Media
In 2002, ESPN called Finch the "runaway winner" of the Best Dressed competition at the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards.
In 2003, Finch received the most votes in an ESPN online poll as the most attractive female athlete.
In 2004, People magazine named Finch one of its "50 Most Beautiful People", the only female athlete in the list. "This is truly amazing to be recognized by People magazine for this honor," Finch said. "It is really special to be included among some of the most famous and beautiful people in the world. I still have a hard time believing that I was selected as part of this group."
Finch has modeled swimwear for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition in 2005. Finch was offered lucrative contracts to disrobe for Playboy and Maxim magazine, but turned them down.
This Week in Baseball signed Finch as a co-host. In a segment called the Jennie Challenge, Finch pitches to Major League Baseball players and often strikes them out. In softball, the mound is closer to home plate than baseball and Finch's pitches are the equivalent of a 98 mph pitch. "Some big-timers refuse to face her," Cal Ripken, Jr. says. "Many feel it could be embarrassing." In an interview with ESPN, Finch explained, "I was throwing them mostly rise balls and change-ups. They've never seen a pitch like that, you know? With the closer distance from the mound, I think it really surprises them how fast the pitch gets there. And especially with the rise – when they're used to that over-the-top release point – there is nothing else like it. The ball movement throws them off."
In the 2004 Pepsi All-Star Softball Game, Finch struck out Albert Pujols, Mike Piazza and Brian Giles. "I never touched a pitch," said Giles. "Her fastball was the fastest thing I've ever seen, from that distance. It rises and cuts at the same time."
In 2006, Finch appeared in Season One of Pros vs Joes on Spike TV, a show in which sports stars compete with ordinary people. She was the first woman to appear on the show.
Finch appeared on an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
In 2008, Finch was featured as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice where she selected International Breast Cancer Research Foundation as her charity. She was fired by Donald Trump in the fourth week of the season.
In 2008, Finch also served as the Grand Marshal of the nationally televised McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Chicago.
Finch pitched for the National League in the 2010 Legends and Celebrities Softball Game, at Angel Stadium and the 2011 game at Chase Field.
In 2011, Finch co-authored Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself, with Ann Killion. The book is a collection of life lessons Jennie learned growing up playing sports. On November 6, 2011, just four and a half months after giving birth to son Diesel, Finch finished the New York Marathon with a time of 4:05:26, raising $30,000 for the New York Road Runners Youth Program.
Read more about this topic: Jennie Finch
Famous quotes containing the word media:
“The media network has its idols, but its principal idol is its own style which generates an aura of winning and leaves the rest in darkness. It recognises neither pity nor pitilessness.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so—called educational system, which is nothing more than a system of rewards and punishments based upon one’s ability to pledge loyalty oaths to Anglo culture. The media and the “educational system” are the prime sources of racism in the United States.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why—but the editorialists forget it—terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)