The Lake Erie Crushers are a professional baseball team in the Frontier League. The Frontier League consists of players that either were drafted by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team and were released after not performing up to expectations in their respective Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams, or players graduated from college that were not fortunate enough to be drafted by an MLB team. While the Frontier League is not affiliated with the MLB by any means, the players are playing with hopes that they will eventually be signed by an MLB team if they are successful enough, as MLB scouts do attend Frontier League games. Seemingly a do-or-die time for the players in the Frontier League, they either play well enough to be picked up by an MLB team or begin a career outside of playing baseball for a living.
Because the Frontier League consists of players not as monumental as players in the MLB, there is a striking distinction in the amount of regulations when it comes to photographing the players. Due to the amount of access, I was able to establish a rapport with a few players in particular. Over time, I gained the trust of the players as they began to treat me as they would their teammates and because of this, I was able to comfortably photograph them in any given situation.
