ESPN and Jessica Mendoza have reached an agreement on a contract extension.
This will be Mendoza’s 17th year with the company. She will continue as a baseball and softball analyst with key roles including the World Series on ESPN Radio, MLB studio including Get Up, First Take, SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight. Additionally, she will handle responsibilities for the Women’s College World Series Championship, Little League World Series Championship and select MLB television games.
“It’s just so crazy,” Mendoza told Awful Announcing, as she reflected.
“It started with doing college softball while I was playing — gosh, 18 years ago. Crazy to think about. So when I think about this journey, when you’re getting asked, ‘How did you get into this business, What was your path?’ For me, it was being still an Olympic softball player, getting asked to do college softball coverage at ESPN. I remember walking into audition and just being blown away by the campus — and of course, intimidated and super nervous.”
Mendoza remembers the thoughts that filled her head. Wondering if ESPN would hire her. Now, she has a sense of pride to be a part of a company that had, at the time, was doing things that hadn’t been done before.
“It makes me proud, and not just of myself, but honestly, the people around me that hired me and that have continued to say, ‘Yes.'”
Mendoza smiled when she realized it had been almost two decades. She thought about her start going back to college softball. Now, ahead of her — it’ll be her 18th Women’s College World Series.
This crew. Will the #WCWS end tonight? Or do we see a game 3? Tune into @ESPN NOW for the Natty Championship pic.twitter.com/mo9W3ldLCB
— Jessica Mendoza (@jessmendoza) June 8, 2023
“It blows my mind,” she said. “I remember, you know — 2008, we were training for the Olympics and I ran up to the booth …”
Mendoza earned gold and silver medals during her Olympic runs in 2004 and 2008. Her prestigious softball career earned her an induction in 2019 to the National Softball Hall of Fame. Prior to that, she was a standout athlete at Stanford University where she was a four-time All-American outfielder, leading the team to its first ever Women’s College World Series appearance.
As time has passed her accolades added one more job to the resume: Mom.
It’s a family affair these days.
“I bring my kids all the time and they’ve been raised through the family at ESPN, especially in those beginning days because I traveled with them everywhere,” she said. “When I look back on 17 years, it’s not just within the company, it’s within what’s happened in my life that’s coincided with my work at ESPN.”
Another LLWS in the books! Two weeks of laughs, hill slides, dance offs & dingers. Oh ya and some baseball too. Congrats to Cali for winning it all, Stella Weaver for making history, 1st time Cuba, & Curacao reminding us all the magic in belief. Until next year ⚾️✌🏽 pic.twitter.com/7OKymadjuz
— Jessica Mendoza (@jessmendoza) August 28, 2023
The full-circle moments continue with Mendoza as she gets to cover the Mexico City Series for ESPN as part of the 2024 MLB World Tour. The Colorado Rockies and the Houston Astros will face off for a two-game series at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium on April 27-28.
Mendoza spent a lot of time during her childhood in Mexico. Covering a sport in a city that loves the game so much means a great deal to her.
“Even though baseball has been played in Mexico City quite a bit, we’re on the verge of figuring out what are the next expansion teams and where there are two more teams, where are they going to be? Is Mexico City in that conversation?”
Mendoza continued, and made a comment during her reflection on her career and time in the sport that “everything comes back to women.”
She couldn’t be more correct — or a more perfect person to make that statement.
Mendoza was part of the front line of women who started the journey of women in baseball media. She said it’s come a long way.
She became the first women to call MLB on television in 2015 and the first woman to call a nationally televised MLB postseason game during the American League Wild Card matchup that same year.
“I would say, it [felt more isolating] in the beginning because you felt more isolated and now there’s so many women in the business, and honestly, so many men that support women in the business,” she said. “I felt like there weren’t very many. I met with so many different companies and organizations back then. They said, ‘If you want to be in the booth, this isn’t the company for you.'”
Mendoza said there were a lot of “nos” at the beginning.
“If I could do this job well, I knew that this would open for so many more women, and not just in an analyst role in a booth,” she said. “But for everyone.”
“I think as we break the mold of what baseball is, yes past — but also future, and we educate and continue to just have successes, I think the more times that we have women taking the field, announcing, just hearing, seeing women, then it doesn’t become ‘There’s a woman,’ it’s just — this game is so great, and great people are involved.”
