(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories about College of Communications students completing summer internships.)
He has been on the job for less than a month and already recent Penn State graduate John McGonigal has had a variety of valuable experience as part of his internship with MLB.com.
The Aston, Pennsylvania, native started in his summer position as an associate reporter covering the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 19, the beginning of a two-game series with the Minnesota Twins. Since then, he has spent countless hours at PNC Park, churning out three stories of varying length every home game day.
The 23rd Penn State student selected to MLB.com’s internship program in the past eight years, McGonigal has put his opportunity to good use. For a 7:05 p.m. first pitch, McGonigal arrives at the stadium around 3 p.m. He starts in the clubhouse, conducting pregame player interviews at 3:15 p.m. before meeting with Pirates manager Clint Hurdle in his office at 3:45 p.m.
After getting his material, McGonigal heads to the pressbox and writes a pregame story. Following a quick bite to eat, it’s game time. During the game, McGonigal helps out with an in-game story that is posted directly after the game ends. Then, he completes his postgame locker room interviews and attends the press conference before returning upstairs and completing his postgame story.
“It’s not like a traditional game recap,” said McGonigal. “For each team, there are two sidebars after the game. One is more game focus, ‘What was the biggest thing that shifted the game?’ That’s when you have to get your score up high in the story. That’s 500 words or so. Then you have to do a second one. For example, in the last game of the series against the Marlins, they had this guy come in who was in the bullpen. He happened to make a spot start. They ended up losing, but he did that well where it was like, ‘OK, there’s a story about this guy in there,’ 350 words or so.”
The internship has provided useful challenges for McGonigal, who earned a certificate from the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism and his University diploma in May. He normally covers the Pirates, but if MLB.com doesn’t send the visiting team’s permanent reporter to a game at PNC Park, McGonigal serves in that role. In the series against the Marlins, he had to adjust quickly and cover the beat for the visiting Miami team.
“After getting myself acclimated with the Pirates clubhouse a few days, now I’m the Marlins beat reporter for three straight days,” said McGonigal. “That was an interesting experience going into a clubhouse and not really knowing anybody or knowing the situation of the team too well. I was learning on the fly, acclimating myself and introducing myself to fellow beat reporters and trying to get the lowdown on how the team is doing, what players are good interviews and what players aren’t. It was a good experience.”
McGonigal also experienced conducting interviews through translators for the first time, dealing with players from all around the world.
A seasoned reporter whose resume includes serving as the Penn State football beat reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News last season, McGonigal has the freedom to come up with his own stories and works with his supervisor to generate ideas and content.
Going forward, McGonigal says he would love to secure this type of job full-time in the future and would be happy covering any sport. But, having grown up on baseball and getting an inside look with this internship, he enjoys the camaraderie in the clubhouse and the uniqueness of how the sport is covered. So far, McGonigal has taken advantage of the opportunity.
“I’ve learned baseball is different than any other you sport you would cover because it’s such a daily grind,” said McGonigal. “It’s a day-in, day-out kind of thing. It’s not like football where you’ve got one game a week. It’s a different experience, but it’s an experience that I’ve definitely come to cherish already and will continue to do that. It’s an experience that’s going to better me as a sports journalist moving forward."