mlb press credential restrictions

I am not saying that all Web site reporters are like that. I am saying that is what most of them do. That is the reputation that have. SID's don't want to deal with them.

 

You're also forgetting that the visiting team has a media contingent that travels to the games. The fact is that as an intern who covers a minor-league team for a Web site, you're pretty close to the bottom of the priority list for the media relations staff.

It would be nice if they let you in there so you could get some experience I suppose, but they also need to draw a line somewhere. Someday you'll probably be a star in the business and won't have to worry about such things. Tale a deep breath and keep plugging.

 

Japanese press at baseball games is crazy? Call the Mariners, Dodgers and Yankees and ask around.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you sure come off like you're way above the rest of us/the people in the press box already. When (If) you actually get a credential, make a mental note of how many people are in that press box and report back to us. It's always way more than you expect.

 

First of all, the radio people referred to aren't the ones doing the game broadcast (who have a separate booth), but all the radio news/sports talk guys out getting information and sound to run on their sportscasts/talk shows. In our market, there are two or three all-sports stations that don't have the broadcast rights for the local baseball team but staff everything (sometimes with several people), as well as four or five other stations that will send people out. Same goes for the local TV stations. You generally won't see the camera guys in the box, but you will see all sorts of people working for outlets like SportsTicker and (as Waylon mentioned) ESPN.com or Sportsline. Don't forget other suburban papers -- doesn't Booth staff the Tigers? And, of course, people covering the visiting team, including perhaps some stringers for papers that don't travel.

Apparently, you've never covered a Mariners or Yankees game. When Ichiro or Matsui are in town, the Japanese media takes up half the press box. I haven't covered a Boston game since they got Dice-K, but I'm betting it's similar.

 

I remember a contingent of Japanese media at a Double-A game I covered when a Japanese pitcher was making a rehab start (his name escapes me at the moment), but there were three or four in the group and they left as soon as the pitcher was pulled.

 

You've got a lot to learn.

Most MLB parks are media clusterfucks because too much damn media is being let in.

I wish you all the luck in the world, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. Based on your 'tude, I'll be blunt and say I'm a little glad it's being drawn at you.

If you're truly interested in getting the story (as opposed to the buzz of simply being credentialed for a ML ballgame), you'll follow the great advice that's been offered on this thread.

 

Ouch. Luggy bringing out the lumber.

 

The freakin' Tigers denied you? Jeez. I saw PTers for websites at Yankee Stadium last night... against the freakin' Red Sox! My advice is to try and contact someone just below the Media Relations director. Odds are that they are people in their late 20s who still remember what it was like breaking into the biz, so they MIGHT be more apt to grant your request. Worked for me dozens of time with the Yankees, Mets and Phillies, so give it a shot.

 

I guess that's possible. I covered D.C. United for a fan Web site during 1998. I didn't cheer in the press box then. The next year, they had to tell the guy who took my place with the Web site not to cheer in the press box when he was there for the first time.

Some folks get it, some folks don't.

 

Well, our company is so strapped for cash, they didn't hire an SE at our paper all summer b/c they figured we didn't need one. Now that we're one man down, we have to do 160 hours of work but they only let the three of us work 45 hours each.
So yeah, you're right - why not let a kid spend 7-8 hours (travel, pregame, postgame) of company time covering a game they usually run AP for and writing a story they easily could have done over the phone.

 

Did you go to the MLB office in New York or through the Tigers? Most people in a pressbox will have team-issued passes. And most teams will be OK with someone getting a day pass for that purpose.

 

then that's simply fucked up, petty bullshit.