By Jesus Romero |Coyote Contributor|
Blood, sweat and baseball.
Those three little words basically describe my life a year after graduating from Cal State University, San Bernardino.
I now live in Visalia, California, which is located in the Central Valley of California about 40 minutes south of Fresno.
I work for the Visalia Rawhide, a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After graduating in June of 2011 I was excited and scared at the same time about where I would end up and where I would work. I knew I wanted to work in sports, primarily in baseball.
After the summer I landed a job with the Rawhide and have not stopped working since. Just because there is no baseball during the months of November–March, doesn’t mean there is no work to get done.
I moved up to Visalia in October to work in the front office as the Groups and Events Coordinator and Hispanic Marketing Coordinator.
In Minor League baseball we do many jobs like sales calls, presentations, community appearances, bartender, the mascot, groundskeeper, taking videos, working social media, wedding planner, (yes wedding planner) because of a promotion that the ball club does every year and so much more.
At least, I can put all these on a resume at the end of the year.
During the off-season it is up to the front office to get sponsorship and sell season tickets for the ball club. Many teams actually rely on sponsorship just to make a profit at the end of the year.
Again during the off-season it is the normal 8a.m.–5p.m. work days, but during the regular season it is a different story.
When the team is at home our schedule is usually from 8a.m. until about an hour after the game ends, which is about 11 p.m. or 12 a.m.
After a seven game homestand we are working about over 100 hours a week and most of us are worn out. The long hours aren’t bad because in college I would work two jobs and go to school.
Everyone might be thinking that this isn’t too bad for money because I am racking up a ton of hours. Wrong. Obviously, I am not doing it for the money I am getting paid with experience.
Just like the ball players moving up to the big leagues, that is exactly what I am trying to do. And I will get there. I just have to put in some years and make some great contacts, which I already have in my short time.
All in all, I love my job and the people I work with.
Most people have “a case of the Mondays” while I get to go to the ballpark.