Does anyone know how you would go about becoming a GM in real life? I think I heard you have to go to law school or something. Do people make careers trying to become GM's or do you just work in baseball and work your way up?
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Does anyone know how you would go about becoming a GM in real life? I think I heard you have to go to law school or something. Do people make careers trying to become GM's or do you just work in baseball and work your way up?
Working in baseball and working your way up is by far the most common way..if not the only way.
What job do people start with?
Consider going to this college:
http://www.isenberg.umass.edu/sportmgt/
The Pirates GM and many other prominent baseball officials went there as well...
Springfield in Massachusetts is a good school to go for anything sports related as well.
You don't necessarily have to go to Law School (though Theo Epstein did graduate from Yale with a degree in Law and passed the California bar examination), but it probably couldn't hurt. A lot of GM's are former minor league ball players.
I'm pretty sure most GM's start out in marketing or PR (again, where Epstein started) or scouting (as others like Kevin Towers, I think, did) and work their way up the ladder.
A good degree to go for if you want to work in professional sports in just about any capacity is a degree in Sports Management (which is what I intend to go for).
You want to make sure you go to a school with a prominent program in Sports Management with good internship connections, so that once you graduate you already have good experience with being inside an organization and seeing and knowing generally how its run and so you can get a good recommendation.
I didn't realize that was UM-A. That's one of my other top schools because of my intended field of study, Sports Management.Quote:
Originally Posted by metsguy234
This is actual what I want to be :D
I am going to school and taking a bunch for Business and Marketing classes. Luckily my school has a whole line of "Sports and Entertainment" Marketing classes I am going to take. I am also in the FBLA (Future BUsiness Leaders of America) and hoping to get a job in the Front Office.
One of the good things to be also is connected.
The girl who lives across the hall from me interned with the Brewers this summer. Next summer she might be going to the Cubs. She is getting good references and might be working within the league as soon as she graduates.
Her dad is connected, her neighbor back home is none other then John Elway and she goes to Metro State College in Denver.
Yeah, that's what I was talking about with going to a prominent school with good connections. Its really hard to get a job in professional sports without a good internship and good connections.Quote:
Originally Posted by OregonDuck1989
Bingo. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by OregonDuck1989
Learn how to network. Then network some more.
Does it help that I can trace my roots to the 10th century Spanish royal Family (Not sure what medieval Sanish kingdom it was, I believe Castille)? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by OregonDuck1989
I would also love to play baseball or be a GM. And, Danny, at this point scouts make up the majority of GMs. But that figure is changing towards college grads of business schools
A lot of those scouts are also former minor league players, more than likely.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedsoxRockies
Yeah, your best bet is probably to go to a school with a good Sports Management program (Springfield College and University of Massachusetts - Ameherst are two good examples) and to get a good internship. Even then the chances of ever becoming a GM of a Major League Baseball team are very, very slim, but that's probably the best way to go.
Personally, my dream, probably since I was in around seventh grade, has been to become a GM for any Major League Baseball team, and I'm fully aware that's a very high goal in a very competitive field, but its basically what I've always wanted.
George Costanza was a nobody with no baseball experience, and look at the job HE got.
Trying to become a GM is like trying to become an astronaut, I'm sure.
But look at someone like Bill James... he got a job in the majors from being a writer. You can be an outsider, and as long as you know a whole lot about baseball, it's not impossible to make it out of the blue. Very rare though...
George Costanza, there's a good example :rolleyes: :p.Quote:
Originally Posted by justanewguy
As for James, he wasn't just a writer, but a mathematician, and an all-around very, very smart man, before changing the game of baseball as we know it with his research. His case is a very, very rare and unique, one that is unlikely to ever be duplicated. I wouldn't be surprised to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame as a pioneer.
I'd be mildly surprised, although I wholeheartedly support his induction.Quote:
Originally Posted by YEAH DAAAAWG
There you go. Forget college... start writing for Boomboom's blog!Quote:
Originally Posted by justanewguy
He's changed the way players are evaluated and statistics (in a sport where statistics are looked at and ingrained into the sport more than any other major American sport, if that makes any sense) so much that I think it would be a crime if he wasn't inducted. I don't always agree with sabr-heads and how strictly they follow stats, but his impact on the game is undeniable.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Agreed....but the gatekeepers of the HOF don't like change. Just look at how they've inducted Bowie Kuhn into the Hall of Fame, but not Marvin Miller, who nearly singlehandedly took on the owner's and got rights for players, and who's effect on the game is ridiculously gigantic and unmistakable.Quote:
Originally Posted by YEAH DAAAAWG
I was unaware of him, but I'll look him up and learn a bit more about it, and either way its a fair point.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
I'd still bet on James getting in.
The best connection I have:
My friend is neighbors with Jesse Crain's former college (personal) pitching coach :)
A general overview:Quote:
Originally Posted by YEAH DAAAAWG
He was the executive director of the Player's Union from 1966 to 1982, overseeing the removal of the reserve clause and the introduction and "cultivation" of free agency. He negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in the game. He introduced arbitration into baseball. The average salary for a MLB player rose from $19,000 to $241,000 during the time that Miller headed the MLBPA.
