A biography for Jessica Mendozahasn’t been written yet.
“I played baseball when I was younger, but the idea of the college scholarship enticed me to switch over to softball.”
“I'd had colleagues tell me, 'You should be calling games.' But to actually have a producer call me and say, 'We want you in the booth,' I was like, What?”
“I think this is a sport where we can really challenge all of ourselves as baseball fans, as baseball players, even the casual viewers. It's just good to think, What can we do that hasn't been done?”
“I'm hard on myself, like, 'Oh, why did you say that?' But it helps me grow.”
“I'm a jock.”
“If you're good at what you do, it's going to quiet the people that think you're not good because of how you look or what sex you are.”
“I want to be a voice for women, but I've also got two boys at home and my role is important for them, too. Men need to hear a woman who is prepared and understanding.”
“The beauty of a game like softball is you're failing every day. You might have a .300 batting average, but you're still failing seven out of 10 times. But you're still good.”
“Well, my mom actually taught me how to fish. We used to go when I was little, like 5 or 6 years old.”
“In a perfect world, if I can get conversations done at a batting cage, there's exactly the place I want to be.”
“My older son, when things were at the peak of attention, comes up to me and says: 'Mom, I know people are saying you're doing stuff that's cool. But I listened, and all you did was talk. It was pretty boring.' Thanks for that.”
“For Jennie Finch, she's a stud on the field and everyone's going to love her while she's playing, but no one is going to forget her because of the person that she is. That is what she has over almost any other person that's at the top of their sport.”
“I've always felt that the more prepared I am, the more confident I would be within the telecast.”
“In broadcasting, especially 'cause people are more public, it's hard to be like 'so what are you making?' Finding that information is huge when you're negotiating a contract. You wanna make sure that you're in the same ballpark.”
“If people criticize me because they don't like how I break down one of Giancarlo Stanton's at-bats, OK. If they criticize me because I'm a woman, that's not OK.”
“I try to challenge myself, each week, to do something that is a little different or something maybe a little more exciting or personalized.”
“It's important to be a positive female role model in a world with a lot of Kardashians.”
“I found that I can never know enough, and that many times the best form of education is through communication.”
“I like it when my heart's pounding and I'm sweating and I'm nervous.”