Letter: Former Fort Lee Sports Reporter Now Baseball Broadcaster

Editor’s Note: Mike Radomski was the sports editor for Fort Lee Patch from the time we launched in mid-December until just recently, when he moved to Indiana to become the director of media relations and broadcasting for the Evansville Otters, an independent baseball team in the Frontier League.

Radomski, who covered Fort Lee sports for the past six months and also took on the weekly “Whiz Kids” feature and who will be missed, submitted this open letter to his former readers and the student athletes, coaches and others he covered:

For the past five months, I have had the honor to serve as the sports editor for Fort Lee Patch and it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I entered with an uncertain mind, not sure what to expect with a company just beginning, but leaped at the opportunity to do something that no one had ever done before.

Fort Lee never had the sports coverage that it rightfully deserved, and I wanted to be the person to bring that news to the town with our wonderful editor, Erik Wander.

Erik handed me a blank canvas and a unique chance to paint a word picture every day, a challenge that I was more than willing to accept.

In doing so, we created something spectacular from essentially nothing, and the response was magical. Fort Lee Patch went where no other reporting group dared to go before. We were there for everything from championship-winning games, buzzer-beating baskets and breaking news stories on a daily basis.

From bowling to track, basketball to wrestling, and the golf course to the tennis courts, I wanted to be there and thoroughly saw the enjoyment of the Fort Lee faces on a daily basis.

That alone was enough to know that our work was appreciated and motivated me to keep telling more stories, including those of Fort Lee’s “Whiz Kids,” who may be the leaders of tomorrow.

But today, I write this letter about the newest story on my assignment desk. It is a story that takes months to work on and is years in the making, a personal dream of mine.

That everlasting dream is to become a Major League Baseball broadcaster. I have a divine attraction to America’s pastime and have spent the last three summers announcing baseball games for various teams. It is difficult to describe but the feeling of going to work at a baseball park every day is as close to heaven on earth as there may be. 

This part of my journey takes me to the Midwest and the state of Indiana for the summer. There, I will be the Director of Media Relations/Broadcasting for the Evansville Otters, an independent baseball team in the Frontier League.

Unfortunately, that also means that my time at Fort Lee Patch has come to an end. I wish to thank all of the people who made my time in Fort Lee so comforting and special for me. The moments we lived and the stories we told together will live on forever thanks to you. I often said that the teams and the student athletes wrote the stories; I just put the words together for everyone, and I truly meant it.

So don’t look at this as a “Goodbye forever” but rather a “Goodbye for now.” At the end of the baseball season, I may be able to come back to this town and continue where I left off, telling the world about all the best that Fort Lee has to offer. But, until then, thank you for giving this journalist such vivid memories that leave me with a smile knowing that I made a difference.

If you’d like to continue following my progress, I encourage you to view my website at http://www.mikeradomski.com, where I post updates on a daily basis or on twitter @MikeRadomski as I document my newest excursion.

Best wishes and keep on rocking the planet Fort Lee!

-Mike