Kaitlin Maniscalco, a 23-year-old from Wantagh, New York, is a die-hard fan of the New York Yankees. When the Yankees hit a slump in August last season, she came up with a unique plan to help spark the offense. She decided that after every game, she would run a mile for each run scored and document her efforts on TikTok. In less than a year, she has gained over 20,000 followers on TikTok.
“I really love the Yankees and I kind of just wanted to do it to show a little bit more light about the situation,” Maniscalco recently told The Post.
Kaitlin Maniscalco has always been passionate about baseball and played softball at Ithaca College before graduating in 2021. Her father is a “huge” Yankees fan, and Maniscalco grew up enamored with the game. After graduation, she landed a job as a production assistant at the YES Network, where she worked as a researcher, highlights coordinator, and graphics coordinator. While at YES, she gained valuable insight into the sports media industry but departed in February to pursue other endeavors and grow her platform.
Now, Kaitlin Maniscalco runs her own brand “Ask Kait” on TikTok, where she practices being a reporter. Her ultimate goal is to become a sports reporter, and she cites Tampa Bay Rays sideline reporter Tricia Whitaker as a sports media personality she admires. Kaitlin Maniscalco also does freelance reporting for Adelphi Softball, works partly full-time on social media, and is a fitness coach for Orangetheory, which specializes in total-body group workouts.
“What’s even cooler is that there are a lot of fans from different teams that are tagging me in their videos and they’re also running a mile for every run their team scores the night before,” she said.
“I have some funny Red Sox fans that are saying, ‘Ugh, only two miles today’ because they can’t seem to score enough runs, but thanks ‘Ask Kait’ for the inspiration, so, it’s really cool that this little idea that I had is helping people get into running. I love to run, I think it’s a great form of exercise, so, it’s a lot of fun.”
Depending on her schedule, Kaitlin Maniscalco tries to run the miles in the mornings. She wakes up, watches the game from the night before, and calculates how many miles she will be running that day. She then goes on a run typically before 9 a.m.
Since gaining more traction on Twitter, Kaitlin Maniscalco has enjoyed connecting with fans of other MLB franchises, some of whom are even following in her footsteps. She loves seeing fans from different teams tagging her in their videos and running a mile for every run their team scores the night before.
“Typically I wake up, I have normally watched the game the night before, see how many miles I will be running that day, and I’ll try to go on a run typically before 9 a.m., so 7, 8 o’clock,” she said.
“It’s kind of crazy that I’ve centered around my days to just running these miles.”
With the Yankees currently second in the AL East standings at 11-7, Kaitlin Maniscalco has already pondered what her run could look like if the Bombers scored 20 runs in a game. She has even thought of ideas to get some of her followers involved and as a collective Yankee fan group, complete the 20 miles. However, in the case of a doubleheader, Maniscalco is still coming up with a game plan.
Kaitlin Maniscalco is humbled to see how her efforts have initiated a conversation within the MLB fandom. She believes that she is growing the baseball community as a whole, and her efforts are helping the Yankees because a lot of people are tuning in and wondering how many miles she will be running tomorrow. With the Yankees closing out a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, followed by a trio of matchups against the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, Kaitlin Maniscalco might have a busy few days ahead.
“I have thought of some ideas that maybe I could get some of the followers involved that also love running. We could kind of tag-team, I’ll take three, someone else will take three, and we can, as a collective Yankee fan group, complete the 20 miles,” she said with a laugh.
In the case of a doubleheader, however, Kaitlin Maniscalco is still coming up with a game plan.
“It was funny, MLB Network was talking about it a couple of days ago… and they were saying, ‘What happens if there’s a doubleheader,’ and I said, out of everything, I actually didn’t factor in the doubleheaders yet, so I’m still brainstorming on how to get two games complete.”
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