For Love of the Game

Gerald Sanchez aspires to be the next Vin Scully, and why not? Nice kid, great voice, loves baseball . . . and he’ll do just about anything to get the job.

“If I have to sell hot dogs, I’ll do that too,” Sanchez said.

Scully, the Dodgers’ Hall of Fame broadcaster, pitches Farmer John hot dogs on the air. Sanchez, 23, might have to grill them before the game, trade his chef’s hat for a headphone and then go on the air. And, if he’s hungry after the game, he might not be able to afford anything but a couple of hot dogs.

So you want a job in baseball? If you can hit a 90-mph fastball, or throw one, the general managers assembled until Tuesday at the Anaheim Marriott will lavish millions of dollars upon you. The rest of us can walk next door to the Anaheim Convention Center, where hundreds lined up Friday to compete for jobs with terrible pay and horrible hours for outfits like the Cape Fear (N.C.) Crocs or the Clinton (Iowa) Lumber Kings.

This annual baseball job fair might be the best-kept secret in sports. Major and minor league teams listed 482 positions, primarily entry-level, as of Friday. At last year’s job fair in Nashville, 437 people attended and 131 were hired.

“This program is noted for getting your foot in the door,” director Ann Perkins said. “It’s tough to break in, especially if you’re outside of baseball. But the salaries aren’t there, and you work a lot of long hours, so it’s not for everyone.”

Angela Hughes, 21, flew here from Kansas City for a weekend she figures will cost $1,000, including air fare, hotel, registration, meals, a snazzy new wardrobe for interviews and a cell phone so she doesn’t miss a call from any team that likes her resume.

“This weekend was a graduation trip from my parents,” she said. Just registering for access to the job listings cost Hughes $150. Late registration this weekend is $200.

Hey, Mom and Dad: Your daughter graduates from Oklahoma Baptist University next week, and what kind of career is she pursuing? Among the jobs listed Friday: play-by-play announcer for the Helena (Mont.) Brewers, $500 per month; groundskeeper for the Butte (Mont.) Copper Kings, $800 per month; catering coordinator for the Lansing (Mich.) Lugnuts, $1,000 per month; stadium operations assistant for the Piedmont (N.C.) Boll Weevils, $1,000 per month. The New Haven (Conn.) Ravens declined to list the salary for their mascot, Rally the Raven.

Hughes’ parents might point out that good jobs with good salaries are plentiful at a time when the national unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 29 years. Sorry, Mom and Dad.

“It kind of makes them nervous that I’m not going to make any money,” Hughes said. “But, if I’m going to work, I might as well like it.”

That’s the attitude Paul Barbeau wants to hear. At the job fair five years ago, Barbeau got his first baseball job, selling merchandise for the Spokane (Wash.) Indians for $800 per month.

“For how many hours a week? Probably 80,” he said.

Barbeau worked his way up to general manager in Spokane, and he’s back at the job fair, this time as the guy doing the interviews. By Sunday night, he said, he hopes to interview 50 applicants for two positions in the Indians’ ticket office.

“We could hire locally,” Barbeau said, “but the people that are here, just by being here, have shown the drive, initiative and commitment to get into baseball. They’re fighting for jobs that might pay $800 a month. They’re sharing a passion.”

That is why Nicole Morris, 22, is here from Colorado, armed with resumes and looking to put her marketing degree to work.

“I’ll go anywhere,” she said. “I just want to be in baseball.”

That is why Scott Gannon, 23, is here from the Bay Area, desperately seeking that first play-by-play job, decked out in a sharp new suit.

“First one I ever bought,” he said.

And that is why Paul Chiofar, 43, also is here from the Bay Area, also hoping to become the voice of the AquaSox or the Rock Cats or the Muckdogs. Gannon, Chiofar and Sanchez all hand cassette tapes, samples of their work, to anyone who will listen.

“I’m following my dream,” Chiofar said. “I was a police officer for 10 years. I’ve already blown my retirement. If I’m going to work the rest of my life, I’d like to do something I love.”

In another corner of the room, William Shlensky stared at all the recent college graduates with their shiny smiles and shiny briefcases. Shlensky, 61, flew here from Ohio, hoping to persuade a team to take a chance on a retired executive with a love of baseball.

“Everyone’s looking for someone with two years of baseball experience. I don’t have that,” Shlensky said. “But nobody sitting in this room has had 20 years’ experience in the food service business.”

Baseball perks? You get to see a ballgame every day, you get to hang out with fellow baseball nuts and you get really cool business cards. The Spokane Indians’ cards, for instance, resemble game tickets.

And as Leslie Callison, 22, discussed her goal of becoming the first female play-by-play announcer in the major leagues, she pulled out a business card. She worked last summer as group sales director for the Ozark (Mo.) Mountain Ducks, so her card features a grinning duck in blue overalls, with a bat in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.

You might get stock options at Microsoft, but no grinning duck on your business card.