Rhonda caught Ginny right after the pitcher's morning workout at the stadium training room. Rhonda handed her an envelope; "Since you're here, I thought this would be easier than mailing it to you."

"What is this?"

"It's your invitation to Spring Training. All the usual information is there; schedules, itinerary, hotel info, everything you'll need."

"I don't know what's 'usual'. I've never been invited to Spring Training before."

"Oh, well, if you have any questions you can ask me or Oscar."

"Thanks."

Ginny went to the empty locker room and sat at the card table. It was December 28th, so hardly any players were in town. She opened the envelope and started reading. Excitement flowed through her as she learned about the process. She was so absorbed she didn't notice Mike Lawson enter the room.

"What ya got there, Baker?"

Startled, Ginny looked up; "I didn't even see you there. It's my Spring Training invitation."

"You seemed pretty intent. Is there something new this year?"

"It's all new to me."

Mike thought about past Springs and realized she hadn't been there. He never met her until the day she was called up. "How did you make it the majors without ever going to Spring Training?"

"Two years ago I broke my finger and wasn't cleared to pitch until just before the season. Last year..."

FLASHBACK January 17th, 2016 Tarboro, NC

Amelia rang the bell of the Baker's suburban home. Ginny answered herself. She invited her agent in and they sat in the living room.

"So what's the story? Why haven't I been invited to Spring Training?" Ginny braced herself for whatever bad news was coming.

"Are you familiar with the Rule Five draft?"

"Yeah, it's designed to keep teams from stockpiling too much talent. A player who's not on the 40-man roster after four or five years in the minors can be taken by another team that will put them there."

"Right. You're eligible to be taken this year. The Padres have a surplus of young talent they want to protect. They've decided not to invite you to Spring Training in an effort to dissuade other teams from selecting you, so they can use their roster spots on other players."

"Why me? Why don't they leave someone else home?"

"Two reasons. First, you missed Spring Training last year. That allows them to build a narrative saying they don't believe you're as good as your numbers. Second, because you're a woman a number of teams won't take you no matter how good you are."

"That sucks. What can we do?"

"We're gonna leak this story to the press. Then we're going to start a little PR campaign of our own telling the world how ready you are to pitch in the majors."

"That's no way to treat a ballplayer...or a lady."

"I might not have minded so much if they had told me what was going on. All I knew was I had a great year at El Paso and they were treating me like dirt. The only reason they told me any of it was because Amelia raised a stink. Her publicity strategy forced the Padres to add me to the 40-man roster, but not until after Spring Training was over."

Mike shook his head at the team's short-sightedness. "Listen, I've been going to Spring Training since A-ball. If you need to know anything, just ask me. You gonna fly out?"

"How else would I get there?"

"It's only a six hour drive from San Diego. If you want to ride in a Porsche instead of hassling with the airport, let me know."