When Royals pitcher Alec Marsh proposed to his longtime girlfriend Makenna Harper in mid-November 2023, the push was on. To not get married, however to set a date.
Harper met Marsh at Arizona State College, the place she performed softball and he was on the baseball crew. She knew what all baseball important others know: There are solely two months for a baseball marriage ceremony, November and December. Securing a date — not only for potential venues, however to work round different engaged baseball {couples} — is almost its personal sport.
By the point they began wanting, November 2024 was already crammed up. Harper jumped when their venue in San Diego County was accessible on Dec. 7. Then Marsh’s teammate Bobby Witt Jr. popped the query to his girlfriend, Maggie Black, and the pair initially booked the identical date for his or her pending nuptials.
“You might be combating for (marriage ceremony) days,” stated Harper. “It’s virtually such as you get engaged and must announce to the baseball world instantly what day you’re getting married.”
In line with the marriage web site The Knot, which surveyed almost 10,000 {couples} final 12 months, solely 11 p.c of weddings passed off between December and February. The autumn is hottest, with 42 p.c of weddings touchdown between September and November. Baseball weddings function on a unique cycle, as gamers sometimes get engaged in a single offseason and hurry to plan a marriage for the following.
“The vacations kind of take a backseat. Our offseason revolves round: What weddings are we going to and when is Alec coaching?” Harper stated.
Black and Harper, who had develop into mates whereas in Kansas Metropolis, shortly realized the conundrum. They wished to attend one another’s weddings and never drive teammates to resolve between the 2. They have been lucky: Black was in a position to get her venue the next weekend, Dec. 14. Harper and Marsh postponed their honeymoon till the day after the Witts have been scheduled to tie the knot to allow them to attend. (It’ll have been the third marriage ceremony in a four-week span for a lot of Royals gamers, who attended Michael Massey and Jane DeJarld’s Mexico marriage ceremony on Nov. 23.)
A couple of gamers do get married in January, although everybody The Athletic spoke to stated it may be much more hectic as soon as the calendar flips: Pitchers are ramping up their throwing progressions, and place gamers are sometimes locked into their exercises. It’s not unusual for gamers to trickle into their respective spring coaching complexes later that month.
Climate and journey can be a headache, making the choice for many baseball {couples} to say “I do” in November or the primary half of December after proposing earlier than spring coaching the 12 months earlier than.
“Final 12 months we have been the final folks to get engaged,” stated Karra McKinstry, whose husband, Zach, popped the query in early February and is a part of a Detroit Tigers crew that had seven engagements final offseason. “You appeared on Instagram and daily it was, ‘OK, who’s subsequent?’”
When Justin Verlander was planning his marriage ceremony to mannequin Kate Upton after the 2016 season, the pair fell in love with a medieval church in Tuscany, Italy. Verlander was a member of the rebuilding Tigers on the time. The playoffs have been a pipe dream. Their date, Nov. 4, 2017, appeared protected.
“We determined just one factor might screw up our plans: Recreation 7 of the World Collection,” Verlander, who was traded to the Houston Astros midseason, stated on the time. “Positive sufficient we discover ourselves in Recreation 7 of the World Collection.”
The Astros prevailed, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers. Verlander missed the following championship parade to hop on a flight. He and Upton have been beat to their very own marriage ceremony week festivities by their friends, some who FaceTimed them to tease: This venue is lovely, if solely you have been right here to see it!
Justin Verlander and Kate Upton had time for a couple of selfies after the Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Recreation 7 to win the 2017 World Collection, then they have been off to Tuscany for his or her marriage ceremony a couple of days later. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Photographs)
Not everyone seems to be as prepared as Verlander to roll the cube.
Pitcher Sean Manaea, who bought engaged to Talat Mirmalek on New 12 months’s Eve, made it clear the primary weekend in November was off limits. And it was factor, as Manaea’s New York Mets shocked fairly a couple of folks in clinching a playoff spot in Recreation 161 and went on to beat the Brewers within the wild card and the Phillies within the Division Collection. The Mets ended up dropping to the eventual champions, the Dodgers, within the NL Championship Collection. However had the Dodgers and Yankees gone to a Recreation 7 on this 12 months’s World Collection, it could have been on Saturday, Nov. 2.
“That first weekend (in November) was out. Sean stated it could be the most important jinx,” stated Mirmalek, who as a substitute booked a Nov. 16 marriage ceremony in Indianapolis. The stress for Mirmalek because the Mets bought deeper into October wasn’t a lot the marriage particulars. The pair used a marriage planner for the 200-person affair — at a venue they didn’t have time to see in individual — and plenty of Mets wives, having been via the identical calendar, have been keen to supply Mirmalek recommendation on planning a marriage within the postseason.
