5-Step guide to getting a job in pro baseball

Do you want a job in professional baseball or to begin a career in pro sports? A former Minor League Baseball Assistant General Manager offers five steps.

Across the country, the Minor League Baseball season is over. Before you know it, the World Series will have come and gone, and the long, dark winter will push America’s pastime to the back burner, or rather, the hot stove.

Much like trades and free agency move players from city to city, many front office executives are also on the move to new opportunities. Some retire, others leave for a traditional nine-to-five or to start a business. Some are promoted within an organization, while others leave town for a chance to become the head honcho for a new club, and countless interns scramble to find a full-time job somewhere. Anywhere. For those eyeing an opportunity to work in the game at the minor league level, now is the time to act.

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For most MLB fans, working in baseball is the ultimate dream job. At worst, going to the ballpark every day beats the hell out of sitting in a cubicle in an office building or patrolling a used car lot. Of course, not everyone on the outside looking in realizes the commitment it takes to work in pro sports.

Arguably the most important trait an aspiring pro baseball front office executive can have is a strong work ethic. Despite what many fans think, the hours are long and hard for baseball front office executives. It’s very common for an executive to arrive at the ballpark earlier than 8AM for a 7PM game, and then stay several hours after the game is over. Therefore, over the course of a seven-game home stand, it’s very possible for a baseball executive to work more than 100 hours in a week.

Because of the long hours, and perhaps more so because of the overall depth and breadth of the roles and responsibilities a single front office executive plays in his day-to-day capacity, work ethic is vital. So is time management. But what about when the team is on the road? Or when there is no baseball during the offseason? In most cases the workload is much easier, though it reverts back to the usual 40 to 50 hours a week most Americans work in any other professional capacity.

For instance, as the Assistant General Manager of the Pioneer League Helena Brewers (Rookie affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers), my off-season duties included selling season tickets, mini-plans and sponsorship packages. This included roughly 100 phone calls and email inquiries each week, either as a first attempt to gain a meeting in hopes of new business or in following up with clients. I also had the responsibility, along with the general manager and our other full-time front office staff members, of planning the various promotions we would schedule at each of our 38 home games, coordinating the concession stand menus, making sure the ballpark was cleaned in preparation for winter, and much, much more.

In season, as part of the 100 hours a week, I called on clients to service their accounts, particularly those with upcoming corporate picnics at any of our upcoming ballgames (as many as three separate picnics per game), set the schedule for the picnic workers, coordinated the appropriate number of hot dogs, hamburgers, bags of chips, soda cups and all the other necessary food and beverage items with our Director of F&B, as well as cleaned the areas in preparation for that night’s game – including sweeping the concourse to and from each picnic area and wiping down tables and railings with cleaning solution.

I would personally deliver game tickets and picnic entry wristbands to those attending the respective events and coordinate any last minute requests from clients. And, of course, there were often fires to put out for one reason or another. Occasionally, an actual fire.

We were a very small front office, which meant that each employee handled a more varied role than those with bigger staffs in bigger markets. Overall, though, time and effort demands are similar in nearly every city and with every team. Full-season clubs play 70 games or more in a year, so we had twice as long to prepare for half the number of games, which is one benefit to working for a short-season team.

Working in baseball is kind of like seeing how the sausage is made. If you are a huge fan of the game, you might be better off watching from the stands. But, if you know what you are getting yourself into, and want to pursue a career in pro sports, here is a five-step guide to increase your chances of getting a job in professional baseball.

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