Getting a job in baseball?

[Stupid Flanders]

Just curious.. I've been in IT now for 10 years, and it's ok, but to be quite honest it's always been my dream to work for an MLB club. I have a strong knowledge of the history of the game and the current state of affairs. I see there are people here that work for things like mlb.com, and associated baseball interests and was curious how one gets into this sort of thing. I'd be happy with an administrative position (no, not General Manager or "baseball" oriented position - after all, clubs are still businesses and need the same facilities other businesses need) or IT/web position. Any suggestions? I live in SD but the Padres never list any job openings at all other than the peanut vendor types.

[SuperMario66]

I live in Tulsa and our local minor league club lists positions for backup bullpen catchers and things like that, but never front office type jobs. Not totally sure who would know.

[YanksRockMan]

The Phillies always have listings for job opportunities (I have seen a couple dealing with marketing and site management).

[AJW]

Originally posted by Stupid Flanders
Just curious.. I've been in IT now for 10 years, and it's ok, but to be quite honest it's always been my dream to work for an MLB club. I have a strong knowledge of the history of the game and the current state of affairs. I see there are people here that work for things like mlb.com, and associated baseball interests and was curious how one gets into this sort of thing. I'd be happy with an administrative position (no, not General Manager or "baseball" oriented position - after all, clubs are still businesses and need the same facilities other businesses need) or IT/web position. Any suggestions? I live in SD but the Padres never list any job openings at all other than the peanut vendor types.

Hell, you are lucky you still have a job in the IT field. I am lucky too as I was unemployed for 16 months and just got a job last August. What's funny I was in San Diego back in February of 1998 and was thinking of relocating from NJ to San Diego. The problem was I could not find any IT work in the San Diego area so I had to stay put. Just consider yourself lucky enough to have a job. As far as getting a job in MLB I know some people that work for the NHL and the NFL and you either have to have an in with someone or know someone that has contacts. Good luck to you though.

[Soriambi]

I actually read a book on this topic a while back. At baseball's winter meetings, there is a huge job fair with all kinds of baseball jobs. Most of them are for minor league clubs, but it's rare that you get a paid job with a MLB team right off the bat. The minor league jobs pay very poorly and they might not be something you want to do, but you need to get your start somewhere. If you're interested in this I can go find the book and give you the book's name or some more info.

[NJ Fan]

Originally posted by Stupid Flanders
Just curious.. I've been in IT now for 10 years, and it's ok, but to be quite honest it's always been my dream to work for an MLB club. I have a strong knowledge of the history of the game and the current state of affairs. I see there are people here that work for things like mlb.com, and associated baseball interests and was curious how one gets into this sort of thing. I'd be happy with an administrative position (no, not General Manager or "baseball" oriented position - after all, clubs are still businesses and need the same facilities other businesses need) or IT/web position. Any suggestions? I live in SD but the Padres never list any job openings at all other than the peanut vendor types.

First thing I'd do is change my name! "Stupid" just doesn't seem like the name of a serious applicant!

Check this site once in a while. Since you're a techhie type, MLB.com might allow you to stay in San Diego (America's Finest City) AND work for MLB.

http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/of...b_postings.jsp

[miko]

Funny I should read this thread and then stumble across the link for the job fair in the same afternoon.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/jobs/

The ad for the job fair is at the bottom of the page.

Miko

[ed]

Long hours and not a lot of money... good luck to you!

Seriously, you might want to go back to school and get a sports marketing degree, that seems to be the big area right now.

There's also this Web site, but I don't know how good they are:
http://www.sportscareers.com/

[Stupid Flanders]

Originally posted by Soriambi
I actually read a book on this topic a while back. At baseball's winter meetings, there is a huge job fair with all kinds of baseball jobs. Most of them are for minor league clubs, but it's rare that you get a paid job with a MLB team right off the bat. The minor league jobs pay very poorly and they might not be something you want to do, but you need to get your start somewhere. If you're interested in this I can go find the book and give you the book's name or some more info.

Yeah, that sounds good. If you know the book's name, I'm sure I could find it.

[backstop20]

http://minorleaguejobs.com/

[YClipper5]

Being in the sports industry for the past 12 years, I can tell you that the area that is the "easiest" to jump into is the ticket sales department. Generally speaking, teams are more agreeable to add to head count when it is in a revenue producing area. Locally, I usually hear that the NY teams (outside of football) are hiring in the ticket sales area.