Few baseball fans can say that they’ve fist-bumped all their favorite ballplayers—and fewer established first-name relationships with the players on the field. But for eleven-year-old Madison Slattery, that’s just another day at the Somerset Patriots Stadium. Not only is Slattery an established fan of the Patriots, but she’s a skilled photographer and has captured unforgettable moments on the field from New York Yankee rehab assignments to Patriot roster players.
Last week, I talked to Slattery about her experience taking photos as a keystone fan at Somerset. Here’s what she had to say:
LUDWIG: Hey Madison, thank you so much for your time today. I'm so glad to talk with you. So before I assume, I'm going to start with a really easy question for you: who's your favorite MLB team?
SLATTERY: Definitely the Yankees.
LUDWIG: I didn't want to make that assumption, but I figured as much—and they're mine too. So do you have a favorite player or a top three on the Yankees?
SLATTERY: On the Yankees, probably Oswaldo Cabrera, Anthony Volpe, or Jason Dominguez.
LUDWIG: Those are good picks! Actually, I was at batting practice last year for the Yankees, and I got to meet Cabrera—he's so awesome. He was a really cool guy. So when did you start taking photos at games?
SLATTERY: About two seasons ago, I saw Hannah—she works for the Patriots—and she had the cameras. And I always thought it was super what she did. So my dad got me a camera to start using. And I was using that last season. And then he bought a camera—that he says is his, but I call it mine—and that's the one I use this year. It's a bit better than the last one.
LUDWIG: Yeah, that's awesome. Do you feel like taking photos during the games changes your experience of watching it? Like, do you have to pay attention to certain things more?
SLATTERY: Yeah, so I have to kind of, like, think of like, different like parts of the game. I was just watching it before I started taking pictures. Thinking, “Okay, the pitcher throws the ball and then the batter hits it.” Now it's more of, “Can I get the picture of when the pitcher just throws the ball?” or I can get a picture of batters about to hit the ball.
LUDWIG: Do you have a favorite moment in particular that you got a picture of?
SLATTERY: Yeah—it was one really cool. And I forget who it was, but there was, like, right when he hit the ball—going right off the batt
LUDWIG: Oh, that's so cool.
SLATTERY: I have another cool picture that I think is actually one of the ones that I sent to you. Ben Rice, in the Zorros uniform, just like, throwing the ball toward the dugout. And I got a cool picture of that.
Ben Rice is in the Zorros uniform. / Courtesy of Madison Slattery.
LUDWIG: Yeah, that one's awesome. Your photos in general, are really cool. You have a really great eye—knowing what to pay attention to on the field. And I really like the black and white portrait that you took, that you sent to me.
SLATTERY: That’s actually my favorite picture.
LUDWIG: Really?
SLATTERY: Yeah!
LUDWIG: Could you tell me some more about it?
SLATTERY: So I was moving around. I think it was, like, the first time that I moved to a different seat to take pictures. It was last season—I'm pretty sure I took that picture last season. I had just figured out how to change the camera from like, just taking a regular color picture to black and white—and different colors like that. So I wanted to take some pictures of them hitting and stuff like that in black and white. So I was behind the on-deck circle and Tyler Hardman was putting the pine tar on his bat. So I was trying to get a close-up of him in black and white. I felt close—and I love that. And I was like, “That's my best picture ever.” Even with all the cool pictures that I've taken, that's still been my favorite.
Tyler Hardman at bat. / Courtesy of Madison Slattery
LUDWIG: That's really, really cool. That one totally drew my eye. I love the black and white on it. You also have another picture that I wanted to talk about, where it's number 13 mid-swing. Who was that?
SLATTERY: Number 13 was probably Grant Richardson.
LUDWIG: I really liked that one because there's so much action going on in the shot. So could you talk a bit about how you approach taking a picture? You know when there's so much going on, how do you know when the right moment is?
SLATTERY: Well, sometimes, I'll watch a little bit, and then I kind of know when they're about to swing. Knowing the guys for a while, seeing them and what they do, I know, most likely, if they're gonna swing, if they're not gonna swing. But #13 was Grant Richardson when he was about to hit the ball. That one, I could see, like, the pitcher, so I could see the pitch being thrown. So I could see when the ball was about to get hit. I saw when Grant was about to start swinging. And sometimes I just click down, and it takes a bunch of pictures. And I look through them, and I find the cool ones—even if he didn't swing. Sometimes I'll still have a cool one in there.
Grant Richardson mid-swing. / Courtesy of Madison Slattery
LUDWIG: Yeah, that's awesome. And I want to go back to the Ben Rice photo you mentioned—of him kind of tossing the ball back in the dugout. That one was one of my favorites, too. So was that such a cool experience for you to watch Ben Rice come from the Minors to the big leagues this year?
