The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Brittaney Brown, kindergarten teacher at Sisters Elementary School, got a phone call recently that felt unbelievable at first. Her husband, Seth Brown, who she married in December, phoned to tell her his dreams had come true: He was heading to Kansas City to join baseball’s major league Oakland Athletics for a series against the Royals.

At the start of the phone call Brittaney couldn’t tell what Seth was trying to tell her because he was so emotional.

“When Seth called to tell me the news, I truly thought he got injured or something terrible had happened because he was just crying on the phone and it was really hard to understand what he was saying,” she said. “Once I understood what he was telling me, a roller coaster of emotions followed.”

The couple met at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho where she was on scholarship for basketball and Seth for baseball.

After college, he was signed by the Athletics in June 2015 and began playing in the minor leagues.

Seth Brown is off to an incredible start for the Athletics.

As of September 8, Brown was batting .417 in his first 10 appearances for the Athletics, including a game last week in which he hit not just one, but two triples, tying a franchise record, against the Anaheim Angels.

Prior to moving up, Seth played for the AAA team in Las Vegas where was having a stellar season. He had hit 37 home runs in 112 games and had a batting average of .297.

After opening in Kansas City, the Athletics traveled to Yankee Stadium and Brittaney got her first real taste of what Seth’s call up to the major leagues meant for her.

“I couldn’t make it to Seth’s debut series, because it was really important to me that I was at school for the first week of the new school year,” she explained. “So Oakland coordinated flights so that I could travel to New York City to watch the Yankees series and watch Seth play in the big leagues live for the first time.”

The trip was a real eye-opener for Brittaney.

“Seth and I are just two regular people, and starting from the first-class plane ride to the fancy hotels, to the VIP passes at Yankee Stadium — it is just a whole different world for us,” she said.

“Seth’s agent was in town and took me to a variety of tourist spots and we went to dinner with couples from the team and I truly felt like I was in a movie,” she said. “Being able to go on the field to watch Seth take batting practice at Yankee Stadium is a memory that I will never forget.”

In stories published by the Associated Press following the game in which he hit the two triples, including driving in the go-ahead run, Seth was quoted as saying, “It’s incredible. I want to do what I can to help the team and I was able to do that tonight, so it was a dream come true for me.”

The Athletics are in a heated contest to earn a wild-card spot for the Major League playoffs, and Brown’s contributions have come at the perfect time.

Brittaney received a sweet surprise when she arrived at school Friday, September 6.

“Our principal, Joan Warburg, called a staff meeting,” she said, and as I walked into the commons of our school I saw the ENTIRE staff wearing Oakland Athletics T-shirts with ‘Brown’ on the back, and all I could do was put my face in my hands and thinking to myself, ‘We are so blessed!’.”

The Browns are savoring every moment of this time because one thing is certain about playing major league baseball: there are no guarantees it will last.

“For Seth, this is the moment he has worked his entire life for,” she said. “We both have sacrificed a lot of things for his chance in the big leagues, and we are forever grateful for the outcome of this opportunity.

“The biggest takeaway for Seth and myself from this entire experience is that dreams really can come true,” she said. “The road may look different for everyone, but with hard work, a strong support system, and resiliency, anything can

happen.”