(December 15, 2011) Networking has again proved to be one of the best ways to build a career. It’s how STAA client Eli Pearlstein has landed his new job handling play-by-play and media relations for minor league baseball’s Auburn Doubledays.
The Doubledays are the Washington Nationals Class-A short season affiliate.
“Being in charge of media relations and play-by-play, and getting to do all 76 games is a great opportunity,” Pearlstein smiles.
The opportunity came to Pearlstein through networking. He sent the link to his STAA Talent Page to a family friend who had a contact in the Nationals’ organization. That person told Pearlstein of the Auburn job. Now Pearlstein fulfilled his goal for 2012, which was to have a job in short season, affiliated baseball.
“It seemed like the next logical step,” says Pearlstein, an STAA client since October. “The past two summers I’ve been calling college summer leagues as a No.1. I just felt the next step up from being No. 1 for a college summer league team is being a No. 1 for a short season team.”
Auburn won’t be Pearlstein’s first experience in affiliated baseball. Prior to the start of his season with the Wilson Tobs last summer, Pearlstein spent time working under Josh Feldman, Play-by-Play Broadcaster and Media Relations Director for the Kannapolis Intimidators. Like Pearlstein, Feldman is both an STAA client and a graduate of the University of Southern California.
Pearlstein says his top tip for others in the sportscasting job market is “networking networking, networking.” For young sportscasters, Pearlstein also suggests taking advantage of all opportunities. “Last summer I was doing basketball in the winter, then I got a job doing collegiate summer league baseball. Between the end of basketball and start of baseball, I went down to Kannapolis to work for Josh. That got me prepared to run my own ship in Wilson [with the Tobs].”
As he prepares for his summer in New York, Pearlstein says a great fringe benefit of his new gig is not having to spend the next two months apply for jobs. “I’ll have a lot more time on my hands not having to fill out applications,” he grins.