I am the Minor League Assistant at Roger Dean Stadium, Spring Training home to the 2011 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins and their respective Class-A Advanced affiliates, the Palm Beach Cardinals and Jupiter Hammerheads. Roger Dean Stadium is the only stadium in the nation to house four professional baseball teams, easily making it the busiest ballpark in the country. We also host the two largest high school baseball tournaments in the country- USA Baseball and The Perfect Game. During Spring Training, I work all the games, assisting all the Cardinals and Marlins front offices with numerous tasks. I also emcee all on-field promotions. As the Minor League Assistant, I emcee all of the on-field promotions, as well as help prepare public address announcements and game scripts. I run our Education Day program where 10,000 kids throughout Martin and Palm Beach Countys in South Florida come to the stadium to do a mock press conference with a baseball player and enjoy a morning game at the ballpark. I also head up our Scout Night, where hundreds of Cub Scouts sleep over on the outfield lawn. With these programs, I do all the advertisement, sponsorship and ticket sales. I also am a group ticket sales representative, selling tickets to groups of 15 or more in South Florida and back home in St. Louis. I schedule all national anthem singers, 1st pitches and honorary bat kids. These are the main duties I have, but in Minor League baseball you must be prepared to wear many hats- I may stand with sponsors at batting practice one day and the next have to help at the gates. It depends on what day it is and how many people are in park. It has been the best experience of my life so far. One day- I will be working at Busch Stadium because of this opportunity I have been given!
“I got to stand on the field during batting practice, meet the players, meet the front office. My office was in the same hallway as Mozeliak’s for the entire month of March! I was living my dream that is for sure. I definitely did not see the postseason coming, but when the Braves started choking I started thinking more positively. What a huge win! I bet the campus was a sea of red; I sure do miss that. I am so happy I got to be a part of their organization this year and am counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report in February. I would not be here today if it weren’t for all of the HES professors; you truly made my experience at Truman something I will never forget. “