Dave Sanders for The New York Times
Haley Smilow, 12, interviews professional baseball players for a variety of news and sports outlets.
Fans of Major League Baseball (or MLB) are now wrapped up in the excitement of the MLB postseason tournament.
One of those passionate fans is 12-year old Haley Smilow. She loves the Yankees, and she aspires to visit all 30 MLB stadiums. So far, she and her family have already traveled to 22.
However, the seventh-grader is not only visiting stadiums as a fan, she is also a sports reporter who has landed interviews with over 20 Major League Baseball Players. Haley had her first interview in 2011 with Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson. According to a recent article on Haley in The New York Times, Haley waited for her first interview “for 90 minutes in sweltering heat in the Yankees dugout. . . “She was a natural,” her father said, “and after Granderson, she just caught the bug and she realized a child could be a journalist.” Haley and her parents say that the process of researching, writing, and editing her interviews has also helped her with her dyslexia.
Haley is part of the Sports Illustrated Kids Reporter Class of 2013 and she also writes for MLblogs, MLB Reports, and Baseball Youth Magazine, among other outlets.
In an interview this month with Only A Game, Haley advised aspiring sports journalists, “Stay confident in yourself. Think about what you can do and don’t give up and say ‘I quit’ or ‘this is too hard.’ I know it’s a lot of extra work but it does pay off and it is a fun thing to do.”
You can see videos of some Haley’s interview with the Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Bourn on Major League Baseball’s website here.
-Emily Holm
Junior Girl
Girl Museum Inc.
Thank you Emily Holm for researching my daughter and finding the article in the New York Times and sharing it with the world. We are always happy when people want to support young journalist and to share with other young journalist that have the same passion as Haley.
Also THANK YOU to Girl Museum for having such a great platform for women journalist.
Mark, thank you so much for your kind feedback, and for setting a great example as a father that clearly nurtures and encourages his daughter’s ambitions and talents. It was a pleasure to read Haley’s story and to share it.