2011 MLB.com summer internships

[Bill Hill]

2011 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.

We are looking for talented college juniors and seniors, as well as graduate students, for our 2011 Summer Internship Program. If you are graduating in December 2010, you are still eligible. All applications must be postmarked by Nov. 30, 2010. 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. 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.

MLB.com also will be offering a limited number of internships for copy editors/producers.

Associates are responsible for arranging their own housing and transportation.

Please mail all internship applications to:

Bill Hill
Assistant Managing Editor/MLB.com
Attn: Internship Application
14825 N. 97th Place
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

If you have any questions, please contact Bill Hill at [email protected] and put the words “Internship Info” in the subject line. No phone calls, please.

MLB Advanced Media

MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (MLBAM) is the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, www.MLB.com, and the 30 club sites to create the most comprehensive resource for Major League Baseball on the Internet.

 

[dkphxf]

I've had one of these in the past. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[mustangj17]

I've had one of these in the past. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Definitely never got selected for one of these and I'm still bitter 5 years later. Not so much a question as it is a complaint. Carry on here.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Yeah, I'll take PMs too. It's a good program, you'll get a great experience on gamedays, and when the team is on the road, it's up to you what you do. They'll have some assignments for you, but the GA days are what you make of them for the most part.

 

[ARose17]

I would also be glad to take any PMs. My current employer told me specifically that my experience with this internship was what made my resume originally stand out to him, for what it's worth.

 

[dkphxf]

I would also be glad to take any PMs. My current employer told me specifically that my experience with this internship was what made my resume originally stand out to him, for what it's worth.

I wish your current employer had an open spot for me.

 

[dkphxf]

I've had one of these in the past. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Definitely never got selected for one of these and I'm still bitter 5 years later. Not so much a question as it is a complaint. Carry on here.

No worries. I believe I was rejected 2-3 times before getting it.

 

[ARose17]

When did you have the internship?

 

[BYH]

Wow, $500 per week. Very generous like usual.

The good thing about this gig is, outside of one-time beat guys hired long ago, MLB.com has very little interest in paying for experience, so once you're in, you'll probably get a F/T gig. Just kiss up to Dinn Mann, or else.

 

[AKap]

$500 a week is extremely generous for an internship. I would gladly use that money to pay rent and therefore work in any city, if I had any published articles and could therefore even be considered. Too bad I'm just getting started... maybe next year!

 

[ARose17]

I don't know about the "probably get the full time gig" part. I know several other former interns who were very good that didn't get hired for a full time. Of course, neither did I.

 

[dkphxf]

When did you have the internship?

Summer of 2009 (i.e. the unpaid summer).

 

[DennisReynolds]

As another alum of this (also the year they didn't pay, not that I'm bitter), I will say it's probably about the best experience you can get in an internship.

One piece of advice for anyone interested: The full-time MLB.com beat writer for the team you're covering will have a HUGE impact on how much you enjoy and get out of the internship. This is the person you are interacting with nearly every day and who has a lot of influence over what assignments you do and how you do them. There is a lot of variation among that group, so if you're ranking your preferences of which teams you want to cover, think about that carefully and do as much research as you can.

 

[Cheng Sio]

I've had one of these in the past. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

I don't know about the "probably get the full time gig" part. I know several other former interns who were very good that didn't get hired for a full time. Of course, neither did I.

When did you have the internship?

Summer of 2009 (i.e. the unpaid summer).

As another alum of this (also the year they didn't pay, not that I'm bitter), I will say it's probably about the best experience you can get in an internship.

One piece of advice for anyone interested: The full-time MLB.com beat writer for the team you're covering will have a HUGE impact on how much you enjoy and get out of the internship. This is the person you are interacting with nearly every day and who has a lot of influence over what assignments you do and how you do them. There is a lot of variation among that group, so if you're ranking your preferences of which teams you want to cover, think about that carefully and do as much research as you can.

As you can tell, I second everything said before me as, I too, was a part of the 2009 class.

 

[DC_Reeves]

I did this is 2006 (the $8.50 an hour summer). My experience, working with one of the best beat writers in the country, was invaluable. I'm a better reporter now because of that summer. Any questions, you can PM me as well.

 

[ARose17]

When did you have the internship?

Summer of 2009 (i.e. the unpaid summer).

Ah yes, I was also a part of the unpaid summer. I'll also echo what Dennis said. Having a good beat writer makes all the difference. For one thing, they decide whether you get your byline on gamers and features as opposed to less prominent stuff.

 

[LemMan]

It's moments like this when I wish I was back in college...

 

[playthrough]

I wonder how the volume of applications for these compares to, say, a top beat at a major paper.

 

[Ben.Breiner]

I wonder how the volume of applications for these compares to, say, a top beat at a major paper.

Probably less since you need to be a college senior/junior or in grad school.

 

[johann]

As you can tell, I second everything said before me as, I too, was a part of the 2009 class.
[/quote]

$5000 one summer and $0 another summer seems a bit extreme. Why didn't MLB pay internships in 2009? Was it the Great Recession?