Harper Tweet has gone to Mighty Mussels games since she was one.
Always accompanied by her mother, Paloma, the now-4-year-old has made Hammond Stadium her home, especially the berm.
Harper loves rolling around in the grass, watching the Friday night fireworks, and enjoying Hammond's sweet treats. She says ice cream is one of her favorite parts of the games.
Paloma quickly recognized her daughter's passion for the Mighty Mussels, which sparked an idea.
"I was looking for children's stories to read to her, about baseball," Paloma said. "I found a handful of them, but not a whole lot that were for her age group. So, I thought it'd be fun to just write a story about her love from her perspective."
So, Paloma, who is not an author, instead works in leadership development, set out to write a children's book. After years of writing, rewriting, and working with an illustrator, "All of My Might" was born.
"It's supposed to be an empowering children's story about one little girl's love for baseball and her dream to become a baseball player," Paloma said. "There's a lot of fun highlights from Mighty Mussels games that are throughout the book. It is written from [Harper's] perspective."
Harper is the main character of the book. Paloma tried to make it as authentic to her daughter's experiences as possible, even illustrating her in the book.
"I think one of the messages I wanted to come across in the book is when you have a dream, the first step is committing to it with all of your might," Paloma said. "It definitely was a labor of love."
That love is evident. The Mighty Mussels heard about Paloma and Harper's story and wanted to get involved. So, they are now selling All of My Might in the Hammond Stadium gift shop.
"What I love about this is, we are consistently trying to drive home the message of affordable family fun, and what says affordable family fun more than a children's book about coming to your ball game," Mighty Mussels managing partner John Martin said.
The book has been a hit so far, both in the gift shop and in the team's front office.
"I think every single member of the Mussels staff has picked up the book and read it cover to cover at this point in time," Martin said.
The Tweets are thrilled with the positive response and hope their story will inspire other girls and boys to chase their dreams.
"When you have a dream, go for it with all of your might," Paloma said. "Pursue it, whether it's baseball or anything else. The first step in that is just committing to it with all of your might."
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