pitchers?

Just throw strikes. Ignore the batter and just throw your game. Cause at the end of the day, you’re the one with the ball and you’re in charge, and that only changes if you give it up.

What does baseball offer you that nothing else can?

It’s a very simple and primal game. Its one of the few things in life where in a span of two hours you can really discover something or really accomplish something. I look at it this way: In the classroom, you develop over the course of the semester and it’s about how you do throughout the year. In a baseball game, its how you perform on this pitch, can you hit this pitch for a home run.