Hannah Arbit Abby Alonzo interview on losing her baseball job

In the Hannah Arbit Abby Alonzo interview, Arbit said a baseball team let her go midseason because her schedule no longer met its needs. She told Alonzo how she handled the news shortly before interviewing an NHL player, why the change gave her more time around the Savannah Bananas, and where she hopes to host next.

How did Hannah Arbit get into sports hosting and athlete representation?

Hannah Arbit began in game operations with the Chicago Blackhawks at 19 and later took on athlete representation after her boss asked whether she would represent women. At 23, she is still deciding which work she wants to pursue long term, but hosting is the part of her career that feels most fulfilling.

Starting with the Chicago Blackhawks

Arbit thought she had her career figured out when she started with the Blackhawks. Four years later, she has worked across hosting, content creation, reporting and the agency side of sports. Rather than treating that range as a settled plan, she said she is asking herself what she wants to do for the next 20 or 30 years.

Saying yes to athlete representation

Her agency work began with a call from her boss asking if she was comfortable representing women. She was 20 and said yes. The work, she explained, demands quick thinking of a different kind from in-game hosting. It is also more confidential, so she cannot always bring the same outgoing manner to it that audiences see when she hosts.

She described herself as learning every day on the agency side. Hosting, by contrast, connects to an interest she remembers having as a child: she was put onstage at daycare at about three years old and felt at home there. She still feels that way when she can direct the energy of a large crowd.

What did Hannah Arbit say about hosting at Wrigley Field?

Hannah Arbit said hosting volleyball at Wrigley Field shook her confidence at first because she had not worked in front of a live crowd for two months. She had expected the job to feel familiar after a baseball season, but a scheduling conflict had ended her baseball role before the Wrigley event.

Arbit learned about the Wrigley opportunity in May, a day before baseball opening day. At the time, she was working in independent baseball and expected that job to give her enough live-event experience to approach Wrigley as another day at work. Then her commitments began to overlap, and the baseball team told her that her schedule did not align with what it needed.

When she finally stepped in front of the Wrigley crowd, her knees were shaking and she stumbled over her first words. She said she normally feels confident hosting, which made the nerves stand out. Arbit recalled the message she gave herself as she steadied herself:

I am good enough to do this. I'm qualified enough. I have the experience.

That moment mattered to her because she did not want what had happened with the baseball team two months earlier to determine how she performed at Wrigley.

Why did Hannah Arbit leave her baseball hosting job?

Hannah Arbit said the baseball team let her go midseason after her schedule stopped meeting its needs. She learned of the decision in an email she had expected to be about future availability, minutes before an interview with an NHL player. Arbit said the loss hurt in part because she had not previously been told her work needed to improve.

The timing left little room to react. She said the player interview required her full attention and involved switching between two languages. She shed a tear, received encouragement from coworkers and completed the interview. She was proud that she did not miss a beat, even though she had not had time to process the email.

Later, the decision was harder to put aside. Arbit said she had not been given feedback that she was doing something wrong or needed to change her work. She described the way the situation was handled as unprofessional, while making clear that she did not want to respond publicly in a way that could make her appear unprofessional too.

The experience also affected how she thought about other jobs. As she looked ahead to a fourth season with the Chicago Wolves, an organization she praised, she said she sometimes still worried about being unexpectedly fired midseason. She did not suggest that the Wolves had given her a reason to expect that; she connected the fear to what had happened with the baseball team.

How did Hannah Arbit handle the career setback?

Hannah Arbit said she is still working through the loss of the baseball job. She kept working immediately afterward, then spent time trying to understand the decision rather than pretending it no longer bothered her. She also found that the change opened up time with the Savannah Bananas and gave her a summer she had missed in recent years.

Trying to make sense of the decision

Arbit spoke with her mother about why the job ended, but said she kept wanting a fuller explanation. She also described working through her thoughts in conversations with Chachibiti. Her mother urged her to move on; Arbit said she was still trying to get to the bottom of the decision and reflect on her part in what happened.

More time around the Savannah Bananas

Without the baseball job, Arbit was able to spend more time around the Savannah Bananas. She noted that when they were at Wrigley Field, she otherwise would have been working baseball games. Being around Banana Ball was refreshing for her: she said its combination of dancing, singing and playing baseball brings together several of her interests.

The change also let her enjoy a summer after several years without one. Arbit did not present those benefits as erasing the pain of losing the job. She said they were good things that came from an experience she was still processing.

What advice did Hannah Arbit give after losing the baseball job?

Hannah Arbit advised people facing an unexpected career change to keep their heads held high, remain respectful and be kind to others. She said it was difficult to discuss the experience without saying more than she was ready to say, especially while the decision still felt fresh.

Arbit had wanted to describe what happened on social media, but decided against doing so at the time. She believed a public response could be perceived as unprofessional, even though she disagreed with how the situation had been handled. Her advice came from that tension between wanting to speak openly and wanting to choose her words carefully.

She said she might share more when she feels better able to talk about it, in part to help others avoid a similar experience. Arbit also clarified that an abrupt setback of this kind is not limited to women in sports. She gave no timetable for speaking further.

Where does Hannah Arbit want to host in five years?

Hannah Arbit hopes to keep growing as a host and, within five years, work at a major-league ballpark or on an NBA court. Those are goals rather than jobs she said she has secured. Her answer reflected the same preference she expressed throughout the conversation: of all her roles in sports, hosting gives her the strongest sense of fulfillment.

Arbit said she thinks she could succeed on an NBA court. A major-league ballpark also appeals to her after work that has already taken her through baseball, hockey and an event at Wrigley Field. She did not name a particular team or venue she is pursuing.

For now, she plans to continue hosting and to begin her fourth season with the Chicago Wolves. She spoke warmly about working for the organization and said the start of each hockey season reminds her how grateful she is to be there. At the same time, she was candid that enjoying the work does not instantly remove the worry left by losing another job.