With the arrival of new Manager, Richie Hebner, I was inspired to center my latest blog entry on off-season jobs.  Few people know that minor leaguers make 1/100^th of the Major League minimum salary.  Making just enough to support yourself during the season, most players have to find a job in the off season.  This task can be difficult as there aren’t too many employers who want to hire someone for only 6 months.  Consequently, you’ll find minor leaguers working some “Dirty Jobs,” that might even catch Mike Rowe’s eye.  Skipper, Richie Hebner knows a few things about dirty jobs; he was famous for working as a gravedigger at a cemetery run by his father in the off-season.  Just the other day he told me that his digging career is over; instead, he is now the driver of the family hearse.

Teammate, Mike Pierce spends his off-seasons as a Ranch Hand on a Horse and Cow Ranch in Clovis, CA.  He worked 8-10 hour days cleaning after the cattle, maintaining the property, breaking in the horses, and branding the live stock.

Fellow Catcher, Justin Johnson spent the past winter working in construction.  He performed jobs such as water proofing, operating machinery, and building foundations in the cold Minnesota weather.

Pitcher, Scott Mueller served as a basketball coach for Greenway High School in Phoenix, AZ.  He led the JV Demons to a 15-3 record, and also assisted with the Varsity Team, who finished with a 26-2 record.  They lost in the State Semi-Finals.

Pitcher, Ryan Ouellette worked as an electrician in West Palm Beach, FL.  His electrical construction entailed running wires, laying pipe for wires, putting in receptacles, hanging light fixtures, installing landscape lighting, and installing hurricane generators.

First Baseman, Chris Vinyard worked as a pool operator in Scottsdale, AZ.  He would clean and maintain an average of 12 pools a day.

As for myself, I spent one off-season as a Laboratory Technician in a Peripheral Nerve Lab for Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Neurology Department.  I assisted in research that required operating on rats, mice, and monkeys.  A few of my duties included cleaning after the animals and preparing the removed body parts for further analysis.