One Day, One Job » baseball

Steiner Sports

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:23:31 +0000

“Ball game over! World Series over! Yankees win! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WINNNNNNNNN!” Although I was watching tv and not listening on the radio, I heard John Sterling’s call in my head as soon as Cano threw to Teixeira to get the 27th out and a 27th World Championship. As you can probably guess, I’m a huge Yankees fan, and I’m in a great mood. Since we’ve already covered entry level jobs with Major League Baseball teams, entry level jobs with the YES Network, and plenty of other entry level jobs in baseball, today we’re going to take a look at Steiner Sports. They’re based out of New Rochelle, NY, and consider themselves the “the leader in autographed sports memorabilia and sports collectibles.” They also happen to have a very strong partnership with the New York Yankees, so they are the place to go for your 2009 Championship collectibles. Whether you want a seat from the old stadium or an official Championship locker room t-shirt, they’ve got it. You can even buy a Derek Jeter autographed 2009 World Series ball despite the fact that he probably hasn’t had time yet to sit down and sign autographs.

Collect Your Way to a New Job

I used to be really into sports memorabilia, but now I’m happy to just watch the game. Still, sports memorabilia is a huge market that seems to be going strong despite the decline of the collectible card industry. I guess people would much rather have something that is actually scarce like a game used jersey than a piece of cardboard that can be produced en masse. I guess that’s why Steiner Sports is now a “booming, 100-plus employee, $50 million enterprise.” Beyond the memorabilia and collectibles side of the business, there’s also Steiner Sports Marketing. It seems like an awesome company for sports fans, so if you’re intrigued, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a handful of openings posted including a B2B/Retail Sales position and a Direct to Consumer Account Executive position. The application instructions can be found on the Jobs page, so check out the full descriptions and make your job search something that you can commemorate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Yankees win!

SNY

Willy Franzen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:03:12 +0000

Last week we took a look at jobs with the YES Network, which was fun for me because I’m a huge Yankees fan. On the day that post went up, I got a direct message on Twitter from Charlie O’Donnell that said, “No SNY?” Since my buddy Charlie is a big Mets fan and the CEO of a very cool career related startup called Path 101, I had to give SNY a look—even if Interleague play, a Subway World Series, and Mets fans’ jumping on the Red Sox bandwagon has soured me on the team from Flushing. Still, the Mets are a big deal, they have a beautiful brand new stadium, and they even have their own TV network. SNY is “a 24/7 regional sports and entertainment television network that features up to 125 regular season New York Mets telecasts.” It’s available “in New York, Connecticut, most of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania,” and it’s also “the official year-round television home of the New York Jets.”

Say Yes to SNY

Whether you’re a Mets fan, a Jets fan, or a Yankees fan who just wants to get into the world of sports broadcast journalism, SNY might be a great place to get your start. They’re relatively new to the scene (2006), but as long as they have the rights to broadcast the Mets games, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in New York sports. To get an idea of what kind of job offerings SNY has you can head over to their Jobs page. The first think you’ll notice is that most of the jobs are freelance. If you’re not familiar with the television industry, that may sound scary, but it’s often how things work with tv networks. The available positions that appear to be most suitable for a new grad are Freelance Production Assistant and Multimedia Part-Time Avid Editor—all of the other job postings seem to be severely outdated. The online application process seems to be really confusing, so you may want to try networking your way into the job if you can.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Mets fan?

YES Network

Willy Franzen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:44:56 +0000

July 31st is always a holiday for me. Not only is it my Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!), but it’s also the Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline. It’s a day packed with excitement as winning teams trade away their future for a shot at winning it all this year. I usually spend the day glued to ESPN and MLB Trade Rumors, but this year I don’t think my Yankees are going to make any big moves (mostly because they’re only 1 game behind the best record in baseball). That means that I can sit back, relax, and watch the YES Network since I’m in Connecticut this weekend (which means I left Chicago where the Yankees are actually playing… ugh). The YES Network is pretty much all Yankees, all the time, except for when they show New Jersey Nets games, and because of that, they also happen to be “the most-watched regional sports network in the country.”

