Baseball Winter Meetings - Dallas, Texas

Robert decided to skip out on his finals and head to Dallas, Texas for the Baseball Winter Meetings. Okay, so he didn't technically skip out, but he received special permission to have his finals moved to a later date.

The Baseball Winter Meetings are an annual meeting where all the Major and Minor League baseball teams gather together to discuss league matters. It's a four day conference full of lots of activities like a large trade show, job fair, gala, and other league meetings.

Below is a bat maker at the trade show.

Robert enjoyed seeing Nolan Ryan at the banquet where he discussed many different experiences during his career.

This is what you do when you are at a baseball conference instead of taking finals:

Robert trying to show off his bull riding skills.

Since the meetings were held in Dallas this year, Robert was invited to participate in a tour of the Texas Rangers Stadium, which was a highlight for him during the conference.

The main purpose for Robert heading out to the Winter Meetings was to find a job, which I am happy to report he did FIND ONE! We did not expect him to find it the way he did though. We thought he would spend most of his time at the job fair interviewing with teams, but to his surprise the President of Minor League Baseball personally extended a position to him over lunch that will allow us to remain in St. Petersburg.

As of January 1, 2012, Robert will join the full-time staff of Minor League Baseball. His role and title are still being finalized, but will include serving as a special assistant to the President of Minor League Baseball and providing support to the vice presidents throughout the company as part of the re-allocation of the COO's duties (COO just left the company and took a job with with the Texas Rangers). Therefore, he will be spending a lot of time learning the business of baseball from many different perspectives, including baseball operations, general corporate operations, and finance. In addition to this, he will also be doing legal work for the company, particularly contract review of sponsorships and other agreements that the company enters into. He is thrilled about this new opportunity to work as the President's right hand man! The president wants Robert to represent Minor League Baseball, particularly himself, at numerous types of board meetings and league meetings. So, he will be learning a lot about the game and business of baseball in the coming years. Congratulations Robert!