Author: paulaonpoint

This piece is one of six usher profiles I wrote that were published by Major League Baseball on the San Francisco Giants website in 2004. They originally appeared in my Guest Services paper newsletter, ‘The Home Plate.’ To read the piece online, click here.

During homestands throughout baseball season, Alex Shuey can be found supervising his crew of ushers on the third-base side of the View Level at SBC Park. To say he’s been a fixture there would be an understatement — since beginning work at the ballpark when it opened, he’s missed exactly one game. Total.

Shuey was promoted to supervisor in May 2000. He showed up to work one day and couldn’t find his name on the location sheet. A Muni accident had shut down N-train service that day, and as he said, “I was freaked out because I was 10 minutes late.” Thinking he was not staffed due to this, he approached then-Guest Services manager Julie Radford to plead his case, and she let him know the reason was because he was now the supervisor. “It was baptism by fire,” Shuey said of his immersion into the job.

Continue reading “Usher Really Digs His Work”

This piece is one of six usher profiles I wrote that were published by Major League Baseball on the San Francisco Giants website in 2004. They originally appeared in my Guest Services paper newsletter, ‘The Home Plate.’ To read the piece online, click here.

For Margaret Cahill, growing up as the middle child of five in Endicott, N.Y., in the 1950’s had its advantages and disadvantages — such as lots of other kids around, plenty of physical activity, early exposure to the joys of watching pro baseball … and an early introduction to the limits of her gender.

“I could throw the football farther than any of my brother’s friends,” she says of her abilities at age 12. But it was the ’50s, and because she was a girl, she wasn’t allowed to play the game. So, she sat on the curb and watched the boys play. Then there was the tree house, which she helped build, only to see a sign added that said “NO GIRLS ALLOWED.”

“I was brokenhearted; I remember my uncle took me out for a hot fudge sundae,” she recalls.

Continue reading “Well-Traveled Usher Loves New Job”

This piece is one of six usher profiles I wrote that were published by Major League Baseball on the San Francisco Giants website in 2004. They originally appeared in my Guest Services paper newsletter, ‘The Home Plate.’ To read the piece online, click here.

As models of consistency go, Bob Polacchi is a terrific example of one.

For 28 years, until May 1, 2001, he worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Eli Lilly & Co. After taking an early retirement, he brought his brand of creative communication to the Giants, where he was rewarded as the winner of last season’s departmental “Very Important Employee” award for Guest Services. That explains his work-related nicknames: “I was ‘Prozac Bob,’ but now I’m ‘Baseball Bob’ to my neighbors,” he says with a laugh.

Continue reading “Usher Helps Ferry Fans to Game”