- Samantha Corcoran

A True Boston Journalist

       How would you feel if you graduated from college with an English degree, but didn’t know what you wanted to do with it? That’s what happened to Colleen Reilly when she graduated from Skidmore College in New York. When Colleen finished college she moved to Qufu, China for a year to teach English. She went to China because she thought just after college was a great time in her life to explore the world and to learn in a different environment. Colleen knew that she would only spend a year in China, however, and didn’t have any ideas what she would do after. She returned from China to Boston, her hometown, to get involved with the community, but she was really taking her time to get job interviews. Colleen’s love of baseball drew her to the Red Sox. Colleen says, “I really wanted to sell hotdogs at Fenway Park.”
       While Colleen was trying to get her job at Fenway Park, she learned of a new job opportunity. The new ownership of the Boston Red Sox was looking for a group of people who they would call the “Fenway Ambassadors” and they would serve as the goodwill embassies for the ballpark. After interviewing and working for several months, Colleen got that job and has moved up to be a co-host/co-writer/co-producer for Boston’s local television show “Red Sox Stories” and work with public affairs.
       “Red Sox Stories” is a show about the stories behind baseball, around Boston and around the world. “I love my job. I can’t believe I am how blessed I am to be in Fairbanks, Alaska for the Solstice Festival. I think of how wonderful it is to wake up and love what I do,” says Reilly. “I didn’t know I was coming here a week ago. How cool is that? [The Red Sox] set an adventure of a lifetime on my plate,” says Reilly.
       Colleen hasn’t traveled much out of New England. Alaska is the farthest she has gone has gone, but she has also gone to the Dominican Republic cover a story about children building a baseball diamond. Peace Corps workers have sent in stories and pictures about teaching kids to play baseball around the world. She has also covered a story where a 13-year-old boy ran away from his home in Nova Scotia to Fenway Park in Boston to see a Red Sox game. When he got there they didn’t have a game scheduled for that day, but the owner of the park was there so he let him come to a game and now every year since then the owner of Fenway Park has brought the boy and his family back.
       “If you look around here and are a baseball fan, you witness the connection people have. There are families and generations of families. There are folks here tonight who have brought their sons, grandsons, daughters and that’s as important, if not more important, as what’s happening on the field,” Colleen said. Colleen thought when she took the position that it was wonderful that there would be a frontline of people to take care of the fans and show gratitude for people who have stuck by the team.
       Colleen said, “Every person here has a story. Fenway Park has 36,000 people, which means we have 36,000 stories. We just try to learn them one by one.”