Editor's note: An Inside MLB and Inside Fantasy Baseball writer for two semesters, Peter Bendix writes about his trip to baseball's winter meetings.
Like most of my fellow seniors eyeing our rapidly approaching graduation, I am looking for a job. But unlike most of my classmates, I am attempting to break into the world of baseball operations.
Yes, following in the footsteps of Theo Epstein and Jon Daniels, I hope to work my way to the top of the sport's totem poll: the general manager.
However, there are only 30 teams, baseball operations departments are generally small, and demand for jobs far exceeds supply. I had been told by those in the game that the best way to network and be considered for an internship is to attend the winter meetings.
And so I found myself last month in the Opryland, a strange combination of an upscale elderly-care center and a cruise ship, in Nashville, Tenn. I was in search of baseball's Holy Grail: a job or internship. As per the advice of some people on the inside, I did not wear a suit, but like so many other hopefuls, I wore my heart on my sleeve. What follows are the impressions of a wide-eyed baseball fan set loose in the Mecca of the sport.
Most of the media members idled their time away in the main lobby. Various former players such as Steve Finley and Carl "T-Rex" Everett wandered about, likely looking for jobs. Current and former scouts reminisced about their playing days or discussed prospects they saw at the Arizona Fall League. Agents hawked their players and made contacts. Job hunters like me grinned and tried to fit in.
I met with people who work for major league teams and got in touch with all of my contacts: people I'd met while interning for the (no longer Devil) Rays, people I'd asked advice from a year or two ago and anyone else I'd ever asked about this business. I also e-mailed as many front office people as I could find on teams' websites, asking if they could spare some time to meet with me.
To my surprise, I received a decent response. By the end of my time in Nashville, I had met with 19 different people representing 13 teams. A friend of mine who worked for the Rays told me that the amount of meetings I had was impressive. Breaking into the business is incredibly difficult, and as one ex-scouting director I spoke with put it, you have to be "persistent, persistent, persistent" in order to break in.
After what I felt was a very productive - not to mention extremely fun - several days, I boarded a shuttle to the airport. I waited as a couple of other people boarded as well. One of them, I soon noticed, was none other than Tony Gwynn. I spent the entire ride talking baseball with Tony Gwynn, making that trip easily the best ride to the airport of my life.
I sat back and reflected on my time in Nashville while waiting for my flight. The entire experience had been surreal - nowhere else does such a conglomerate of well-known and high-ranking baseball people congregate at the same time. It was extremely cool, and also surprisingly normal. They might be famous, and they might be rich, but when they were standing in the hotel lobby with me, I couldn't help but think that they are just people.
Many of the men and women that I met were once in my position, waiting for their flight after experiencing their first winter meetings, hoping that they would get the chance to break into a baseball front office. Most of them started like me, a poor college student just hoping for the opportunity to work long hours for little pay.
I can only hope that, five or 10 years from now, I am privileged enough to answer an e-mail from a college senior asking for just 15 minutes of my time.