Make Them Say YES

As you may have noticed from the links in the opening paragraph, we’ve covered a lot of baseball related jobs. I have actually wanted to write a post on the YES Network for a long time, but they’ve never had anything remotely entry level posted on their Jobs page. That hasn’t changed, but I’ve realized that waiting around for a job postings is a good way not to get a job. If you want to get a job at YES, you’re going to need to be proactive. That means reaching out to them at jobs@yesnetwork.com with a résumé and cover letter in WORD format, and using LinkedIn to do some networking. If you check out the YES Network company profile, you’ll find all kinds of great information on what types of jobs they have and who works there. One of their more common job titles is Production Assistant, which looks to me to be geared towards the entry level. Landing a job at YES won’t be easy, but if you’re a Yankees fan like me (or you really want to get into the field of sports journalism/broadcasting), then it’s worth a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think the Yankees will win the World Series?

STATS

Willy Franzen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:20 +0000

I love statistics—especially when applied to sports—so it should be no big surprise that some of my favorite blogs include The Wage of Wins Journal, Sabernomics, and FanGraphs. Surprisingly, the statistical knowledge found on the best blogs these days is often far ahead of what you will find in the front offices of many major sports teams. The reason for the recent advancement in statistical sports knowledge of laypeople has a lot to do with how easy the Internet and computers have made it to collect and analyze in-depth data. A big reason that sports data is available is because of Northbrook, IL based STATS. Their story is pretty cool. They were founded in 1981 and “began as a grass roots operation tracking baseball in a unique, esoteric fashion.” Now, they’re “the world’s leading sports information, content and statistical analysis company.” I guess that numbers worked out for them.

Do Your STATS Match Up?

If you’re a sports stats geek like me, you’re probably already dying for a job with STATS. As you look more closely at the company, I think that your excitement will grow. They couldn’t be a bigger deal when it comes to sports statistics—they cover an insane number of sports, and their clients include the NFL, the NBA, CBS Sports, Google, Yahoo!, and quite a few other impressive names. So what about jobs at STATS? There are quite a few opportunities, and plenty of them appear to be suitable for new college grads. Current entry level positions include Part-Time Paralegal, Soccer Optical Tracking Position – Major League Soccer, Database Administrator, Computer Programmer, Data Collectors (Golf, Football, Baseball, or Soccer), and STATS Reporter. All of these jobs look awesome, so apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@stats.com (a few positions require you to apply in a different way, so be sure to check out all of the Job Listings first).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

And if you ever wondered about proper sports grammar, you need to check out STATS’ Style Sheet.

Rawlings

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:29:08 +0000

It’s Opening Day! Although it may not be a real holiday to you, to those of us who who are die hard baseball fans it’s quite possibly the best day of the year (especially fans of perennial losers whose best record all season is 0-0). I already had my baseball fix this weekend, since I flew out to NYC to see the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in an exhibition game between the Yanks and the Cubs, but I am beyond excited to watch some games that actually count. With that in mind, we’re going to run with the baseball theme today. We’ve already covered jobs with Major League Baseball and its teams, so we’re going to look at St. Louis based Rawlings today. They were the manufacturer of my first ever baseball glove (which had a Jose Canseco facsimile signature on the palm), so I inevitably think of Rawlings when I think of baseball. Their posted job offerings are a bit sparse, but hopefully you’ll use the good vibes from Opening Day to inspire your job search. (Remember: These posts aren’t just about the companies that we feature. They’re also about bringing creativity to your job search.)

