The passion that Nova Newcomer speaks with when describing her love for baseball goes well beyond the box score. For the Mariners¡¯ director of community relations, her ultimate ambition is to quite literally put the game in as many hands as possible.
Hired ahead of the 2022 season to also direct the Mariners¡¯ Care Foundation, Newcomer has bridged her acumen in the social impact realm with a focus on strategic partnerships for equitable access, leveraging the Mariners¡¯ high-profile brand to enhance the club¡¯s efforts to make baseball and softball more accessible for children in the Pacific Northwest, especially those in underserved communities.
In adding Newcomer to the organization, Seattle knew she was possibly the most well-equipped candidate to spearhead these initiatives. After all, she¡¯s a direct product of comparable community-funded organizations. As part of Women's History Month this March, MLB.com is recognizing figures that have made a significant impact on the game.
¡°Just from my experience, working with kids who have these barriers to access, any sort of disconnection from sports can mean that they don't sign back up again,¡± Newcomer said. ¡°And so it's just kind of, for me, it was just like a lifeline at a really difficult time.¡±
While growing up in the Portland, Ore., area, Newcomer was moved into foster care in sixth grade after her older half-sister went to court to remove Newcomer and her siblings from her mother¡¯s care due to being in and out of incarceration related to her substance use disorder. During this time, Newcomer was playing in Little League, and her father, Michael, who had weekend custody, would regularly take her to Civic Stadium to see the Portland Beavers, a Minor League team with a rich history in the Pacific Coast League.
Thankfully, Newcomer was placed into the care of a non-blood relative who also took in her siblings. The ¡°tumultuous time,¡± as Newcomer described it, had very few silver linings -- chief among them was that she was able to still live with her siblings, which she said is uncommon for children from larger families placed into foster care. And because of the geographical proximity to her new home, she was also able to remain with her softball team.
¡°We were lucky,¡± Newcomer said. ¡°Softball was the first place I felt like a leader. ... It was a place that was a necessary community connection for me growing up.¡±
Newcomer¡¯s family couldn¡¯t afford league fees or equipment, yet she remained on the field every year through high school thanks to scholarships and other fundraisers through the community or league board. She played catcher, the position that in many fulfilling ways parallels her life journey -- the player who goes through more rigors than any on the diamond, who is typically more in-tune with game strategy and who carries more leadership traits.
¡°Even in a chaotic environment that's probably why it appealed to me, because I knew it was something that I could figure out,¡± Newcomer said. ¡°I knew what I needed to do and what was being asked of me. But I feel like it was the community connection more than anything. Literally, I still know people from Little League that I played with.¡±
These were the roots that planted Newcomer on her path to the Mariners, and as they sprouted in all directions, her love for the game has always been at the forefront.
Newcomer traded her bleacher seats watching the Beavers for her first job, working the souvenir stand at Civic Stadium beginning in 1993. It was a gig that she applied to with a r¨¦sum¨¦ at age 15, and one that, to this day, she says has earned her every subsequent job she¡¯s secured -- including a 1996 stint with the Portland Rockies, a Class-A Short Season affiliate, as an intern for their daily radio show.
Years after graduating from Portland State University with a degree in political science, and in conjunction with her disappointment in the Beavers leaving for good in 2010, Newcomer discovered a nonprofit, Friends of Baseball, and joined its board. She¡¯d been doing communication consulting for most of her adult career, but she left it behind soon after to become the organization¡¯s full-time executive director, a post she held until joining the Mariners.
Newcomer arrived at a time when the Mariners were undergoing significant community changes, shifting their focus to equal access to baseball and softball, racial equity, social justice and more. It was her job to convert many of these ideas into tangible tactics.
¡°She¡¯s put some meat on the bones of what the pillars of the organization are,¡± said Fred Rivera, Newcomer¡¯s boss and the Mariners¡¯ executive vice president and general counsel.
Specifically, Newcomer has been active with the club¡¯s Hometown Nine program, a five-year commitment to nine incoming eighth graders in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, providing financial, academic, professional and social support to encourage success in their athletic careers and educational journeys.
Newcomer also facilitated the Mariners¡¯ partnerships with EL1 Sports, a leading national youth sports training company and the expansion of the Mariners Training Centers for youth, with three new facilities in 2024, in Port Orchard, Wash., Spokane, Wash., and the Boise area.
Moreover, Newcomer was front and center during the Mariners¡¯ 2023 All-Star Legacy initiative, which was headlined by the renovation of Rainier Playfield. In addition, the Access Innovation Fund was launched last summer to provide grants to organizations -- including the King County Play Equity Coalition -- to develop and co-facilitate a new Baseball & Softball Play Equity Youth Council with the Mariners.
All of these objectives weave Newcomer¡¯s past, present and future together.
¡°What I got from the game and what I feel like I've been able to contribute back is because communities, when I was young, were investing in youth sports,¡± Newcomer said. ¡°And I feel like that's what we get to do as the Mariners is say, ¡®What are the life lessons that kids learn from having access to youth baseball and softball?¡¯ We know that every kid is not going to love the game, but every kid should have the chance to find out.¡±