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 Sometimes, you run into that “glue person.” Someone who holds everything together.
Ginnie Maxwell is a “glue person” in Mount Juliet.
She teaches information technology at Mount Juliet High School and that is just the beginning. Maxwell also helps coach a travel baseball team and is the Director of Baseball Operations for the high school baseball team.
“Just being on the field, I feel like it's a different atmosphere of teaching,” said Maxwell. “I think we're still teaching them while we're on the field.
Maxwell and her husband have two boys, ages 10 and 12. She helped coach her sons’ baseball teams for years and estimates they have coached over 250 kids during that time.
“The mental side of the game for this age is tough for them,” said Maxwell. “Just when they get beat, for them to understand that they're not the best player when they don't have a good day hitting or fielding or whatever it may be. So, there's a lot of life lessons and they're having to learn so much more than just baseball.”
Her efforts don’t stop with baseball. She also developed local races in Mt Juliet for the Healthy Kids Running Series, a nationwide program that promotes running and active lifestyles for kids.
The Mt. Juliet program has five races on Sundays in the fall and spring. When she started the program in Mt. Juliet five years ago, they had 56 runners. The most recent race in October featured around 200 runners.
 “We started that because my oldest son has autism,” said Maxwell. “He played baseball, but he struggled with being around a lot of people. We found this (Healthy Kids Running Series) in another area...we went and did it and it was just really good for him because he was able to do something on his own to try to accomplish something that was just for him. Now, I have a lot of special needs children that are in our program and so that's kind of why I keep doing it because we have a lot of kids that have turned to our program for that same reason.”
Between teaching classes, coaching baseball, developing a running program, and her other responsibilities, she believes her role is more than just teaching skills.
“I have a lot of passion for these kids, and you know just making them good humans,” said Maxwell. We need good humans right now and if I can do that, I feel like I've done a good job.”
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Our advisor feature this month is about Rebecca Gonzales, who leads our efforts in development, board and investor relations. She began her role when her husband, Alberto Gonzales, joined Music City Baseball as board chair in 2017.
Rebecca’s background and experience include an extensive career in banking, finance, and development. She worked with non-profits and in both state and federal government and was the first Director of Development at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.
“Music City Baseball was trying to communicate with potential investors while working on a strategy to raise capital, and because of my experience I said to John, ‘I can help with that.’”
Since then, she has managed a roster of growing advisors and investors from the Nashville business and entertainment communities. “We have put together an incredible team who are all focused on the same goal – to make this dream a reality.”
Music City Baseball prides itself on diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I’m particularly proud that we have a majority minority board,” said Gonzales. “We’re invested in the greater Nashville community, and we seek out leaders from all our communities willing to give their time, effort, and heart to make this a reality.”
Another thing she is proud of is the way Music City Baseball has solidified Nashville as a likely place for a future franchise. Not just “if,” but “when.” “It hasn’t felt like ‘if’ it’s going to be Nashville for a long time,” said Gonzales. “Even during the pandemic, we were able to make great strides, hit milestones, make progress, and still raise money. We were in a pandemic and people still wanted to be a part of what we’re doing. The pandemic slowed our plan down a bit, but in no way did it stop us.”
The building momentum and excellent team now in place will allow her to step away from her current role at the end of the year. “There’s a good team in place that can take over what I’ve been doing,” said Gonzales, who will still support her husband Alberto with his work as Board Chair.
We are thankful for her efforts these past few years and thrilled she won’t be too far away.
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SPECIAL FEATURE: CRUISE'S CARD STOP
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Birthday presents are something every kid looks forward to each year. Some kids want toys. Others want a trip to Disney or another theme park. For Cruise Collier’s ninth birthday, he wanted something different.
“I really wanted a YouTube channel.”
Why? He wanted to make videos about collecting trading cards.
“I just started making videos,” said Collier. “They weren't very good, but then I kept doing it and I learned a little bit.”