SLATTERY: Yeah. So it was really cool because Gerrit Cole rehabbed for the Patriots, and then Ben Rice caught for him. Then two weeks later, he was up in the Major Leagues while Gerrit Cole was pitching for him. So he was with the Patriots, I think, half of last season, maybe almost all of last season, and then he got called up in the middle of the season. He was in Triple-A for a couple of weeks, and then he was in the majors. It was super cool to see him here, and then he's there for a couple of weeks, and now he's playing on TV. Like all the guys that, like, have been through Patriots Stadium up to the Yankees—and even just in the majors in general. One of my favorite players, Luis Medina, he's on the A's, and he's in the Major Leagues. JP Sears, he's also on the Oakland A's. They both got traded to the Oakland A's—some of my favorite players, and they're both in the Major Leagues now. So it's cool just to see them, like, play in the Major Leagues when I would see them when they were much lower leagues.
LUDWIG: Yeah, that's awesome. So you have a lot of great photos, as you said, of Yankees on rehab assignments at Somerset. So do you have to keep a really close eye on when those games are announced to get there?
SLATTERY: Well, kind of because we have season tickets, so we go to every single game.
LUDWIG: Oh cool!
SLATTERY: So we'll be sitting around, my dad will be on his phone. He'll say, “Oh, Gerrit Cole’s rehabbing tomorrow.” So, we'll see him tomorrow when he gets there. Our seats are right next to the tunnel where they come out, and then to the dugout. We have the first row, the last, like, four seats: 7,6,5,4. We have those four, and I have seat seven. It's right in the corner of the tunnel, and the dugout is right in front of me. So we’re at every game played so far at Patriot Stadium. I've been to every game last year, I was at every Stone game, and they played Patriot Stadium. And so, every time they come out of the tunnel or come in the tunnel, I give them a fist bump. And then we have conversations. So if you were to go up to Osvaldo Cabrera and say, “Do you know who Madison is? Like, Madison Slattery?” he would say, “Oh, I remember—Maddie, right?” And then, like, he would, like, talk, like a bunch of the guys who, um, like, Anthony Volpe, Jason Dominguez, like those guys, they probably would say, “I remember her” because I was there every game they played when they were home. I was there, and I saw them. So, Ben Rice, we went to one of the signings that he does, and when we walked up he was so excited to see me. And then, we went to the Triple-A stadium, and some of the guys—like Will Warren—played in the Patriots stadium, and he was there. He played for the Patriots maybe two seasons ago, so I looked different than I do now. So when I called out, “Will, hi!” he said, “Hi!” But then he saw my dad. He was like, “Oh, hi!” I’ve also got a picture of me with Anthony Volpe.
Gerrit Cole on rehab assignment with the Patriots. / Courtesy of Madison Slattery
LUDWIG: That's awesome! Speaking of really cool pictures, I saw the Patriots account posted a picture of you with Anthony Rizzo, and he gave you his batting gloves. Can you tell me about that experience? What was that like?
SLATTERY: So, um, it was, like his second rehab day, and he, like, was walking out and, um, I was trying to get him to sign, like a pink like Anthony Rizzo card. And then the second he walked out he was looking at me. So I was like, I'm probably gonna get the autograph. So I'm like, smiling, right? And I say, “Anthony, can please sign this?” And he shakes his head—then he hands me his batting gloves. And then Mark and Hannah both see me; they take pictures of me. I was so excited. Like, they did a close-up. If you saw the post and probably saw the picture, a close-up of my face.
Slattery receiving Anthony Rizzo’s batting gloves. / Courtesy of @somersetpatriots on Instagram
LUDWIG: So cool.
SLATTERY: Yeah, that was awesome.
LUDWIG: So that's probably one of the coolest experiences ever. But are there any other interactions that you've had that are really cool?
SLATTERY: Um, yeah. So the year the Patriots won the championship—that was two seasons ago, 2022—Dave Merrick, he’s right under general managers and works for the Patriots, was in the tunnel, and he goes, “How about you come down and go out there with all the guys?” So I got to hop over the wall—and I love doing that. I got to hop over the wall, and I got to go on the field. And I saw all the guys. I got to hold the trophy. I took a picture with a bunch of them.
LUDWIG: Oh my gosh. That is so cool. So that's so neat that, like, not only do you get to go into the games and take all these pictures, but you get to have these experiences that you can totally brag to everybody. It's awesome. Is there a Yankee in particular that you'd like to get photos of next?
SLATTERY: Judge, yeah. That'd be really cool. Because my dad got me into baseball a couple of years ago when I was about five or six. So I would always, like, I would watch the games with him every now and then, and I always found Judge super cool. Because he would stand next to someone and make them look so short—right? Like, honestly, why is he so tall? Because he's just so tall. And then, like, when he was hitting all the home runs, that was super cool. And then if he rehabs, that would be cool for him to come. I hope he doesn't get hurt, but if he does, that would be pretty cool.
LUDWIG: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for sitting here with me today. Best of luck with your photos. And I hope you get pictures of Aaron Judge—but I hope it's not a bad injury.
SLATTERY: Something minor, yeah.
LUDWIG: A minor strain would be okay. Thanks for talking with me today!
SLATTERY: Yeah, of course!
Edited by Brooke Weinrich
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