If you’ve always loved professional baseball, then you may find yourself involved in the industry in one way or another. One avenue to pursue is employment with a team or league in the independent baseball league section of the professional baseball industry. Independent baseball leagues and teams are not affiliated with any specific Major League Baseball organization and their ultimate goal is to become a profitable business. Front office and league staff have more flexibility to hire people to help them reach that goal.

The question then becomes, “How else can I work in the professional baseball industry without being a player, manager, coach, or owner?” Here are several starting points, each with a brief description to help you better understand what’s available to you:

• League level – You may be working with an independent baseball league at the league office level. Skills here include media relations, strategic planning, marketing, attracting major sponsors for league-wide exposure, and other similar tasks.
• Entry Level (Team) – Many independent baseball teams need help with game day operations, ticket sales, community relations, and many other tasks to attract local organizations and individuals to spend money with the team . You will need interpersonal, computer, telephone and event planning skills. Additionally, the hours can be long and some physical exertion will be required, especially if you work in match day operations.
• Special Abilities: You can join an independent baseball team with a number of special abilities. These could include online radio broadcasting, public address announcements, statistics, dealing with local and regional sports media, development and implementation of promotions, online marketing, grounds maintenance, stadium management, concession skills, and merchandise/inventory management. . Even higher-level specialty skills include stadium design, graphic design for logos and sponsorship obligations, game scheduling, and raising capital for teams.
• Management (Team) – You will need to be able to manage employees, interns and have a good ability to deal with other executives, team owners and league executives. You will also work long hours overseeing concessions related items, merchandise, stadium operations, stadium construction/renovation, speaking at local service organizations, dealing with player contracts, and many other tasks. You must have the ability to manage a small to medium-sized business, including an understanding of accounting and payroll, budgeting, networking, and many other high-level tasks.

With more than 50 independent baseball teams scheduled to play in 2010, there are plenty of opportunities to join this industry. Remember that your love of the game must be tempered with the understanding that the team owner, league president and general manager want to make a profit while maintaining a high standard of excellence in the local market. If you are willing to do what you can to deliver professional quality while focusing on making a profit and gaining new fans, then you have the necessary first step in finding a freelance professional minor league baseball job.