Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to work behind the scenes of a professional baseball organization?
We see the players on the field and the big moments that make headlines. But there is so much work happening away from the field that most fans never get to see.
I had the opportunity to talk with the Orioles’ Jennifer Grondahl to discuss about what goes into the job, some of her favorite memories, and so much more.
A huge thank you to her for taking the time to have such a great conversation with me. Not only did she give me a really interesting look into the work that goes on behind the scenes, but she also shared some incredibly helpful career advice with me, which I truly appreciate.
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How did you get started in your career, and how did your relationship with the Orioles begin?
When I originally started my career, I was working in Washington, D.C., for a public policy organization. I worked for a couple of different public policy organizations before returning to Florida, where I got into the nonprofit world.
The way I met the Orioles was through a marketing and event planning company I had in Sarasota. The Orioles were moving the team from Fort Lauderdale to Sarasota, and they connected with me to get involved with their opening day and opening-season events and promotions.
I worked with ownership at the time and got really connected to the team. Years later, after some other stops along the way, I was contacted by them to come work for the team.
What does a regular workday look like for you?
For example, with the team away, I’m not with them on this road trip. On a day like today, it’s a lot of planning.
We just finished meeting about a fan appreciation weekend. We have a big group that meets every week representing every department—from game presentation, marketing, social, digital and corporate partnerships—and we talk about what’s coming up for the next home stand and all the different activations.
That includes everything from the status of design projects to videos that are going to play during the game and special guests coming to the ballpark. There are a lot of meetings that are really focused on planning for the upcoming homestand.
I’m also on the executive management team of the club, so there’s a lot of planning for the offseason already—what we’re going to be doing, what 2027 planning looks like, budgets, staffing and everything we’re planning for the next year.
What’s your favorite ballpark you’ve been to?
Aside from Camden Yards, I really love Coors Field in Denver. It’s such a beautiful ballpark. I love the batter’s side with the evergreen trees, and all the social spaces are really cool.
You can’t go wrong with Dodger Stadium. It’s iconic. I like San Francisco.
Strangely, a lot of people are surprised by this, but I really love the Cleveland ballpark because I love where it’s located. It was modeled after Camden Yards, so they put it downtown and have a skyline view. They also have really great technology and game production.
Toronto would be my last favorite because I especially like it when they open the roof. It’s always a packed crowd because, as you know, they only have one team in Canada.
What’s a behind-the-scenes moment with the team or players that most people might not know about?
There are so many. First of all, I was in the bubble with the team during COVID.
There were very few people on the business side of the operation—only two or three of us who were with the team all the time. For basically two years, I was with the team for every game, home and away.
I went through all the COVID restrictions. I was actually the team’s MLB representative, so every team had a representative to go through all the COVID protocols and ensure that the club was in compliance. I worked with our medical team, athletic training staff and ballpark operations team to make sure there was good communication.
Being with the players during that time, I felt like I really got to know them.
One thing I recently shared with some of my staff that they didn’t know was about Trey Mancini. Trey used to be our weather predictor.
When we were sitting in the clubhouse pregame and had some bad weather coming in, he would be the guy who could predict what the weather was going to do—and he was almost always right.
If we were talking about potential delays, he’d say, “I don’t think we’re going to be delayed,” or, “I think this is going to move out.” We started calling him the weather guy.
That’s an unknown fact about Trey.
What’s been your favorite part about Baltimore?
The people. I think there are so many different neighborhoods and communities that are completely different.
Whether it’s Mount Vernon, Federal Hill, Locust Point, or downtown where Camden Yards is, every neighborhood has its own personality.
I also think the food is incredible. Even going outside the city—going to Carroll County, Frederick, Annapolis or the Eastern Shore—it’s really unusual how different each area can be.
Maryland has a lot of different personalities, and Baltimore reflects that.
How has social media affected your position?
Social media is huge. We have fans who are 100 years old and fans who are five years old, so we have to be able to communicate and speak to all of them.
There are people who are more traditional and like to receive information through the media, but there are also a lot of people consuming TikTok, YouTube, X and other platforms. We need to be there.
We have a very robust social media team that my team works with every day. They get a lot of behind-the-scenes access, and we’re putting out our own content all the time.
We also have to monitor social media constantly because that’s how we gather a lot of information. If something is trending, we need to be aware of it and potentially prepare players or the manager if there’s something they need to know about during the game.
For example, the other day the broadcast showed Pete Alonso and Rico Garcia smoking a cigar in the dugout. That appeared on social media and kind of took off.
We needed to be prepared because this is a tobacco-free ballpark. They didn’t get in trouble, but we are serious about being a smoke-free ballpark, so we reminded everybody, including the broadcast, that this is a smoke-free ballpark.
We have role models here, and a lot of people look up to the players and the organization. If something takes off on social media, you have to be able to say, “This is what happened, and here’s the organization’s position on it.”
What’s been your best memory working for the Orioles so far?
Coming out of COVID, the first Opening Day that we had where all the fans were back in the ballpark was probably my best memory.
That was my first actual Opening Day with the team. I had been with the team for multiple years before I was able to experience a Camden Yards Opening Day.
It was, of course, the experience of Opening Day, but it was also turning the page and putting COVID and all those things behind us.
The second best, I would definitely say, was the 2,131 anniversary with Cal Ripken Jr. There are people who worked here who experienced 2,131 when it actually happened. I wasn’t here, but that anniversary was just a really magical, special day.
Then we came back and beat the Dodgers with a massive comeback. It was probably my favorite game that I’ve experienced at Camden Yards.
Were you there when the ownership changed from the Angelos family to the current ownership?
I was actually hired by John Angelos. If you look at the executive management team, I’m the only person who’s left who was hired by John. Everybody else is no longer here—they’ve either been let go or moved on.
So I went through the ownership transition. I actually handled the announcement plan when it transitioned.
The main difference is that the new ownership group hired a team president on the business side. We didn’t have a team president on the business side before.
Mike Elias was always the head of baseball operations, but John was essentially the CEO of the company.
Now, Catie Griggs is here every day. We have management meetings with her every week, and I meet with her every week. All of the communications work and statements we put out are coordinated with her. She’s where the buck stops on the business side.
On the baseball side, the changes haven’t been as significant for me because I’ve been working with Mike Elias since my first day with the team in October 2019.
Have you seen an increase in women working in baseball?
Many, many more women in the building. That’s for sure.
If you look at our executive team, our CFO, chief human resources officer, chief of staff, president of our business operation, chief strategy officer and head of communications are all women. More than half of our executive team is women.
I’m seeing it, and the reality is the only way that can continue is if people like you get in, pay your dues for a lot of years, continue to ascend through the ladder and have the durability to last.
Thank you to everyone who made it to the end. I hope you learned as much as I have.
Please check out the new poll’s this week as well!
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