On Oct. 24, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Co-Director of Sports Studies, Nick Pietruszkiewicz, welcomed ESPN MLB reporter and Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Kurkjian to his video series, “What’s Your Story?”

Kurkjian joined Pietruszkiewicz to discuss the industry, detailing his experience and allotting advice to students who plan to enter the journalism field. Having grown up with teachers in his family, Kurkjian is always eager to help students.

“Anytime I can work with kids, help kids, talk to kids, I think it’s really, really, important,” Kurkjian said in an interview with The Chronicle. “I didn’t get to go to a college and have somebody come in and speak to us. It just wasn’t done. So I always said, ‘If I ever get a chance to do this and get things that I wasn’t exposed to at age 18-22, if anyone wants help I’m going to help.’”

This event marked the third episode of “What’s Your Story?” Pietruszkiewicz created the series to bring professionals in the sports journalism and communications field to Quinnipiac. The series allows students on campus to learn more about working behind the scenes in sports.

Pietruszkiewicz and Kurkjian have a long history of working in the industry together — both are graduates from the University of Maryland and Pietruszkiewicz was later Kurkjian’s editor for ESPN.

While at ESPN together, Pietruszkiewicz played a vital role in Kurkjian’s writing career.

“We had a couple of sports editors at ESPN, baseball editors who were not that interested in what some of us did, and Nick came along, and said, ‘You should write more,’” Kurkjian said. “So the connection between Nick and I really revived my writing career.”

Kurkjian never stopped writing, however, he knew he could improve. With Pietruszkiewicz’s encouragement and their teamwork, Kurkjian delved deeper into writing stories.

Pietruszkiewicz began the episode by discussing Kurkjian’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021. Kurkjian received the news while in a Harris Teeter grocery store.

“I literally started to cry in the middle of the grocery store,” Kurkjian said.

Kurkjian later traveled to Cooperstown, New York, to present his speech. He practiced his speech 200 times by himself, to memorize it before stepping on stage.

It was a weekend he would never forget, meeting icons in the baseball world including fellow Baseball Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Paul Molitor.

“There will never be anything like it that I will ever experience for the rest of my life,” Kurkjian said.

Similarly to previous guests Jimmy Roberts, a golf analyst for NBC Sports and SportsCenter anchor Matt Barrie, Pietruskiewicz asked him, “What was your ‘I want to do this moment?’”

Kurkjian found his passion for baseball at a very young age and knew he wanted a career centered around it.

“I grew up in a house where the primary language spoken was baseball,” Kurkjian said.

He later wrote for his high school’s newspaper but was not a strong writer at the time. This inspired him to improve and push forth with a career in sports.

“I realized maybe I stink at this, maybe I gotta get way better at this,” Kurkjian said. “That was one of the epiphany moments where I said, ‘all right I’m not good at this. I gotta get better because I have to make a career out of this.’”

Kurkjian shared several things he learned along the way. One of the most vital lessons he learned was the importance of being well-rounded.

“I should have been more worldly. I should’ve been more well-rounded. I should know more about history and geography, politics and religion and frankly, I don’t,” Kurkjian said.

Kurkjian also discussed several other key tips for telling a story.

“First off, you gotta show up and you gotta try. You gotta prepare. If you don’t do that, you’re not going anywhere,” Kurkjian said. “You really have to be curious about what you’re watching, no matter what you’re watching.”

Kurkjian’s biggest pieces of advice pertained to interviewing and asking questions. At age 55, he took a course on how to ask the proper question at ESPN. Initially believing he could teach the course, Kurkjian soon learned valuable information that would further improve his skills.

In addition to asking the proper questions, another one of Kurkjian’s biggest pieces of advice is to form a connection with the interviewee.

“Some connections are hard to find, but that’s the first thing you want to do, is find some common ground between you and the person you’re talking to, and that’ll take you a much longer way,” Kurkjian said in an interview with The Chronicle.

This makes the interviews more of a conversation, which in turn creates trust between the subject and journalist.

With hundreds of stories under his belt, the one that stands out as his favorite is a piece on Cal Ripken, a now retired MLB player. Having built trust with Ripken, he let Kurkjian into his life for a week. Kurkjian went to his home, rode with him to and from the ballpark, and met his wife and children.

“I wanted to see what he’s like driving to the ballpark,” Kurkjian said. “Is he listening to music? What music is he listening to? Is he listening to a talk show or in this case he has the radio turned off and it’s total silence.”

Out of the seven days he spent with Ripken, Kurkjian spent only five minutes sitting down to interview him. He spent the rest of the week observing Ripken and wrote a 15-page story for Sports Illustrated.

Kurkjian and Pietruszkiewicz collaborate on many projects together, including “Tim Kurkjian’s Baseball Fix.”

During the height of the pandemic, Pietruszkiewicz and Kurkjian wanted to give baseball fans something while sports went quiet. Kurkjian wrote for 101 consecutive days, and created a video to go along with each piece.

“It’s something that only he could have done, only him,” Pietruszkiewicz said in an interview with The Chronicle. “Only he has that kind of knowledge and that kind of commitment.”

“The Baseball Fix” became an outlet for baseball fans as well as Pietruszkiewicz and Kurkjian during a time of stress and fear.

For over an hour in the Open Air Studio, Kurkjian shared knowledge with students, staff and faculty to guide them through a career in the communications world.

“You’re not getting anywhere unless you’re prepared and you work hard,” Kurkjian said.