Tag Archives | Baseball

How to Become General Manager of a Major League Baseball Team

By on August 24, 2010 in Sports Jobs

I connected with Mark Shapiro two years ago at the Princeton Sports Symposium, and had a great time getting to know more about his professional career in Major League Baseball. He came from humble upbringings, but through his hard work and perseverance, he worked his way up to become the Vice President and General Manager of the Cleveland Indians and was recently promoted to become team president for the club next season. Mark’s journey has been an inspiring one and his rags-to-riches story has something that we can all take away in our own journey to success in the sports world.

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The Rise of Marucci Sports

By on August 10, 2010 in Sports Business

In 2002, two former LSU athletes were rehabbing their recent injuries with Jack Marucci back in Baton Rouge the topic of conversation turned towards Marucci’s recent hobby. This hobby eventually led Eduardo Perez of the St. Louis Cardinals to do something no one else had done yet in Major League Baseball history. By taking a different approach to the business and providing a higher quality product to the market, Marucci helped create a whole new ballgame.

Jack Marucci, the Head Athletic Trainer at Louisiana State University first started perfecting the craft of hand-made wooden baseball bats as a hobby, originally making them for his son. As the two former LSU athletes, Kurt Ainsworth and Joe Lawrence, rehabbed, they spoke of what to do after their professional MLB careers. Marucci’s hand crafted bats became that future. By 2003, the focus on detail and quality craftsmanship to ensure every hand crafted bat was a ‘gamer’ brought them into ‘on deck’ circles and into the batter’s box.

Kurt Ainsworth was a former LSU All-American and 1st Round draft pick by the San Francisco Giants. He also played on the Gold Medal winning Olympic team in 2000. Joe Lawrence was a former USA Today high school All-American and played professionally for the Toronto Blue Jays. After 8 years in professional baseball Joe returned to LSU to play football.

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Alex Rodriguez and the Asterisk

By on August 5, 2010 in Sports Business

Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in Major League Baseball history to hit 600 home runs, only the 7th ever to hit that milestone… Finally (A-Rod had gone 46 at-bats after his 599th home run before breaking the 600 mark). At 35 years and 8 days old, Rodriguez beat Babe Ruth to number 600 by just over a year and a half. And to reach a milestone that only seven players have ever reached over the course of more than a century is absolutely amazing. However, the big home run wasn’t nearly the event it could or should have been, because of A-Rod’s 2009 admission that he took performance enhancing drugs.

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Baseball Fans Sidetracked

By on July 29, 2010 in Sports Business

While Major League Baseball diehards were tuned into each of their favorite teams’ games during everything from LeBron-athon to World Cup soccer, and especially their all-star game, it wasn’t easy for it to hold the attention of the masses according to W. Scott Bailey in the San Antonio Business Journal.

It was reported that Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, broadcast by FOX, received a 7.5 Nielsen rating which makes it as the least watched Midsummer Classic in history.

My initial thought as we head toward the start of National Football League training camps: is there any sport or off-season activity that would distract NFL fans from their season?

Is baseball officially not America’s Pastime anymore? We’ve long heard that professional baseball television ratings pale compared to the NFL and even the NBA, much of the latter which is broadcast on cable outlets. But a scripted special about where an NBA free agent is going to play next and – soccer?

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Interview with Robert Wuhl

By on June 23, 2010 in Sports Business

Here is an interview with Robert Wuhl, writer, comedian, and actor who starred as a sports agent in the HBO show Arliss. Wuhl shares with us his thoughts with the current state of sports and how media has changed the presentation of players. Wuhl is an Emmy Award winner and also starred in Cobb, a story based on the life of baseball’s great Ty Cobb. See who he think is huge in sports.

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Payroll to Results: Successful MLB Teams

By on June 14, 2010 in Sports Business

Did you ever wonder which teams in Major League Baseball really get the most bang for their buck? Sure the Yankees won the last World Series last year but weren’t they supposed to win when they had the highest payroll in baseball? Each year the Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the lowest payrolls in baseballRead more →

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Stephen Strasburg’s Social Media Potential

By on June 10, 2010 in Social Media in Sports

If you don’t know about Stephen Strasburg, let me introduce you. Strasburg is a starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. He was the number one pick in the MLB Draft last year and made his major league debut earlier this week: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs… and 14 strikeouts! Quite the impressive entryRead more →

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Sportsmanship Reborn for MLB

By on June 4, 2010 in Sports Business

Sportsmanship was reborn on June 2 and it wasn’t without a lot of labor pains. In one of the most debated and discussed baseball games in years, Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly called a Cleveland Indians’ ground ball to first base with two outs in the ninth inning, safe. A video replay showed otherwise.Read more →

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Are the Baltimore Orioles Relevant Again?

By on May 5, 2010 in Sports Business

(This is a guest article by Stephen Lombardo) A question like this has not been asked for more than a decade.  They have had plenty of talent come in and out of their organization over the past few seasons.  Now that we have entered a new decade, I believe that it is time to lookRead more →

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Economy a Factor In Revenue From Partnerships

By on April 26, 2010 in Sports Sponsorship

Economical shifts in baseball have been in motion since 1997 when MLB officially granted the commissioner the power to unequally distribute the revenues from the Central Fund.  Previously they were distributed equally.  It was the fall of 2006 when the players association and MLB reached the current five-year agreement in which each team contributes 34%Read more →

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Sell Your Ideas, Not Tickets

By on March 1, 2010 in Sports Ticket Sales

(This is a guest article by Josh Feinberg) Raise your hand if you are a salesman (you all should have your hands up). We are all in sales, whether you are selling yourself, selling your product or service.  Are you in the business of selling ideas, passion, or events?  I am…it’s called Minor League Baseball. Read more →

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Baseball’s Diamond in the Rough: The Florida Marlins

By on January 21, 2010 in Sports Business

(This is a guest article by Stephen Lombardo) It is unlikely for the Marlins to make news in January.  Usually they handle their in-house business around this time of year.  Trying to keep guys like Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson are priority number one for this so called small market team.  However, this past week,Read more →

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