Peter Sekulow '90 isn't the first office-bound professional to dream of chucking it all for a job at the ballpark. But Sekulow, a political consultant who worked for the Republican National Committee President and George W. Bush's presidential campaign, did more than dream.

In the fall of 2001 at the age of 34, he quit his job to work in group sales for the Bowie Baysox, a AA minor league baseball team located in Bowie, Md. For Sekulow, a lifelong baseball and New York Yankees fan, it was the right move. "I had to do it now, because I didn't know when I would do it," he said. "I was not going to live my life saying, if only . . . "

Working out of his office at the Baysox stadium, he is surrounded every day by the sights and smells of his lifelong passion. He specializes in selling a variety of packages to groups such as political organizations, the military and labor unions based 30 minutes away in his old stamping ground of Washington, D.C.

Sekulow says that at the time of his first interview with the Baysox the organization was looking for someone to fill a sales position who had the contacts and political know-how to penetrate the ironclad social circles of Washington. "When you talk with people in D.C., you have to speak the language," Sekulow explained. "You have to know the proper buzzwords and know the way to get to people. I know how to do that because I know how D.C. operates."

Sekulow was originally turned on to the intrigue of politics as a government major at Colby under the tutelage of professors Cal MacKenzie and Tony Corrado. "With both of those professors, I do remember campaign politics was part of the subject matter--not just the three branches of government," Sekulow recalled. "I think those professors had a lot to do with giving me a direction in the campaign world."

He went on to spend nearly 10 years as a consultant to candidates running for positions in local government, Congress, state legislatures and the Bush campaign in 2000. In his various campaigns, Sekulow did everything from dealing with the press to speech writing and event planning.

Eventually he tired of waking up in hotel rooms and sleeping less than a Colby senior on the last night of senior week. After moving on from political consulting to stints at an Internet marketing firm and the Republican National Committee, Sekulow decided to drop out of politics altogether--something easier said than done. "In D.C., you get caught in a whirlpool," he said. "It's very difficult to get out; you really have to just quit."

And he's glad he did. Sekulow relishes the intimate, family-oriented world of minor-league baseball, in his case the AA minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. In addition to selling group packages such as executive suites and group box seats to clients inside the Beltway, he also promotes special concerts, car shows and job fairs at the stadium. The facility is host to events that Major League fans would never see, such as "dog days"-- baseball games to which fans can bring their canine companions.

Sekulow's new job seamlessly combines his passions for baseball and politics, providing a fit as custom-made as that between a catcher and his mitt. And he has found that politics is just as exciting to watch from the sidelines as baseball. "I'm still involved in politics, but only to the point that I am a spectator. But being a spectator is much more fun that being involved in it," he said.

--Braxton Williams