What's life like in the Minor Leagues - Business Edition

by robber23 on Aug 18, 2010 4:00 PM PDT

I was just recently reading the post by FlashFire about what the minors are like for the players. Well as we can all imagine, its tough. They aren't paid well, they work sometimes 2-3 weeks straight. They work oftentimes 8-10 hours a day. Then travel, by bus, everywhere (AAA is the only level that doesn't at times). Doesn't matter that its an 8 hour drive and your leaving the ballpark at midnight, have a nice drive fellas. Hope you can sleep on the bus, cause your getting to Bakersfield at 6AM and gotta be back at the BP at 1.

Well I wanted to post something a little different concerning the plight of those in the minors. If it weren't for all the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes, these minor league players and organizations wouldn't have a viable location to work and learn. As a front office member of a Cal League Team for the past 4 years, I've seen many players and FO members burned out by the extreme involvement and sometimes crushing time requirements that the jobs entail. 90 to 100 hour work weeks are common in the minor leagues.

Check out this video attached. It is a quick 10 minute documentary filmed recently in Lancaster, and it showcases some of the "others" out there that make minor league baseball viable. This video has been out for a couple weeks, but MILB just today posted an article today and link for you to see.

Listen to the Radio guy. He tells it exactly how it is.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100818&content_id=13593818&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

Those of you still interested in working in the minor leagues, check out the Baseball Winter Meetings. Most don't realize that while all the Free Agents and GM's are making deals, hundreds of young and old college grads/professionals are fighting for a handful of minor league jobs. It is the definition of a meat market, but if you want in, you go to the meetings. Sometimes 500 people for 150 jobs. But hey, I had no experience...

PBEO.com is the Professional Baseball Employment Organization, and they will set you up, but you've gotta do the rest.

Anyone looking to get into the business, that isn't scared away after hearing all this, message me.

Enjoy.

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I'm off to Raley Field right now but I'll look at this later

I know one of these days I’m hoping to land a job doing photography more than as just a side hobby, but I also know it’s a pretty difficult field to really break into and make work as a primary source of income. Besides, shooting baseball would be about as seasonal as it is for the people who play it.

Last of the Ninth - Photography

by Flashfire on Aug 18, 2010 4:14 PM PDT reply actions

There's some really interesting stuff that goes on behind the scenes of minor league baseball franchises

I alluded to this in the other thread, but they’re really in a wholly different line of work than major league teams are. The major league teams want to organize games to develop prospects. The minor league teams want to sell a compelling-enough experience to draw fans whose entertainment dollars could easily be spent elsewhere. It’s a very strange-bedfellows sort of situation.

Apropos of this, I should plug Jim Bouton’s “Foul Ball,” which is a great look at the seamy underside of suburban politics, seen through the lens of efforts to get a historic stadium patched up and ready to host minor league ballgames. Part of the reason why I found it compelling is that it (bizarrely) turned out that I used to regularly play Magic: the Gathering with the son of one of the protagonists, but it’s a very interesting read in its own right.

"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.

by PaulThomas on Aug 18, 2010 4:21 PM PDT reply actions

That was an excellent book

Last of the Ninth - Photography

by Flashfire on Aug 18, 2010 5:40 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Great Point PaulT

Through the PDC (player development contract) that all teams have, both sides are inclined to assist the other in their goals. However, all baseball decisions are made by the Parent. All business decisions are the responsibility of the MILB franchise. But it is in the best interest of both sides to promote the other. MLB does this by sending the top prospect to the MILB team, while MILB reciprocates by providing the best learning environment possible.

Mission statement wise, MLB is about baseball and great players.

MILB is about family entertainment, the prospect of seeing young potential stars of course, but more so about a fun family entertainment outlet locally.

Who needs homeruns?

by robber23 on Aug 18, 2010 4:31 PM PDT reply actions