Sunday, December 7th, 2008
So the honeymoon is over for me today after a day of reality checks and disappointment. For nine hours today, myself and somewhere in the area of five-hundred other job seekers spent time listening to some of the greatest minds in Minor League Baseball talk about the barriers of entry to the business of baseball. What was so disappointing to me was that many of the people talking this afternoon were explaining the barriers to entry to the sport, which I suppose might have helped some people, but I am in Las Vegas because I am trying my hardest to break into a sport that is incredibly difficult to enter – I assumed the risk before I came here and there is not a whole lot that can deter me from my mission. I imagine that most of the other people here this week are also in the same position. At one point, I decided to ask one of the high ranking officials in Minor League Baseball to give the audience a sales pitch as to why we should want to work in Minor League Baseball because at that point, no one had mentioned it. The response that was given was an excellent one – that despite the lack of compensation, the entry level positions are an opportunity to show ourselves to baseball and grow into the executive positions. Even though the majority of the PBEO Business of Baseball Workshop was spent talking about the gruesome details of entry into the sport, this was a silver lining to that event.
The next stage of the evening was the first night with the PBEO job fair, where I waited patiently to look at over 280 job postings with the other five-hundred people. This process proved to be a little disturbing as the job postings included between 15-20 jobs or internships in Major League Baseball. The remaining jobs that were posted were in the minors. With my experience in Tampa Bay and Atlanta, I chose to apply to the major league teams this evening, though I will look much closer at the minor league positions tomorrow. The following are the jobs that I have applied for as of this evening:
Video Scouting Intern, Baseball Info Solutions (Coplay, PA)
Extended Catch Program, Pittsburgh Pirates
Intern, Texas League
Intern, Houston Astros
Video Scouting Assistant, Detroit Tigers
Marketing Trainee, Atlanta Braves
Inside Sales Representative, San Francisco Giants
Clubhouse Assistant, Binghamton Mets
Clubhouse Assistant, Sarasota Reds
Corporate Partnerships Account Executive, Pittsburgh Pirates
Inside Sales Representative, Texas Rangers
Inside Sales Representative, Florida Marlins
Inside Sales Representative, Portland Beavers
Inside Sales Representative, Pittsburgh Pirates
Media Relations Intern, Houston Astros
Intern, Las Vegas 51’s
The most disappointing part to the day however besides the lack of available positions in Major League Baseball was that I learned that the major league and minor league versions of the Baseball Winter Meetings are occurring in different locations. Major League Baseball is being pent up in the Bellagio – perhaps the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen – while the minor league version of the meetings is happening in the Hilton. The distance between the two hotels is 2.5 miles, which will make for an uncomfortable and long day tomorrow and the next, but if I have to be at the Bellagio to get noticed, that is exactly what will happen.
Here’s to hoping that Monday will deal job seekers a new hand.
So the honeymoon is over for me today after a day of reality checks and disappointment. For nine hours today, myself and somewhere in the area of five-hundred other job seekers spent time listening to some of the greatest minds in Minor League Baseball talk about the barriers of entry to the business of baseball. What was so disappointing to me was that many of the people talking this afternoon were explaining the barriers to entry to the sport, which I suppose might have helped some people, but I am in Las Vegas because I am trying my hardest to break into a sport that is incredibly difficult to enter – I assumed the risk before I came here and there is not a whole lot that can deter me from my mission. I imagine that most of the other people here this week are also in the same position. At one point, I decided to ask one of the high ranking officials in Minor League Baseball to give the audience a sales pitch as to why we should want to work in Minor League Baseball because at that point, no one had mentioned it. The response that was given was an excellent one – that despite the lack of compensation, the entry level positions are an opportunity to show ourselves to baseball and grow into the executive positions. Even though the majority of the PBEO Business of Baseball Workshop was spent talking about the gruesome details of entry into the sport, this was a silver lining to that event.
The next stage of the evening was the first night with the PBEO job fair, where I waited patiently to look at over 280 job postings with the other five-hundred people. This process proved to be a little disturbing as the job postings included between 15-20 jobs or internships in Major League Baseball. The remaining jobs that were posted were in the minors. With my experience in Tampa Bay and Atlanta, I chose to apply to the major league teams this evening, though I will look much closer at the minor league positions tomorrow. The following are the jobs that I have applied for as of this evening:
Video Scouting Intern, Baseball Info Solutions (Coplay, PA)
Extended Catch Program, Pittsburgh Pirates
Intern, Texas League
Intern, Houston Astros
Video Scouting Assistant, Detroit Tigers
Marketing Trainee, Atlanta Braves
Inside Sales Representative, San Francisco Giants
Clubhouse Assistant, Binghamton Mets
Clubhouse Assistant, Sarasota Reds
Corporate Partnerships Account Executive, Pittsburgh Pirates
Inside Sales Representative, Texas Rangers
Inside Sales Representative, Florida Marlins
Inside Sales Representative, Portland Beavers
Inside Sales Representative, Pittsburgh Pirates
Media Relations Intern, Houston Astros
Intern, Las Vegas 51’s
The most disappointing part to the day however besides the lack of available positions in Major League Baseball was that I learned that the major league and minor league versions of the Baseball Winter Meetings are occurring in different locations. Major League Baseball is being pent up in the Bellagio – perhaps the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen – while the minor league version of the meetings is happening in the Hilton. The distance between the two hotels is 2.5 miles, which will make for an uncomfortable and long day tomorrow and the next, but if I have to be at the Bellagio to get noticed, that is exactly what will happen.
Here’s to hoping that Monday will deal job seekers a new hand.
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