The pre-wedding jitters got here from what the couple determined in early October: If the Mets gained the World Collection, they might invite not simply the entire crew, however the whole group.
“That was actually disturbing, serious about methods to seat everybody. Like, would you want to come back to our marriage ceremony and simply stand?” Mirmalek joked. “It was a terrific run, however, yeah, I’m glad we didn’t have to fret about that.”
When Jodi Fick Rizzo began planning her 2019 marriage ceremony to Nationals common supervisor Mike Rizzo, the crew was on its strategy to a 19-31 begin. The World Collection was not prime of thoughts. Rizzo, a baseball lifer, had lengthy refused to even RSVP to November weddings within the first two weeks of the month. He thought it was dangerous juju.
Because the Nationals shocked the baseball world, Jodi carried round a binder that complete October, working via RSVP lists and menu choices on the crew airplane. She was in a position to attend her bachelorette celebration as a result of the Nationals swept the Cardinals within the NL Championship Collection, granting them a uncommon few days off for a visit to Las Vegas.
The Rizzos finally wed on Nov. 16, 2019 in Jamaica. The date left simply sufficient time for the Nationals to beat the Astros in Recreation 7 in Houston, march in a ticker-tape parade and attend a White Home celebration earlier than the pair flew off for a marriage wherein “We’re the Champions” turned a part of the occasion playlist.
“You have got such a small window to get married,” Jodi stated. “Particularly as a GM, Mike has the GM conferences and the Winter Conferences, too. I’m glad we did it that first offseason after we bought engaged. It was hectic, but it surely was the best of highs.”
And maybe the hangover of all hangovers. As Mike instructed reporters in early December that 12 months: “I’ve been drunk for a month.”
Mike and Jodi Rizzo have been in a position to squeeze in a Jamaica marriage ceremony in November. (Michael Saab Images)
Being a visitor could be simply as hectic throughout baseball’s marriage ceremony season, because it’s commonplace to be double- or triple-booked on weekends in November and December, prompting robust decisions or plenty of journey.
Sean Murphy attended Manaea’s welcome celebration — the pair performed collectively in Oakland — after which flew to Atlanta the following day to observe his present Braves teammate Michael Harris get married. That approach, he could possibly be there for each gamers, who bought hitched on the identical day.
Mirmalek stated their marriage ceremony had gamers from the A’s, Padres and Mets, in addition to Manaea’s school baseball mates, with Francisco Lindor’s eldest daughter, Kalina, serving as one of many flower women.
Within the Marsh/Harper marriage ceremony, all six of Marsh’s groomsmen are baseball gamers, and 4 are at the moment within the large leagues: Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson, Miami Marlins pitcher and former Royal Anthony Veneziano, Twins pitcher Griffin Jax and fellow Royals pitcher Jonathan Bowlan.
Torkelson was a part of the wave of Tigers gamers who bought engaged within the final offseason, proposing to his girlfriend Makenna Mattei in January. The pair weren’t in a position to make the tight turnaround work and are as a substitute planning for 2026.
Even with the most effective planning and coordination, conflicts are generally unavoidable. Brewers teammates Tobias Meyers and Bryan Hudson each bought married on Dec. 14. When Meyers proposed to his fiancee, Leah Angelillo, final November, he was nonetheless within the minor leagues. Hudson and his fiancee, Kailin Haug, who have been engaged on Dec. 28, 2023, picked the 14th as a result of it’s Haug’s favourite quantity and it match baseball’s slim scheduling parameters. Neither knew of the opposite’s plans till nicely into the season. There have been no exhausting emotions.
The Angelillo/Meyers marriage ceremony, which was in Boca Raton, invited solely teammates within the Florida space already: Devin Williams (who was traded to the Yankees on Friday), Joe Ross and bullpen catcher Christian Correa. The Hudson/Haug marriage ceremony was a family-focused occasion in Missouri.
“Each time I refresh my feed, somebody has gotten engaged or married,” Angelillo stated, laughing. “I suppose we are going to all be celebrating the identical anniversaries.”
Eloping is turning into extra of an choice, one thing veteran baseball wives usually confess would have been rather a lot simpler.
That’s the route the McKinstrys went, as Karra and Zach went to the courthouse in Detroit over the All-Star break and bought married with simply his mother and father current. They determined to have a celebration to have a good time on Dec. 7 with round 60 folks in Arizona.
The occasion was deliberate to be low-key, Karra stated, however was nonetheless a substantial quantity of stress. By the point they bought engaged in February and began taking a look at dates, there have been simply two left in December for his or her venue. A type of dates was very near Christmas. The McKinstrys selected the opposite, which unsurprisingly was on the identical day as the marriage of one other Tiger: Dillon Dingler.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photographs: Michael Saab Images; Chelsey Barhorst Images; courtesy Karra McKinstry)
