(December 6, 2017) After eight years of part-time and seasonal employment, Alex Cohen has earned a job at minor league baseball’s highest level. An STAA member since 2011, Cohen is the new Play-by-Play Broadcaster/Account Executive for the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
Cohen follows veteran Iowa Cubs voice Randy Wehofer, whose been promoted to VP/Assistant General Manager.
Besides the fact that it’s a Triple-A job with one of minor league baseball’s best organizations, the Cubs position checks all the boxes that Cohen was looking for.
“My last three positions in baseball have been seasonal, and at the point of my life both professionally and personally, a full-year position with stability was a huge factor in the decision to both apply and accept the job.”
Cohen says advice from STAA helped him land the job. “[STAA] has always said things along the lines of ‘know what job you are applying for and let the people who you are interviewing with know how you can help them and their brand, not you and your brand.'”
When Cohen interviewed, he assumed the Cubs were already sold on his broadcasting ability. “So I focused on the sales,” he continues. “Every question I asked was a sales question. Every pitch I made had a sales component involved. This mindset really helped me through the process, and in the end, helped get me the position in my opinion.”
The road to Iowa has been a long one for Cohen. He started in minor league baseball in 2009 as an intern with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. That was followed by stops in Huntsville, Idaho Falls and Bowling Green, OH where he spent the last two summers with the Tampa Bay Rays Class-A affiliate. Cohen’s resume even includes a winter in the Australian Baseball League. His story illustrates there is no linear path through the ranks of minor league baseball.
“There’s no proven equation to succeed,” he says. “I went from being a Double-A No.1 at the age of 23, to out of broadcasting and into a MLB Media Relations position at 25 and then working my way back up from the bottom with the Australian Baseball League to rookie ball and then Single-A to Triple-A. Reps, meeting the right people and working for the right organizations are so important when it comes to putting the pieces of this complicated broadcast puzzle together.”
Cohen says that going as far and as fast as possible isn’t always the best road to success. “I’ve been in contact with a lot of young broadcasters. I have noticed there is a fixation with reaching the highest level as soon as possible to move up the ranks, no matter the situation. No rookie ball, have to be in full-season ball at whatever age and for X amount of time.
“At that age, I thought that way too. Now that I’ve experienced what I have experienced, I feel differently.”
While Cohen’s career has certainly had its challenges, his love for the job makes the hardships worth it.
“This may sound cliche, but being able to call a ballpark my office while talking to people about baseball as a job is a huge part of why I am still doing this,” he says. “There’s no better job in the world and as long as I am given the opportunity to do it, I am going to do it with a smile on my face.”
(Visit Alex’s STAA Talent Page).