Pitchers and catchers report in a couple of weeks. Specifically, for the San Diego Padres the date is February 12. And why is that important to me, a big Dodger fan? Two reasons: one is that the Padres went through an ownership change this offseason. The winning group is led by the famed O’Malley family, who owned the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for more than four decades. But, more importantly, this is interesting because my oldest daughter, #1, works for the Padres.
Amanda is 25 and she’s doing great. She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. Her focus was in sports and entertainment, and since I’m such a big sports fan that was awesome. A few weeks after graduating she got a (paid!) internship with the Los Angeles Angels, working in their marketing department and handling a lot of guest services duties. She worked with the Angels for a year, and really enjoyed her time there. She got great experience and learned a lot about how major league baseball teams operate.
As her year-long internship was coming to an end in December 2011 she started looking for fulltime opportunities with other teams. She found a position for a Guest Services Coordinator for the San Diego Padres and interviewed with several different people all day on a Thursday in late November 2011. They interviewed a dozen other candidates that day, and at the end of the day they told her they would make a decision in a couple of weeks.
They called the next day and offered her the job.
I cannot describe for you how proud I was of her getting the offer. She worked hard in school and excelled in her year as an intern. She found a job she wanted and got the job among stiff competition. So now here we are a year later and her team is owned by a group headed by the O’Malley family, the same family who used to own the Dodgers and made them into a national icon.
The big question for me is what will this ownership change mean to Amanda? The O’Malley name is a hallowed name in my house. Walter brought the Dodgers here from Brooklyn, widening the landscape of major league baseball and making it a true national pastime. The O’Malley’s had a unique type of ownership. They built a farm system. They promoted from within. The organization was focused on stability. Sadly, that does not describe the Padres of decades past (or the Dodgers since the O’Malley’s sold the team). But lately the Padres have been moving in the right direction and have been focused on building a sound farm system and building a team based on pitching and defense. That used to be called “the Dodger way”. Based on the new ownership’s pedigree, the new regime will no doubt follow the same path.
I’m excited for my daughter and extremely proud of her. My hope is that the Padres begin to succeed on a regular basis. I hope that year in and year out, the Padres produce a solid team that is in the playoffs each year. A consistent winner the way the Dodgers used to be. And I hope that Amanda continues to excel in her job and grow into new and more rewarding opportunities. She has a wonderful career ahead of her.
In the old days (i.e., the ‘60’s through the late ‘80’s) every time the Dodgers won a game the entire Dodger staff would get free ice cream the next day. Even though I’m a huge Dodger fan, I’m hoping that my daughter Amanda eats a lot of ice cream this year.
Kelly Stephen Consulting
Software Strategy, Execution, Quality, Delivery
Kelly Stephen Consulting, LLC 