Southern California’s vast High Desert, which includes Victorville, is great for star gazing. Journalist Kyle Glaser chose one to wish upon.
“It is very, very remote in Victorville and I was working at its small paper,” Glaser said. “There were times when I would be covering high school tennis, it’s 35 degrees and I’m making no money. I’m thinking, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ ”
Chasing a dream, and Glaser, a Torrey Pines High graduate, reached it.
“It’s a cliche,” he said, “but it really did come true.”
Glaser’s career blossomed to him becoming among the lead writers for Baseball America, which is considered the premier publication for the national pastime. He climbed the ladder before landing his gig some five years ago and Glaser hasn’t stopped giggling since.
“It’s amazing, but it is also everything I worked for those long nights,” he said. “I kept striving for it.”
At first, journalism was second as Glaser’s career path was as a broadcaster. He was an XTRA Sports 1360 intern and called Arizona State University hockey club games as a student.
A quick learner, Glaser noted his resumes built around his voice seldom drew interest. His writing, though, was getting noticed.
He returned to his Rancho Santa Fe home after graduation and latched on with the old North County Times as a freelancer. When Eric Breier, an assistant sports editor, decided to place a Glaser story on the section’s cover, it changed his life.
“When he put it as the centerpiece, I couldn’t believe it,” Glaser said. “I remember driving to the 7-Eleven in Carmel Valley to get a copy. I was fresh out of college and I knew what I wanted to do but I didn’t have the confidence yet. Those NCT clips helped me land the job at the Victorville Daily Press.”
Breier, now a public affairs specialist with Cal State San Marcos, saw something in Glaser.
“Kyle was just getting started and it was clear that he was talented,” Breier said. “I was always most impressed by his tireless work ethic and drive to continue growing as a writer and reporter.”
Above all else, Glaser’s love of baseball and noting its nuances were evident. Below the surface, that skill was honed by a rare opportunity at Torrey Pines.
Glaser’s baseball skill set didn’t match his communication attributes and when he got injured as a teenager, playing the game was out.
Matt Chess, the coach then, moved some pieces around. He declared Glaser as the team manager, but what he really did was serve as an advance scout.
“He knew that I knew the game and respected it,” Glaser said. “My senior year I drove around the county and wrote reports about all our opponents.”
That he morphed into a reporter isn’t surprising. That he vaulted from Victorville preps to the press box with a Baseball America credential for the first Cubs World Series game since 1945 is.
“I remember sitting there, just taking it all in,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘Holy smokes, five years earlier I was working to midnight taking high school results.’ That was my ‘I did it’ moment.”
How about the squad he spent his formative years watching? Glaser, along with parents, Jeremy and Nancy, attended some 30 Padres games a season over a decade.
“It’s incredible to see what the Padres have done in the offseason,” he said. “And last year, they were very, very exciting. This is the most entertaining they have been since 1998.”
That was their last World Series visit. Glaser attended Games 3 and 4, and the plucky Padres against the mighty New York Yankees weren’t the only ones with their backs against the wall.
“My mom and I sat up top in the last row at Qualcomm,” Glaser said. “At least we were behind the plate.”
Glaser is always at home around a diamond, and with opening day around the corner, he’s wearing a gem of a grin.
Contact Jay Paris at [email protected]. Follow him @jparis_sports
