{"id":13775,"date":"2018-08-23T20:16:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T20:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/23\/is-big-league-baseball-bad-for-military-vets\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:47:54","slug":"is-big-league-baseball-bad-for-military-vets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2018\/08\/23\/is-big-league-baseball-bad-for-military-vets\/","title":{"rendered":"Is big league baseball bad for military vets?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A military softball tournament at the All-Star Game. Veteran tributes. Surprise military family reunions. Camouflage uniforms. Checks to charities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At face value, Major League Baseball loves veterans and military families. The league appears to check the right boxes, until you dig deeper, which is what I did as one of the few post-9\/11 veterans employed in MLB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love baseball. I grew up around the sport and played through college. I always dreamed of working in a front office, but delayed that pursuit until after serving in the Marine Corps. I never imagined that I would eventually walk away from baseball, pushed out for standing up for myself and all veterans and military families. I was turned into a pariah by an institution that glorifies veterans in public while failing them miserably in private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My personal wake-up call came when I was assistant director of player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I informed my boss, Gabe Kapler, now manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, that I was going to get a traumatic brain injury screening for recurring morning headaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This simple notification spiraled out of control. I was called a \u201cdamaged veteran,\u201d and urged to take a leave of absence. When I wouldn\u2019t leave on my own, I was pushed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took seven months for MLB to conduct an investigation, which turned out to be a sham, with the results never being shared. I turned down a settlement, recognizing that I would be shut out of baseball and wouldn\u2019t be able to help other veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this dispute, I was hired by the New York Mets and encouraged to help MLB better serve veterans and military families<\/a> by improving their programs. I took this charge seriously, proposing initiatives that would improve MLB\u2019s support for a community it claims to care about. It was only when I experienced pushback on low-cost, high-value proposals that I realized the crass and cynical commercialism of the league overshadows efforts to genuinely support the veteran and military communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I don\u2019t see widespread malice across MLB front offices \u2015 and players are often very supportive of veterans \u2015 there is a dangerous combination of apathy and ignorance that has caused MLB to fail miserably in employing veterans and engaging meaningfully with military families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Raymond, the Tampa Bay Rays mascot, mugs with sailors during a Tampa Navy Week event at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the MLB\u2019s employment of veterans, the numbers speak for themselves: In 2017, MLB boasted of having<\/a> 10 veterans in a workforce of approximately 5,000 across team and league offices. The league has existing mechanisms in place, including diversity programs, that could increase the number of veterans working in baseball, but MLB has ignored numerous suggestions to modify these programs to include veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than take simple action, the league instead advanced a bizarre, unsupported narrative<\/a> that there were \u201ccloseted\u201d veterans across baseball who refused to reveal themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have counseled dozens of veterans who wanted a fair shot at a career in baseball, only to find the door slammed in their face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some shared stories of outright discrimination, with teams ending interviews over concerns about their ongoing military service. Other veterans with impressive resumes were baffled when they couldn\u2019t get an interview for a job they were overqualified for because they didn\u2019t \u201chave relevant experience\u201d in the eyes of the recent college grads screening their resumes. While many American employers compete for high-performing veterans because they see the value to their bottom line, MLB treats veterans as a problem to be handled out of sight until they are trotted out for the sake of patriotism.<\/p>\n\n\n\t