2014 MLB.com summer internships

2014 Summer Internships

Want an exciting summer covering Major League Baseball? MLB.com offers 30 reporting internships to aspiring sportswriters. These internships are designed to give associates the full range of experiences that come with covering a professional team. Each associate will work closely with a site reporter to give visitors to a team’s Web site all the information they need to follow the team from Opening Day to season’s end. Each Major League team will have one associate.

Students who are currently juniors or seniors, as well as graduate students, are eligible for our 2014 Summer Internship Program. If you are graduating in December 2013, you are still eligible. All applications must be postmarked by Nov. 22, 2013. We will make our selections by the end of January.

We expect each intern to spend a minimum of 10 weeks in the program, dates determined by a person’s college schedule. Interns who have graduated generally are allowed to work until the end of the season.

The more flexible an applicant is in terms of which Major League city he or she can work in, the better the person’s chances of being selected. Interns will be paid $500 per week.

Applicants should submit a resume, 5 to 10 published articles, a list of references and a 750-word essay on why MLB.com should select you? Your clips ideally will show a variety of work, including game stories, previews and features. Previous experience covering a beat is preferred.

Associates are responsible for arranging their own housing and transportation.

Please mail all internship applications to:

Bill Hill
Assistant Managing Editor/MLB.com
Major League Baseball/Western Operations
2415 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. 850
Phoenix, AZ 85016

 

Anyone in college or fresh out of college absolutely should apply. Say what you will about MLB.com being between somewhere between "true journalism" and PR, there are a lot of veteran journalists involved with MLB.com and many great brains to learn from.

PM me if you want some more info but seriously, just apply.

 

I am, of course, biased, but I don't think there is any question that the experience gained through our internships at MLB.com are highly valued by other media outlets. Already this year, 7 of our 24 "recent graduates" in this year's program have landed full-time jobs, including two at ESPN. The No. 1 selling point is that you learn how to think and work as a beat reporter, and that experience gives you an advantage over many other candidates when you head for the open job market.

 

I'm currently finishing up this internship. If anyone has any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer them. It's a great experience.

 

Bill, are recent graduates eligible to apply? I graduated this past summer but am not currently enrolled in a graduate program.

 

Wondering the same thing.

 

I third this.

 

I fourth this. Does anyone know if recent grads can apply?

 

You need to be currently enrolled in either an undergrad or graduate program to be eligible.

 

Just a few questions about the internship:

1. Do interns also cover the team on the road and write recaps?
2. If not, are interns paid only for weeks when they are going to the stadium daily and writing about the team?

 

I can shed some light on this. Completed the internship this past summer. Interns are at the stadium for all of their team's home games, but they do not travel for road games. Interns in cities with two teams (Chicago and New York, most notably) will occasionally get a chance to go across town and cover the other team. But it's mostly just home games.

As for the pay, interns get a little less than $500 (after taxes) every week, regardless of whether the team is home or away. When the team is on the road, interns do "preview shifts," meaning they will be assigned to write previews of the next day's game. Only the main beat writers travel.

If you're an undergrad looking for an internship, I 100 percent recommend that you apply to MLB.com. It was an awesome experience, and there aren't many internships out there, if any, that let you act as a beat reporter for a professional team. I published nearly 200 stories over the course of the season, so there are plenty of opportunities to get great clips.