Catch an Entry Level Job with Rawlings

In case you’ve never heard of Rawlings before, they make equipment for Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball. At their heart, though, they’re a baseball company. They produce all kinds of fun stuff – gloves, bats, balls, batting gloves, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, batting gloves, and much more. Unfortunately, their website is entirely in Flash (is this getting more common?), so we can’t link to all of the specifics. If you’re a baseball player like me, you’ll probably get lost looking at all of the cool stuff that they make. I remember poring over baseball catalogs for hours to decide which new bat I was going to get when I was in high school. Anyway, Rawlings is mostly a manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have interesting jobs for new college grads. Take a look at Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn, and you’ll see what kind of careers they typically offer. Right now, the only jobs they have posted are on Jarden’s Careers site (Jarden is Rawlings’ parent company), and they’re on the manufacturing side. If you don’t want to work on the line tanning gloves and dealing with chemicals, then do a little more research and see if you can find an in with Rawlings in another area of their business. You should also check out some of the links under the About Rawlings section on Rawlings’ home page – they have info on benefits and company kickball teams. Also, watch out for the blaring music that starts playing when you hit the home page. It’s pretty annoying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Rawlings.com
Jarden.com (Rawlings’ Parent Company)
Jobs at Rawlings (Jarden’s Corporate Careers Site)
Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn

What other baseball related jobs have you come across? Whose signature was on your first baseball glove?

Major League Baseball

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:51:01 +0000

I never thought that moving to Chicago would prolong the baseball season for me. Living in the New York City area gave me 13 straight years of October baseball, and now that I’ve left, both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will remain empty for the rest of the fall before they eventually face demolition. It’s lucky for me that I’m now living in a new city that happens to have two teams that are still in it. I get a 14th straight year of local baseball in October! Playoff baseball is by far the most exciting baseball of the year, but it also means that season will soon be over. Those of you who are baseball fans know how long the winter seems when there is only hot stove chatter to keep you entertained while you wait for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training. While you’re still excited about baseball, you should start thinking about how you can land a job with Major League Baseball. Jobs with the MLB are in hot demand, so it’s a smart move to get familiar with their hiring process as soon as you can.

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

As far as we can tell, there are 2 ways to get jobs in Major League Baseball – there are jobs with MLB.com and jobs with specific MLB teams. There also seem to be jobs directly with the league (I have a friend on Facebook who is a member of the Major League Baseball network), but I’m not sure how you can go about finding them online. Here’s a rundown of the two types of jobs that we’ve found and how you can apply for them.

MLB.com Jobs

MLB.com is part of MLB Advanced Media, which is a separate arm of Major League Baseball. They run all 30 team websites and allegedly have editorial independence from the league. Their focus is entirely on multimedia and production, but they offer all kinds of jobs. Right now, the only openings that may be suited to new college grads (and are still a stretch) are in Database Marketing and Marketing Production. MLB.com offers internships in Finance, Marketing, Club Marketing, E-Commerce, Legal, Technology, Sponsorship, Design, and Public Relations, so there are a number of areas in which jobs with MLB.com can pop up periodically. These jobs are located in New York City, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jlc@mlb.com.

Jobs with MLB Teams

There’s a separate site where you can search for jobs with all of the Major League Baseball teams. This is where the MLB follows the lead of other major sports leagues do and uses TeamWorkOnline to post their jobs. Right now there are listings from most of the teams (although only some are entry level), but this will probably change over time, as different teams have different hiring schedules. If you’re waiting to hear about jobs with a specific team, you can sign up for Job Notification e-mails or you can subscribe to the MLB Teams Jobs RSS Feed. There is an online application process for jobs with MLB teams, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to navigate.

The TeamWorkOnline site also lists some jobs with MLB Networks, so it’s possible that this is where they post opportunities with the league as they become available. We’re not sure about this, but we can’t find anywhere else that MLB jobs are posted. If you know anything about Major League Baseball’s hiring process, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who do you think is going to win the World Series?