If that's not one of the largest impacts from a singular person on the game, than I don't know what it is. And if having what is arguably the greatest impact on the game of any one person isn't enough to get someone into the Hall of Fame...I don't know what is.
Though I do want to work in the majors, though not as a GM. I think a college scout would be much better, a GM job is not as glamorous as it sounds, not like it is in mogul leagues. True, you are in charge, but I would much rather be a head scout or something along those lines.
Yeah, I looked him up on wikipedia, and it would seem to me as if hes had as much of an impact on modern baseball as anyone. Based on what I read, he definitely deserves induction.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
I assume you are looking at Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein. The new wave so we can say. I know Theo played college ball. I dont think Cashman did. What they have in common is that they both started as interns in college. Getting an unpaid internship for a ball team, Major or Minor, is like winning the lottery. I turned down an unpaid internship for a AA club back in 93. I wish I hadnt. If it is offered, take it.
Danny, Guys, just go to Steinbrenner, and show him the screenshot of you piloting the '77 Jays to the World Series!:D
Bill James a pioneer? He wasn't the first in his field, or even the most skilled in his field.
He popularized it, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by boa
He wasn't a pioneer, but rather somebody who brought it to the masses.Quote:
Originally Posted by boa
There's no question in my mind that Marvin Miller deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Of course, he'll never get in...look at the people who'd have to vote for him: for the most part, baseball executives. The guys that he took on in order to change the game. These are notoriously thin-skinned guys with petty egos that are used to getting their way through the judicious application of lots of money - and Miller beat them at their own game. If he did get in, I'm not so sure one of them wouldn't sneak in at night and deface his marker with a spray-paint can...as long as they are the acting gatekeepers, he'll be kept out.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
This is good advice for any profession.Quote:
Originally Posted by BINGLEBOP
Speaking of networking, there are a few people that are employed by a Major League team in BMO. Actually if you just look at the IL30 roster, you will see a few of scouts, and front office people.
The main question in this thread is kind of like asking, "How do I become CEO of Wallmart?" Same answers, too--start at the bottom and work your way up, get a good education in the relative field, and/or be born into the right family. Don't have to be a lawyer for either job.
There are a couple other interesting questions brought up:
That was essentially enough to get Henry Chadwick in. Personally, I'd put James or Ernie Lanigan in ahead of Chadwick.Quote:
He popularized it, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by boa
Bill James a pioneer? He wasn't the first in his field, or even the most skilled in his field.
Actually, his selection is in the hand of the Veterens Committee, which is now made up of all living HoFers, which means mostly the guys that he took on the owners and execs in behalf of. Which makes it a bit surprising to me that they haven't voted him in. In my personal opinion, he definately deserves induction; even though I generally detest unions (and unions of pro athletes in particular), there is no doubt that he had a very substantial impact.Quote:
There's no question in my mind that Marvin Miller deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Of course, he'll never get in...look at the people who'd have to vote for him: for the most part, baseball executives. The guys that he took on in order to change the game
What's particularly interesting is that when the VC was made up of former players, Miller was nearing election, getting over 60% in the votes....Then, for whatever reason, perhaps coincidence or perhaps not, the makeup of the VC was changed to mostly consist of executives....and Miller's vote totals dropped substantially.Quote:
Originally Posted by oriole^
Well, NOW, the VC isn't made up of all living HoFers. It was in 2003 and 2007, and the VC elected NOBODY...Miller, though, received the highest vote percentage among executives, with 63%. Then, the VC was changed to a 12 man committee, 10 of which were non-players. Miller got 3 of the 12 votes. The cynics among us, and Miller himself, would say that this was a change done for the purpose of keeping Miller out...Here's a quote from Miller..."I find myself unwilling to contemplate one more rigged Veterans Committee whose members are handpicked to reach a particular outcome while offering a pretense of a democratic vote. It is an insult to baseball fans, historians, sportswriters, and especially to those baseball players who sacrificed and brought the game into the 21st century. At the age of 91, I can do without farce."Quote:
Originally Posted by dps
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Well, I knew that they'd eventually change it, since the HoFers themselves weren't electing anyone. I missed that it was already changed, though. When did this happen, and who are the members?
I personally don't know who the members are, but a good majority of them are the very owners whose wallets were lightened because of Miller's work.Quote:
Originally Posted by dps
The change was made prior to this year's balloting. The ballot for the umpires and managers was voted on by a separate committee than the ballot for the executives. From Wikipedia, the executive ballot was voted on byQuote:
Originally Posted by dps
- Hall of Famers: Monte Irvin, Harmon Killebrew
- Executives:
- Retired: Bobby Brown, John Harrington
- Active: Jerry Bell, Bill DeWitt, Bill Giles, David Glass, Andy MacPhail
- Media: Paul Hagen, Rick Hummel, Hal McCoy
This committee elected the man that Marvin Miller opposed throughout his entire career, Bowie Kuhn...but not Miller.
Bill James is pretty much the most overrated person in baseball. Period.Quote:
Originally Posted by boomboom
Yeah. None of his work is good, and he certainly wasn't influential. Nor does he work for one of the best-run organizations in the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by boa