Over the summer, I had the privilege to work as a Broadcast/Writing intern with the Baltimore Dodgers. The internship gave me a unique experience into the day-to-day operations working with a broadcast crew for a sports organization. The job also gave me unique insight into the sport of baseball that most fans don't get to see.
From early-June to the end of July, I drove nearly every day from my home in York, Pennsylvania to Hanover, Maryland to cover home baseball games of the Baltimore Dodgers. The Dodgers were one of 10 teams in the Cal Ripken League. Named in honor of Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr., the league was founded in 2005 as a summer developmental league for college baseball players.
Each year college players from across the country traveled to the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area to hone their skills in the before returning to their college teams in the fall. The players came from all divisions of NCAA baseball and all varied in their skillset. Some were still raw in their talent and looking to make it into the starting nine their next season in college, while some were good enough to get drafted and potentially play in the MLB in a few years.
So when I came across the opportunity to work as a summer intern with the Baltimore Dodgers' broadcast team, I simply couldn't it up. The internship would allow me to work on my skills as a sports broadcaster and learn more about what its like working in the industry. Plus, who would pass on watching good baseball for the summer?
My gamedays usually started around 3:30 or 4:00 by arriving at the Dodgers' home field, Joe Cannon Stadium. Even though the game wouldn't start for another three hours, there was a lot of prep work that needed to be done to get the broadcast up and rolling.
Upon arriving at the stadium, the four other interns I worked with helped me and the internship coordinator set up the equipment for the live-stream broadcast and the public address system. Next on the agenda was filming the Dodger Pregame Show that would be uploaded to YouTube. I would usually work with another intern breaking down the upcoming game for the Dodgers' and worked with setting up interviews for the coaches and players.
The footage from the pregame show and interviews would then be edited and uploaded all before the first pitch at 7:00. The duties would continue as each of the interns and I rotated between commentating the game, acting as the public address announcer, or updating the team's Twitter feed. At the conclusion of the game, one of us would be in charge of writing the postgame article.
The internship was a eight hour job and a lot of the work was more than just the game itself. The internship reaffirmed that sports broadcasting is much more than commentating the game, and that there are a lot of other responsibilities that go into making a good broadcast. While it was a lot of hard work, the job was just as fun as I imagined it would be going in. And even though the Dodgers' had a rough season, I still got to watch plenty of great baseball throughout the summer.