MLB Trade Rumors

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:00:38 +0000

Typically, our daily posts focus on the best entry-level jobs for new college graduates. Occasionally we’ll talk about part-time gigs or freelance opportunities if they look especially interesting (and we’re saving internships for our next project… shhh), but we usually like to stay focused on full time jobs for new grads. Well, today we’re going to feature a “job” that is not paid, nor is it full time, but it is a great opportunity that could definitely help you pursue a passion for sports journalism.

MLB Trade Rumors is a blog filled with speculation on the baseball transaction market. It’s run by Tim Dierkes, who just quit his day job to go full time with the blog. Tim is a relatively recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a lifelong Cubs fan. He’s become the go-to-guy for when you want to find the latest on the moves your team might be making. Here’s a little more on MLB Trade Rumors.

Many of you will probably ask, “why would I want to blog for free at MLB Trade Rumors?” We’ll answer, “because blogging is quickly becoming the best way to jump start a journalism career.” Whether you’re looking to build your resume, expand your network, or get your writing in front of tens of thousands of eyeballs, MLB Trade Rumors is a great place to build a reputation as a sports writer. They get over 20,000 unique visitors per day with over 100,000 daily page views. Tim has also developed great relationships with many of the sports writers who cover local MLB teams. And there’s always the chance that with solid performance and further growth of the site, this could become a paying gig.

Tim is looking for 5-10 part-time bloggers to help him write posts and develop the site. Check out his “job posting” (this post has now been deleted) and see if you have what it takes to be a baseball rumor monger.

Although this isn’t really a job opportunity, it has the potential to help you advance your career; moreover, it’s something that you can do from your dorm room while you’re still in college. We want to know if you’d like to see more opportunities like this one or if you’d prefer that we stick to traditional job opportunities. Leave a comment and give us feedback so that we can do our best to keep bringing you intriguing jobs every day.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at MLB Trade Rumors.

Harlem RBI

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 13:00:11 +0000

Were you a baseball fan growing up? Was the floor of your room often covered in baseball cards? Did you spend more time oiling your glove than actually playing with it? Did your Mom make you throw away your favorite team’s cap because you absolutely wore it out? It’s amazing how your love of a sport can define your childhood. Harlem RBI is a non-profit organization that is cultivating that love of sport in New York City’s youths. Through the power of teams, the kids that participate in Harlem RBI’s programs are given the opportunity to play, learn, and grow – hopefully into graduates who are physically fit, confident, caring, and work-ready or headed for college.

Harlem RBI is an organization that has big dreams, but is also showing results. Since 2004, 96% of Harlem RBI Seniors graduated from high school and 93% were accepted to college, while 100% of Harlem RBI youth have avoided teen parenthood. Harlem RBI has also earned a 4-star rating on charity navigator. By putting kids on teams (usually a teams link directs you to an organization’s staff, but Harlem RBI actually has over 3 dozen baseball and softball teams as a part of their mission) and combining the baseball aspect with after-school programs, Harlem RBI is maximizing the potential of its participants through consistently high involvement in their lives.

Harlem RBI is offering a nice mix of full and part time positions that might appeal to entry-level baseball lovers. The best fit for most new grads who are looking for a job might be the Grant Writing Associate position, since it is the most similar to other entry-level jobs that you might be considering; however, you may also want to take a look at the Senior Program Coordinator job, which is not exactly entry-level, but could be an excellent fit for a recent college graduate with extremely strong volunteer experience. Harlem RBI is also offering a number of part-time positions that have varying levels of time commitment. They might be a nice paid alternative to volunteer work (since getting by in New York City isn’t easy), or they might be a fun second job. We especially think (and we could be wrong) that these part-time jobs would mesh well with a teaching fellowship position. Harlem RBI currently has part-time openings as a Baseball Coordinator, After School Program Teacher, or After School Program Assistant.

Think about how much baseball meant to you as a kid. Why not find a job that allows you to share your passion with inner-city kids.

Note: On April 27th we revisited entry-level jobs at Harlem RBI.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What is your fondest baseball memory as a kid? Tell us in the comments.