Playing Ball with the Pirates Director of Baseball Comms

A fireside chat with Patrick Kurish, Director of Baseball Communications at The Pittsburgh Pirates, and Michael Persak, Associate Account Executive at Water & Wall.

For the first several years of my career, the only PR/comms professionals I ever really encountered were those who worked for the sports teams I covered as a journalist. It wasn’t until I left journalism and joined Water & Wall that I began to realize just how vast the PR/comms field is.

Very few of my responsibilities are similar to those of someone like Patrick. For that matter, the Comms department of a sports team seems awfully different than most other PR positions, even if the essential goal – representing one’s clients – is the same.

With that acknowledgement, I wondered how career paths in this field with so much variety come to be, and who better to ask than my old colleague?

1. I know the route through sports PR/comms is not always straightforward. How would you describe your professional journey to your current role with the Pirates?

I’m really glad you asked this, as I like to tell this story to folks looking to break into the industry because I think it’s a really good example of how uncalculated this all can be sometimes. I think folks are so hyper-focused on a linear progression in their career paths, particularly in the sports industry, that the expectation becomes that if you do x, x and x, then you’ll achieve the exact goal you set out on to begin with. The industry is so competitive, so in many cases just getting your foot in the door is the most important thing you’ll do.

I majored in journalism at THE Marquette University. I wrote for one of the campus newspapers and a website dedicated to the Marquette Men’s Basketball program for three of my four years in school. Not too dissimilar to yourself, I had big plans to be a beat writer for a baseball team post-graduation. That did not happen.

Coming up empty on post-grad opportunities during the second semester of my senior year, I moved back to my hometown of Gilbert, Arizona, following graduation. In my mind, there was never a doubt I’d land a job with a news outlet at some point, so I dedicated a ton of time to applying for jobs, networking, and whatever else I could do to expedite the process. As months went on, it became more and more clear to me that this was going to be way harder than I anticipated. I wasn’t getting call backs. I honestly don’t remember interviewing more than a handful of times for what felt like a thousand jobs I applied for. The plan then shifted to getting some sort of part time job doing literally anything so that I could have some version of an income while I sorted out the bigger picture.

This is where a tremendous stroke of luck set in. Growing up in Arizona, I had grown up going with my dad to games at the Arizona Fall League. With no job leads to speak of, I sent a blind email to a generic informational MLB.com address stating that I was local to Arizona and willing to do pretty much anything they needed for basically free. Lo and behold I got a phone call the following day from Paul Jensen at the Arizona Fall League, who remains a mentor to me to this day, saying that they had a PR person submit their resignation the same day I sent my email, and that they had an immediate opening to fill that role. At the time, I knew almost literally nothing about PR/media relations, but for some reason through our conversations he saw a baseline skill set in me. Two days later I was helping run point on media availabilities for Don Mattingly (who was managing in the league that year) and Bryce Harper (who was a 17-year-old making his professional debut in the AFL that year) and pretty much fell in love with it from there. Essentially everything that happened after that was a result of a relationship that I had or that someone I knew had.

Editor’s Note: Patrick has since worked with the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, in addition to short, non-baseball stints with the Basketball Hall of Fame, Nike, Red Bull and a company called Dansons, whose primary products are the Pit Boss grills and smokers.

It's been a long and wild ride, but I firmly maintain that each stop has given me the ability to grow to where I am today. Relationships are an enormous part of that. I couldn’t be more thankful for all of it.

2. This obviously isn’t a normal, 9-5 job, either. Can you describe a day on the job?

It definitely is as far away from a 9-5 as you can get. As much as we’d like to have a more templated day sometimes, every day is unique to the circumstances that surround it. We kind of view every day as a puzzle and typically have a lot of fun trying to solve it.

For broader context, our area handles baseball information (stats/notes/etc.), player relations (marketing/content/community/corporate appearances, requests, or any other sort of player-involved obligation), team messaging (both proactive and reactive) and broadcasting. That covers a pretty vast area of responsibilities, so there’s a lot of strategy and organization that goes in to making those things all happen effectively and efficiently.

3. I feel like our area of PR as an agency is more proactive, we’re pitching our clients and constantly monitoring the news cycle. Whereas in your position, the media is constantly watching you/the Pirates. How do you approach that balance of maintaining a strong relationship with reporters/media while still protecting the team?

The nature of the job is two-fold in regard to this question. As employees of the Pittsburgh Pirates, we have an obligation to serve and guide those within the organization. Working in a public relations department, we also have a very strong responsibility to serve the media and help them tell our story. You used the word “balance,” and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a balance.

In its simplest form, the key is to approach each situation from a place of objectivity and find a solution that is fair for both parties involved. This is not without conflict, but it’s our job to serve both sides so that everyone can do their jobs to the standards in which they signed up to do. Relationships are the driving force in making this all work as it requires a certain level of trust in both ends.

4. Similarly, I know players aren’t always thrilled to do media every day. What’s that dynamic like, knowing that there’s an expectation for them to speak while also, again, protecting them in a way?

This is more “hit” than it is “miss,” but throughout the course of a 162-game season, human nature is such that every day isn’t going to be a good one. This starts from a place of educating the players and staff on the extra obligations that come with being a Major Leaguer. Not necessarily unique to the Pirates, but we usually take a couple of hours during Spring Training each year for media training, during which we hold a team meeting and give a presentation on the importance of media about everything from positive, up-lifting topics to some that require levels of accountability and/or some level of crisis management.

At the end of the day, each of our players and staff members is a human being with a different personality so throughout the season there is an individualized approach with each person to reinforce our goals and obligations. In positive times, there are conversations about ways to outwardly spread good stories. In challenging times, there are conversations about how to navigate choppy waters. At the end of the day, it again comes down to building a relationship of trust that they understand that we’re here to help them accomplish what they’ve set out to do.

We do have a really good group of people in our clubhouse who have done a really nice job not only being accountable, but also many times expressing a desire to continue to get better at it. That makes my life exponentially easier, so I’m thankful for that.

5. Social media has obviously become such an enormous part of media strategies at large these days. I know pro sports teams have their own social media departments, but how has that aspect of the landscape changed your own job responsibilities, if at all?

It has actually changed a ton since my first job in sports in 2010. When I started, social media was in its infancy, and I don’t think really anyone knew exactly the power it would have down the road. Fast forward to today, and it has obviously become a primary driver in team messaging and branding.

Ultimately it has opened the door for direct-to-consumer messaging that didn’t really exist on this scale before. It has afforded the industry a more direct line of communication to disseminate information and connect with our fanbase.

The impact this has had on our job would probably best be categorized as an “evolution” vs. “change.” Things that may have been breaking news full-scale press releases now originate as a post on social media and are supplemented by releases. Stories that otherwise would have flown under the radar are now being told via our in-house content crew and posted by our social media team. Player causes outside the ballpark are now being captured with video rather than just the written word. This also applies to the media that covers us as well. Trends have shown us that photos and videos in supplement to a story generally perform better than those that don’t.

Long story short, it has changed the process in which we approach storytelling drastically. It’s ultimately afforded everyone to tell stories in real time, which is generally a positive thing.

6. All this being said, what would you say are the most important traits or qualities for someone in your position?

The ability to build, maintain and nurture relationships is paramount to being successful in this line of work. Not everything goes according to plan, so being flexible and ready for sudden change makes life a lot easier.