When I interned at MLB.com, I worked in the marketing department. As a marketing major, I worked with Web analysis programs and tracked the e-mail campaigns that MLB.com sent out. But occasionally during the summer there would be afternoon games. Across the hall sat Director of Statistics Cory Schwartz. I couldn’t help but turn my head occasionally and opted to go for a few more coffee breaks, which, of course, led to a few more bathroom breaks, only to be able to get up and check out the live games. A baseball fan like myself couldn’t help but think how great this guy had it to be on that side of the office.
If you want to check the latest score of a baseball game and aren’t near a TV, there’s a good chance you’ll check out MLB.com, and chances are Cory Schwartz is helping you get what you need.
“Our department literally watches baseball games. That’s what we get paid to do,” Schwartz said. “I would put our data accuracy No. 1.”
But don’t get the wrong idea. Schwartz isn’t sitting in a recliner with pizza and a six-pack. Schwartz needs to be on his toes and track every pitch location or umpire scoring or any other significant, or insignificant, play of a game.
“Watching baseball is the job, but that really is just a small part of the job,” Schwartz said. “We have to capture the information, work with software, the people who do the keystrokes and maintain player information, and the most critical piece is reviewing every pitch and event to make sure we got everything right.”
Schwartz, a sports management major and communications minor at Guilford College in North Carolina, was always a baseball fan.
“I played fantasy leagues all the time in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s,” said Schwartz, who also played as a kid. “We would keep the stats from the USA Today.”
Not only does Schwartz get to watch baseball for a living, but he also gets to talk about it. In 2001 a co-worker, Andy Roth, approached Schwartz about guest appearing on radio shows.
“He thought I was really knowledgeable about baseball, and frankly, he needed to fill time,” said Schwartz, current co-host of “Fantasy 411,” which first started out once a week and now airs daily from noon to 1 p.m. on MLB.com.
While working in this field may sound glamorous, it does have its drawbacks. Every statistic from every game must be inputted into the system, and that includes West coast games that could go past 1 a.m., or any other game at any time.
“I’ve been called at the middle of the night, woken up at 3:30 a.m. to rebuild the database of games,” Schwartz said. “I’ve been interrupted for how many dinners, I couldn’t tell you.”
With the popularity of MLB.com, particularly the MLBTV feature that allows viewing of games online, Schwartz found a prominent career at MLB.com. But before the onset of the Internet, he was very close to calling Mr. George Steinbrenner his boss. After interning in the media relations department for the Yankees, he was one of three eligible candidates for an opening as the PR Director. Schwartz was close to landing the position and was even told by someone at the Yankees that he was the favorite until “The Boss” had a change of heart.
“Steinbrenner decided he wanted to hire someone else for that job,” Schwartz said.
When that position fell through, Schwartz worked at the NBA and was one of three people responsible for “launching this thing called a Web site” for the NBA in 1995. Eventually he moved on to Bigballot.com where he worked on the All-Star Ballots for each league.
“One thing about the sports or entertainment industry is that it’s very heavily networked,” said Schwartz, who credits help along the way.
When MLB.com was growing, Schwartz’s persistence may have helped him land the job in the statistics department.
“I wasn’t going to lose the job by being aggressive and I wanted to convince them they would be crazy if they didn’t hire me,” Schwartz said. “They told me later that I was hired so that I would stop calling them.”
At the end of the day, or in Schwartz’s case, late night to early morning, Schwartz knows he’s got a job that millions of people wish they had.
“I always remind myself that this is pretty cool,” he said.
Published Oct. 2, 2007 in Binghamton University's "Pipe Dream" Newspaper.
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