Winter Meetings Job Seeker Journal: David Lauterbach, December 8
By David Lauterbach, special to MiLB.com
Throughout this year’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, four attendees of the PBEO Job Fair have agreed to chronicle their employment-seeking experiences (meet them all HERE.). In this, his third installment, David Lauterbach finds his way, continues his metaphor and keeps searching for the light.
I didn’t get lost yesterday, so that’s nice. I think my count now stands at four, which means that Ben’s “Bet the Over” may be a little too high.
So, Hideo Nomo. Great pitcher. I’ve been using him as my metaphor for trying to get a job this week. The metaphor is that me wiggling my way through the crowd to try and land a job is similar to how I tried to get Nomo’s autograph when I was eight at Dodger Stadium. It’s all about navigating the chaos.
The job search itself has gone well, but I still haven’t reached the light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to secure three job interviews yesterday and, so far, two more today. They have all gone well thus far. With respect to the teams, I’m not going to disclose who I’ve interviewed with, but I will say they have been great. Now I need to “knock on wood,” because baseball has made me extremely superstitious.
In between all of the interviews, I spent some time talking more to other job seekers that want to do broadcasting and baseball operations. It’s been really fun getting to know men and women both older and younger than me who, just like me, want to work in the big leagues. I said this in my first post and I’ll say it again: Attending the Winter Meetings is the best thing you can do if you want to work in baseball. Everyone is here in one building and you never get an opportunity like that in any sport and, really, any industry.
Also when I say everyone, I mean everyone. In yesterday’s post I said I had seen a GM and a manager, but might not see another for the rest of my time here. Well, yesterday I saw two more managers and two more GMs (and, once again, me standing by the MLB Network set while Buck Showalter was on doesn’t count).
The ability to walk through the hotel and strike up a conversation with an executive from this MLB team or a GM from that minor league team is second to none. The Winter Meetings are incredible, and the place to be if you want to work in baseball.
I also spent some time hanging out around the TV sets, where I accidentally made it on TV. (Okay, it wasn’t an accident. I tried to, because why not?) Another highlight was walking through the Trade Show. I got lost in there once, so Ben, if that counts, my number is now at five. (Ed note: It doesn’t.) At the Trade Show they had everything from a machine that cleans baseballs to specialty jerseys to even a Dip N Dots station that was handing out free samples. The Trade Show is neat because anyone who is attending the event, whether you are a job seeker or buyer, can attend. It’s a great place to see where different companies sell their products to both major and minor league teams.
Due to this being my last full day in Nashville, I’ll finish this one now and have it be shorter than the rest. I think I see Nomo, but the organ pipes are warming up and the anthem starts soon. In the words of Jay Bilas, I gotta go to work.
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