Athlete Spotlight: A look beyond athletics at EU Baseball’s Michael Gray.

Michael Gray is a sophomore pitcher for the Eastern University Baseball team. We spoke over Zoom and ended up talking for over 3 hours. Starting with baseball, this is clearly a season of ambiguity, and Grey simply hopes to play. The current plan in place has the season being
trimmed in half, but the training hasn’t let up. On top of practices, the baseball players are required to be COVID tested three times a week. While Grey deems it necessary, he also sees it as an inconvenience as it takes a chunk out of his mornings. All of these steps are being taken in preparation for the upcoming season which will consist of double headers on weekends. The first game will be 7 innings, and the second will be a full 9.

Grey grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey which is only minutes away from New York City. His parents never forced him in any sort of direction. Being so close to “The Big Apple” was a great learning experience for him as a child as his parents would visit museums and go to Broadway plays.

Grey is currently studying Communications with a minor in Marketing and a concentration in Interpersonal Communication. His career goal is
to do something in social media marketing which explains his favorite class being “Social Media in Organizations”. Another dream of his is to be location independent. Even now, Grey enjoys traveling when it’s feasible. He currently works at Zime at least three times a week while also juggling the responsibilities of baseball and school. With actual games coming up soon, it’s going to become even harder to juggle all of this but “it’s a means to an end,” says Grey as he gives a shrug.

While most know Grey as a student athlete, he wants to be known as more than that. Outside of playing baseball some of his hobbies include collecting baseball cards and reading. While the COVID-19 pandemic has been full of hardships, Grey has also used this time to
improve himself and learn about things that interested him. At one point he held up the book he is currently reading which is on Buddhism. It’s something he claims to not have a lot of knowledge in and wants to garner some through reading. “Even if it’s a page a day, that one page can lead to more,” Grey shared.

As mentioned earlier, Grey loves to travel. Grey and his girlfriend run a travel Instagram page titled “traveling.under.the.stars.” It’s filled with beautiful pictures of New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia, among other cities. The account has grown to over 1,300 followers and speaks volumes about Grey’s ability to market and grow an account.

Grey’s ambition is clear when you talk to him, he’s always up to trying new things and is working hard to make his dreams a reality.

“Whether it’s a podcast, YouTube video, or post, the first one will always be bad. Just go for it.”

Make sure to check out his travel page: @traveling.under.the.stars on Instagram.