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RheaAnne Ramirez
RheaAnne and Erasmo Ramirez
- RheaAnne Ramirez tells PEOPLE exclusively about her unique love story with pro baseball player-turned husband, Erasmo Ramirez, which began when she was a mascot for the Tampa Bay Rays
- While RheaAnne was apprehensive about pursuing the romance in fear of risking her job, the couple dated in secret before eventually going public with their relationship
- RheaAnne and Erasmo are married today with three kids, excited to begin a new season with the Minnesota Twins as the MLB pitcher enters his 10th year as a professional baseball player
Envision the spherical baseball-head named Mr. Met of the New York Mets or the lime-green alien called Orbit of the Houston Astros. Mascots are key components of the MLB, responsible for bringing the energy in between innings — and most importantly, engaging the crowd.
In this specific case, a mascot on the Tampa Bay Rays caught the attention of a particular baseball player on the Florida-based team in 2015. RheaAnne Ramirez was beneath the mask, and pitcher Erasmo Ramírez was her number one fan.
In hindsight, the field was set for a love story penned for a fictional meet-cute that would ultimately become the baseball couple's reality — one complete with an engagement, a wedding and three children in the years that followed.
One decade later, RheaAnne opened up to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview ahead of the 2025 MLB Opening Day about her once-forbidden romance with the professional baseball player, Erasmo, whom she's proud to call her husband today.
Related: Former NFL Mascot Reveals 11 Surprising Rules He Had to Follow While in Costume (Exclusive)
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RheaAnne Ramirez
RheaAnne Ramirez and her husband, Erasmo Ramirez
Ironically, pursuing a professional mascot career was not RheaAnne's original game plan. When she was 17 years old, the Florida native — who's originally from St. Pete, the same city she'd eventually meet Erasmo in — applied to be a cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Rays, but then the unexpected happened.
"I got a call from the mascot department," RheaAnne vividly recalls. "I remember I was so upset because I was dead set on being a cheerleader. Every 17, 18-year-old girl wants to be a professional cheerleader. I was actually really upset by it."
Despite her apprehension and a bit of resentment at first, the natural-born entertainer accepted the costume-clad position... and embraced it. The Tampa Bay Rays have three main mascots — Raymond, DJ Kitty & Stinger — however, she began as a runner.
Specifically, that meant RheaAnne dressed in an oversized, PepsiCo-sponsored bottle costume (think Pepsi, Sierra Mist and Aquafina outfits with holes for arms, legs and face) and raced against her fellow mascot runners from the outfield to home plate during the fourth or fifth inning at games.
"I loved it. It was so much fun," she tells PEOPLE while looking back at her unique gig before being promoted to mascot coordinator and assistant after her first season employed by the Rays, where she'd help out the fuzzy-blue creature famously known as Raymond.
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RheaAnne Ramirez
RheaAnne Ramirez and PepsiCo mascots
RheaAnne traded her foam-filled frames and spirited duties for a mic'd-up headset and leadership responsibilities to guide the recognizable Raymond around the stadium. "I had to have the main mascot's back," she explains.
"I had to watch to make sure people weren't touching him and injuring him and getting in the way," RheaAnne continues, noting that she also had to monitor the mascot during pregame interactions with fans and players.
One day in April 2015, former Rays pitcher Ernesto Frieri approached RheaAnne randomly amid her pre-game responsibilities. Initially, she feared the mascot she was handling had disrespected a player or person in the stadium, which she says is "the number one no-no" while on the job.
"I thought he was about to lay into me and really yell at me," she recalls. "But he actually brought me to my now husband, Erasmo, and said, 'Hey, this is my friend and he really likes you'... And that was pretty much it for the first time we met!"
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RheaAnne Ramirez
RheaAnne Ramirez and Erasmo Ramirez
Funny enough, RheaAnne had no interest in dating a baseball player.
"I went into this saying, 'I'm not interested in a baseball player. I don't want anything to do with baseball players. I love this job. This is going to be my career. I'm going to work my way up the office,' " she tells PEOPLE, looking back now.
It was no swing and miss for Erasmo, however, who pitched himself to RheaAnne regardless.
"He passed me one day, I was on my phone, he took my phone, he texted himself off my phone and said, 'Hey, I'm not going to be back here anymore, so I gave you my number,' " she recalls of the relief pitcher, who'd often "make casual conversation" with her in the bullpen room during games.
Well, their conversation continued from in-person to text upon exchanging numbers, but RheaAnne emphasized that it "wasn't anything serious" due to the MLB's strict rules regarding staff and in-uniform player relationships.
RheaAnne explains, "If you're an MLB player or if you're an MLB employee, you can't talk to them. You can't ask for autograph, you can't fraternize... or you can be blacklisted." She generalizes, "Pretty much meaning you can't be hired at any other baseball stadium or in any MLB way."
Related: I'm a Jaguars Cheerleader 30 Years After My Mom Pioneered the Squad. Here Are the Biggest Ways It Has Changed (Exclusive)
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RheaAnne Ramirez
Erasmo Ramirez and Tampa Bay Rays mascot, Raymond
Career-focused and ambitious, the young and eager staff member who was successfully climbing the mascot ranks was careful not to jeopardize her job because she liked it "too much" and didn't want to risk a romance in exchange for getting fired.
This is the part of their love story that RheaAnne says "might sound crazy" for those unfamiliar with the mascot world; meanwhile, it's a pivotal turning point in the couple's relationship. The fuzzy, fictional Raymond was turning 16 years old — and naturally, had a blowout party to celebrate.
In short, several pro baseball players were flown into town to honor the mascot's birthday (well, anniversary since the sea dog-like creature was officially introduced to the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999), which is when Erasmo and RheaAnne actually got to talk for real.
The night took a turn when RheaAnne's ride unknowingly left without her, so Erasmo stepped up to the plate.
"He drove me home and then before I got out of the car, he goes, 'Well, I think you owe me a date now,' " RheaAnne says with a laugh, recalling they went on their first legitimate date three days later.
Related: NFL Cheerleader Sisters from Opposing Teams Compare Biggest Rules They Must Follow, from Early Call Times to Makeup Requirements
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RheaAnne Ramirez
RheaAnne and Erasmo Ramirez and their children
She was nervous of the consequences, so they kept their romance "on the down low" for about one year. Ultimately, her boss found out, in addition to her senior vice president, in the summer of 2016 — but they understood because the couple was "respectable about it."
It wasn't until the start of the 2017 MLB season that RheaAnne decided to quit her job, and finally, they went public with their relationship. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, that year, and wed in December 2018.
The mom of three now takes pride in getting to watch her husband "live out his dreams" as he continues his professional career with the Minnesota Twins this season.
"He's a 34-year-old man, but at his heart, he's still a four-year-old boy that loves T-ball, and he is getting to do that," she says nostalgically. "This will be his 10th year in the big leagues, technically, so I'm excited to see that huge milestone for him."
Going from an MLB mascot to baseball WAG was an unexpected trajectory for RheaAnne when reflecting on the decade gone by and the major milestones that've led to the family she's created today, but it's a life-changing one that truly came out of left field.
Read the original article on People
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