Women of the Diamond: Betsy Helfand

[Sherry Cerny]

Baseball is in her blood. From a young gal who grew up watching the White Sox with her dad who is a 41-year-season-ticket-holder,  Betsy Helfand got the baseball bug at a young age.

Betsy Helfand grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and, like most kids, would go to the field with her dad to watch her hometown team. She grew up cheering for the 2021 American League Central Division Champions, but she is one of the best Minnesota Twins beat reporters. 

As a female who loves baseball myself and writing about baseball, Betsy was one of the first people I followed, and she should be one of yours. She is well versed in the sport, has outstanding skill in writing about it, and brings content to Twitter that all Twins fans should see. 

Betsy left the Windy City to come up to the Minnesota Tundra to attend college at the University of Minnesota. She jumped in both feet into her future of journalism while there, starting immediately with The Minnesota Daily (a 501(c)(3) student-led media organization), providing in-depth coverage of the University's sports teams. She attended various sporting events and games. Betsy worked hard to develop relationships with coaches and players, giving them an element of trust. Trust is huge in the journalist community. Relationships and networking rely on it. Because of her hard work, eventually, Betsy oversaw a team of writers, giving her time to focus on editing and broaden her journalistic knowledge by working with the media teams to create content for the website.

Before graduation, she interned with the Pioneer Press as a freelance writer through practicum courses offered at the U. There; she wrote stories on tight deadlines in high school and college sports: getting them written, edited, and up for online content. There was no sport that she didn’t cover or a job that she turned down. Because she was able to cover so many sports and focused more on her writing and content than the team she was covering, it’s easier for her to have neutral feelings about which teams win or lose. She can be objective and bring the story that gives readers the facts, which readers genuinely appreciate. 

The time, effort, and work Betsy put in throughout college paid off. After graduation in 2015, she landed her first job. She started her career with Major League Baseball (MLB.com), covering the Twins. Because she was working for Major League Baseball, she also covered other teams such as the Brewers, Cardinals, and Red Sox, when she wasn’t covering the Twins. Her assignment was to create content for MLB and MLB At-Bat, previews, game time stories, and news for every Twins game at home. 

Betsy moved around in the sports journalism world, covering different sports, writing other columns, and even lived in Las Vegas (a KFAN listener favorite) covering the 51's, the Triple-A team for the Mets. As fate would have it, in 2018, she wound up back in Minnesota after a job with the Pioneer Press (where she interned) opened up as the lead reporter for the Twins organization. 

Betsy's days include a ton of prep work and travel to cover our favorite team. Betsy only missed a handful of the 162 games that the Twins play. 

Betsy grew up loving baseball, so while it’s her job, she never feels like she is “working.” She truly enjoys watching the game and has a passion for the sport. She doesn’t take the chance to sit down and talk with players for granted. It is one of the highlights of her job. She enjoys the one-on-one time she gets with players and a chance to see things from a different perspective than that of the regular fan. 

Her vantage point from the press box is pretty cool too.

Covid changed all that, though. When the pandemic hit, the in-person interviews changed to zoom interviews, quick, short one-on-ones that made it hard to get a good idea of how the players were feeling because they were being rushed or moved onto the next journalist. If there was a specific question for a player, she would not get to ask her questions because not every player got to come to the "zoom room." 

2020 was hard for many reasons, but for journalists, everyone was getting the same quotes, story, and feed for every game. Zoom had its advantages; it was quicker so that journalists could wrap up and edit for print, but it was tough to stick out as an individual when you're telling the same story as everyone else. 

When the pandemic turned a corner, and 2021 had a regular baseball season, she got the chance to be down on the field every now and then with the players, which she really enjoyed. She got a chance to walk around while players were working out or hanging out by the dugout to ask questions. She also had more access to players and with interpreters Kenta Maeda and Elvis Martinez assisting Spanish-speaking players. She could get back to in-depth questions and share banter with the players. 

When Betsy arrived early, she enjoyed things like Nelson Cruz taking ground balls at first and second base, which she said was a little bit of a shock, but fun to see! Nelson Cruz was always doing something to practice, improve, or help others. He also was great with journalists. 

Baseball is a business. Betsy understands that. But when Nelson Cruz got traded, even she felt that one. Her goal is always "Short games and good stories." The reality is that we all get attached to players as we continue to grow in our craft, and Nelson was always a favorite. He loved talking to the press. He was always friendly, outgoing, and willing to share anything he could to help someone get a story. So when he left, along with fans, journalists were also saddened. "Nelson was the exception to the rule [of baseball]." 

Not all stories that we write are fun or have happy endings, but being a journalist for a sport like baseball means there are a lot of great moments that are covered that tug at the heartstrings in a good way. Getting to cover Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat going to the Hall of Fame was a story she enjoyed covering. In the midst of the pandemic, a lock-out and nothing going on, Tony Oliva was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, giving Minnesota baseball fans a morale boost. Her article is one of my favorites. 

When I asked her about her articles, I asked if she received any harsh criticism from fans. "Luckily," She said, "I don't get much negativity." When people care about the team, they read what you write. Writing about baseball is not always easy because not everyone understands the new stats and numbers. She likes to be a part of the human story and cover the technicalities. One thing that she is very proud of is her balance in writing. It's essential to be mindful of the audience. Everyone is coming from a different knowledge base, and she does a fantastic job of not alienating the younger crowd or not giving the older fans what they want to know. In this article, Betsy talks about the breakdown between left and right field, and it's enough information for the avid fan and written understandably enough for the average or new fan. 

Betsy stays busy during the lockdown and the offseason. Just because baseball has shut down doesn’t mean that content for her has. Betsy has been spending time covering the Olympics and recently finished an article on the U.S. Men’s hockey team that is in hopes of winning gold. 

Off the cuff in the conversation, Betsy brought up that she feels blessed to be where she is in her career. She has a lot of female support in her growth and credits Audra Martin and Marney Gellner as outstanding mentors. She has enjoyed the relationship genuinely with them, and Audra even helped Betsy fix a bruise in Cleveland after Betsy had an unfortunate accident. 

Betsy is one of the best baseball writers in Minnesota. She is also down-to-earth, kind, and quick-witted. If you are new to baseball or have even been around for a bit, it would do you well to get to know her and read her content. 
 

You can follow her articles at: Twincities.com and on Twitter: @betsyhelfand

 

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