By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Give the guy credit, he knows how to network.
A decade ago, Jeffrey Maier was a 12-year-old fan with a baseball glove who helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series when he reached into the field of play to pull a deep fly-ball into the stands for a home run against the Baltimore Orioles. It was the turning point in the game and a hit that helped propel the Yankees to the World Series, which they later won.
Today, he's fresh out of college with a resume in hand, and he's looking for a job in baseball.
Maybe it was coincidence that he bumped into Yankees general manager Brian Cashman in a bustling Florida hotel Monday. Or, maybe Maier knows a little something about being at the right place at the right time.
“I have a name people in the industry recognize,” Maier told the New York Times. “There’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t change what happened when I was 12. If it gets my résumé on someone’s desk, I can’t control that, either. I’m not marketing myself that way.”
Clearly, Maier knows how to play this game. When he “ran into” the Yankee's GM, he was in Florida, where it just so happens Major League Baseball was holding winter meetings -- crowded with baseball executives of all sorts.
And he was ready with an information packet.
Apparently, his approach is working. According to the New York Times the Yankees have told him they will be in touch, as have the crosstown Mets. And the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks have already scheduled Maier for interviews.
Maier, who goes by Jeff now, said last spring he would like to become a major league GM one day.
He's already got a solid baseball resume. Aside from being the scourge of Baltimore fans everywhere, and still a celebrity of sorts in New York, Maier had a record-setting baseball career at Division III Wesleyan College, where he set the Connecticut college's school mark for hits.
Maier declined to comment for this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/lesson-in-networking-playoff-series-savior-fan-maier-pitches-for-yankees-job