You Should Know … Eve Rosenbaum

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Eve Rosenbaum
Eve Rosenbaum (Courtesy of Nate Rowan)

Eve Rosenbaum, 32, started playing baseball before she could walk or talk. Now, she works as the assistant general manager for the Baltimore Orioles.

Rosenbaum attended Harvard, where she played for the Harvard Crimson softball team. Before graduating, she had already secured an internship in the National Football League’s commissions office. She worked for the Houston Astros in Texas, then transferred to the Orioles, initially working as the team’s director of baseball development. She was recently promoted to her current role.

Rosenbaum resides in Baltimore. She has also been getting more involved with programming at The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.

Have you always been into softball and baseball?

Yeah, I have always been into baseball. My parents are really big baseball fans. So they instilled the love of baseball into me at a really young age. They told me that I learned to throw a ball before I learned how to walk.

I don’t know if I can say that I always dreamed about [working in sports]. I think it was always a possibility for me, and I think it came to fruition when I was in college. I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my career … and realized how much the game meant to me. That’s when I realized I wanted to pursue a career in it.

What does your work for the Orioles entail?

It’s a lot of handling the day-to-day operations of the major league team. A lot of that is transactions with other teams. Then there’s talking with the coaches and getting their vibe on what’s going on with the players. And there is also some new work that I’ve taken on — being the liaison for the baseball operations department with the other departments. It’s a bunch of different things, but it all boils down to helping to oversee the day-to-day running of a major league team.

Is it difficult to work as a woman in the sports industry?

Fortunately, I haven’t really had any difficulties. It was only within the past handful of years that I was able to sort of reflect and be like, “Wow, I’ve been doing all this as a woman.” But I’ve worked with a really good set of men, my coworkers from the NFL and Major League Baseball. They’ve never once made me feel like I’m the woman in the room. They just make me feel like I’m part of a team, and they value my opinions. So I think that’s a huge aspect, is having the support of the people around you.

What characteristics do you think are the most important for someone who works in the sports industry to have?

I think one of them for anyone working in the sports industry, and particularly baseball, is being resourceful. There’s constant challenges. Your job is to help get things done. Another one is being hardworking, especially in baseball. You’re working pretty much every single day. You have to be available. A lot of sports work is having opinions about players. At the end of the day, [your coworkers] want to know your recommendation. At the same time, you need to be willing to step back when you are faced with new information and reconsider your opinions.

Has your Jewish identity influenced your life in your work?

It sort of subtly impacted me, as I’ve gotten a lot of requests from diverse Jewish publications. It’s been cool to learn how thriving the Jewish community is in Baltimore, which I honestly was not aware of until I moved here. So just even having my eyes open to that has been a new experience. And Jewish people really love baseball, so we can come together over baseball.

Have you ever gotten to meet any famous baseball players because of your work?

I think it was 2011. … I was working in the MLB draft. We had taken a train to Secaucus, [N.J.], and it was really late at night. We were planning to take the train back. Trevor Hoffman, one of the greatest closers of all time, was there and had been really friendly to us. He said, “Oh, why don’t you guys take my car to [New York City]?” We asked if he was sure, and he said, “Yeah, you guys go enjoy yourself. Enjoy being young in New York.” That was definitely a cool experience.

Correction 7/1/22 at 11:06 a.m.: The byline was updated. This story was actually written by Jillian Diamond. The Baltimore Jewish Times regrets this error.

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