Professional Sports Careers: Minor League Baseball Jobs

Minor League sports are big on fun! A baseball fan once went to three home games in one week: Seattle Mariners, Tacoma Tigers and Atlanta Braves. Which game did he enjoy the most? "The Tigers game!" Recently, he went to Tacoma to see this Mariners cub team—since renamed the Tacoma Rainiers—along with, in their only West Coast appearance of the year, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Whether it's world-famous entertainment, free stuff for the first thousand kids in the gate or just a great ballgame up close, it is fun to watch these local teams.

"I love the intimacy of the parks, the fact that there isn't a bad seat in the house. That might sound like a cliché; but as I've learned, most clichés are born of truth," says MLB.com Sports Reporter Lisa Winston. "I love the accessibility of the players (well, most of them, anyway). . . Odds are, if a player takes that extra time to single out a kid and make him feel special, he has made a fan for life."

"I love it!" Jim Rohr sums up his minor league baseball job of Assistant General Manager with the Toledo Mud Hens, "I love all aspects of the job, but particularly the people."

Ron McKee was once a batboy for the Minor League Baseball Class A team, the Asheville Tourists. For 23 years now, he's been the Tourists General Manager. He loves his job, and he's good at it. He's tripled the annual attendance. McKee feels this way about it: "I want only the best for the fans. It's like they are in my home."

There are a lot of things to like about your home-town team. Another thing about working with them is that it is a way up the career ladder. Some of the higher positions in the Major Leagues that you can move up to from here are these:

• Director of Baseball Operations
• Director of Minor League Operations
• Coach
• Manager

A way to greatly improve your odds of getting into management in the minors, or any professional sports league, is to get a master's in Sports Management or Sports Administration. Knowledge of the sport and an internship is obviously important too.

Minor League Baseball operates an official job placement service for their clubs, as well as for the Major League Baseball teams. Called Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities (PBEO), it allows you to register and include your resume in the database. Teams go to that database for new employees.

Here's a tip: most job openings come up between September and February.

What kind of jobs? All kinds of sports jobs!

• Marketing
• Corporate Sales
• Ticket Sales
• Ticket Operations
• Merchandise Operations
• General and Assistant General Manager
• Stadium Operations
• Field Maintenance Jobs
• Clubhouse/Equipment Manager
• Food Services
• Media Relations
• Public & Community Relations
• Play-By-Play
• Administrative Assistant
• Business/Accounting/Finance
• Computer/IT
• Mascot Jobs
• Sports Internships

Lacie Randall's first job with a Major League team came through this system. Randall is Account Executive for the Texas Rangers and for the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Reporter Alyson Footer's job with the Major League Houston Astros came from this source. Mark Viniard, Assistant General Manager of Marketing and Promotions for the Charlotte Knights, told PBEO "thanks for all that you do for the teams. We appreciate all of the work you do to help us find qualified candidates."

Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities
Post Office Box A
St. Petersburg, FL 33731
Toll-Free: 1-866-WE-R-PBEO
Fax: 1-727-821-5819
e-mail: info@pbeo.com
http://www.PBEO.com

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