Four years later, he’s already a veteran in the card collecting business. Collier runs “Cruise’s Card Stop,” a social media platform where he buys, sells, and trades cards. At the age of 13, he currently has over 4,600 followers on Instagram and 1,500 subscribers to his YouTube channel, where his videos have received over 80,000 views.
“I go on Instagram and YouTube, and I like to sell cards, trade cards, buy cards,” said Collier. “I do anything with cards.”
Now, Collier travels to card shows around the country. His efforts have gained him recognition and respect from fellow collectors, including the founders of Kentucky Road Show in Lexington, Kentucky, and Card Collector 2 in Ohio.
“There’s a lot of great people. It’s just so cool to have that many great people and a bunch of people who support me,” said Collier.
All of the support has helped grow his business. Collier estimates his collection is worth about $100,000. Now, he often makes tough business decisions if he wants to add to it.
“I love to collect cards, but then I also gotta do a lot of buying and selling and sometimes flipping just to get some money to buy the ones I really want,” said Collier.
His parents have also been a huge help and supported his passion, which means a lot of road trips.
“They take me the card shows. They take me to card shops,” said Collier. “Like, we go to Nationals every year in Chicago or Cleveland and going all the way to Cleveland for sports cards is amazing and they helped me a lot.”
They also support him learning to manage his resources on his own.
“Now I’m to the point where they won't buy anything for me anymore with cards, I have to pay for all my stuff now,” said Collier. “They trust me with it now. They used to be like, ‘maybe you don’t want to trade that’ but now they trust me completely and I have a lot of freedom with my cards and it's great.”
Collier is already trying to be a mentor to other kids who may want to get into the card trading business.
“I also love to get younger collectors like me involved,” said Collier. “I'm trying to get people involved in and be as serious and excited as I am about it.”
He is also a fan of the Nashville Stars baseball cards, which is a partnership with Topps and the Negro League Baseball Museum. The cards pay tribute to former Negro League players, allowing a new generation to learn about their impact on the game of baseball.
“We actually learned about barnstorming last year in school,” said Collier. “It was really nice to learn about, especially in school, we were learning about baseball, and I was excited.”
The card set also features some of the Stars’ music industry advisors, an approach that impressed the young collector.
“The art looks phenomenal,” said Collier. “I mean a ton of people listen to country music and you can go get the cards of your favorite artists, that’s pretty cool.”
While collecting cards is a hobby and business rolled into one, he is looking forward to being a Nashville Stars fan down the road.
“I love going to baseball games and football games and basketball games,” said Collier. “And if we get another team, it brings another element to Nashville…which I think Nashville needs a baseball team, it needs a major league team.”
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Follow Cruise’s Card Stop on Instagram and YouTube!
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Our October kicked off with a booth at the Music City Sports Card, Collectables, & Autograph show. MCB’s Chris Bacon shared our initiative with the community.
Inspired by Cruises Card Stop, we're giving away signed Topps cards from Luke Combs, Willie Jones, Kane Brown, and Mitchell Tenpenny for the next month!
Click the link below to enter our Luke Combs Giveaway.
Make sure you’re following us on all socials, @NashvilleStars, for the next Topps Giveaway each Tuesday at 5PM EST.
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Suzanne Alexander, Rebecca Gonzales, Staci Galentine, Lynn Gray, WL Gray Jr. at the LIVELIKELOU Foundation ALS Shootout Event.
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Matt Barrett and Michele Frazier at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Annual Celebration.
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MCB's Matt Barrett, Connor Loar, and John Loar with George Armistead III at the Nashville City Club's Speaker Series Luncheon.
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MCB's John Loar with Empowerment Pursuit Coaches DJ Merriwether and Jarrod Parker and the future Nashville Stars team.
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We are actively looking for volunteers to help bring Major League Baseball to Middle TN!
Click here to sign up!
Be on the lookout for future updates to volunteer with us.
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