MSL to MLB: Pink Glad He Didn't Change the Channel
Ex-Buffalo Grove Baseball Star Makes Successful Trek from Independent Ball to Atlanta Braves' Clubhouse Operations
It is a good thing Jeff Pink didn’t change the channel or go get a snack.
The Buffalo Grove graduate and 2001 Daily Herald All-Area baseball player was in school at Southern Illinois University when a commercial came on TV. All of a sudden Pink saw Mike Pinto, his former coach at Oakton College, on the screen promoting the Southern Illinois Miners independent league team he was managing.
“I called Mike about any jobs,” said Pink, who lives with his wife and their two children in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw. “I didn’t know what jobs existed in baseball.”
It was a good call since it led to a career where Pink just finished his 15th year working in baseball, his eighth in the Atlanta Braves organization and his first with the big club as the Assistant Manager of Clubhouse Services. He also got a 2021 World Series ring from the team for his work.
“At SIU I had no idea what I wanted to do,” Pink said “Thank god Mike Pinto showed up on my TV one day.”
Pink can also be thankful that Pinto came to see him pitch in a matchup his senior year at BG against Fremd standout Jeff Maitland. Pinto was the pitching coach for Rich Symonds at Oakton College and liked the bulldog mentality of the left-handed Pink.
Pinto went from pitching coach to head coach at Oakton after Pink’s freshman year. Pink and fellow BG grad E.J. Zbikowski were his team captains.
“I’m so incredibly proud for him,” Pinto said, “and what he’s been able to do and continue to grow with that.”
Pink is the right-hand man to the Braves’ Director of Clubhouse operations. Because there are more people working in a big-league clubhouse he said he can focus on specific areas such as purchase orders and budgets.
This part of the year is quieter and gives him a chance to recharge. But when February and spring training roll around it will be back to 12-plus hour days that are part of a baseball season. He traveled with the Braves to about a third of their road games last season and expects that number to increase in 2023.
“I’m in the clubhouse every day,” Pink said. “Lucky for me, the Braves have a lot of young players and they all knew me through the minor league level. It made the adjustment and transition so easy.”
It’s a long way from where Pink started with the Southern Illinois Miners, who were one of the crown jewels of the independent Frontier League, but ceased operations after the 2021 season when their owners decided to retire from the business. Pink spent his first year with the Miners as an unpaid intern and did anything from working with the ground crew, setting up for batting practice, helping with stadium operations and making sales calls.
Pinto, who managed the Miners from 2007-21, joked that Pink could even use his excellent pickoff move to first base on occasion to school some of his baserunners. After that first year the Miners wanted Pink to stay on in a paid full-time position.
“Most interns don’t get hired full-time,” Pinto said. “For Jeff to get that opportunity said an awful lot about what the organization thought of him and we watched him grow and thrive in it. He wanted to know all the aspects of the business.
“People don’t know the extraordinary amount of work that goes in behind the scenes to put on a baseball game.”
Pink became Director of Stadium Operations and then Clubhouse Manager for the Miners. He came up with the idea for the Miners Classic to bring high school baseball teams in to play during their spring break. Pinto said Pink executed every aspect of the event from getting teams to setting up schedules and helping with hotel accommodations.
“I loved baseball all my life,” Pink said. “Working in baseball was never a thing I thought of. Getting a small taste with Mike and the Miners grew my interest even more.”
After his fourth year working for the Miners, Pink and some friends went to baseball’s Winter Meetings ready to hand out their resumes. The Blue Jays called Pink and wanted him to be the clubhouse manager for their High Class-A affiliate in Dunedin, Florida.
“I came to work in spring training and didn’t know what it meant, but I was excited to work in baseball,” Pink said. “And now the Blue Jays were my favorite team. I was happy every day because I didn’t know this life existed.”
Pink said at his first spring training he was doing anything from cleaning shoes, to taking out garbage, to doing laundry, to driving players to places or picking up their wives and even shagging during batting practice. There were also some growing pains with the jump to an affiliated team and the differences from independent baseball.
After a year Pink was approached by the Jays equipment manager for all their minor league teams to be an assistant at their minor league complex. The responsibilities increased since there was year-round activity with hundreds of players, including some rehabbing from injuries, and coaches.
“Everyday you would meet more people and learn more things,” Pink said. “Dealing with vendors and how ordering is done. There is so much behind the scenes and it’s more than laundry and cleaning spikes.
“The access you are granted with the job, I’m still very grateful. I loved every single day. It was very exciting and you wondered what would be next.”
After five years with the Blue Jays and four at the minor league complex, Pink’s boss learned the Braves were looking for someone to run their minor league complex. Pink sent his resume, flew to Atlanta for an interview where he was offered the job and then started in November 2014.
“I felt pretty lucky because there are only 30 of these jobs,” Pink said. “It was very exciting but I was a little nervous at the same time.
“As far back as I can remember in sports I never felt like I was over my skis. I was very nervous because I wanted to make a seamless transition with the Braves and I was coming to a place where all the blame and responsibility would fall on me.”
Pink said one of the key aspects of his role is being available to a player, coach or staff member. The equipment manager’s office can be a place for them to hang out and get away from some of the daily pressures of the game for a few minutes.
Pink said he made it a point to show more of a personality and interest in players. He also understands his office is a “what’s said here, stays here” environment of confidence and trust.
“A lot of times I’m the first face the players see so that’s very important,” Pink said. “Playing baseball all those years prepared me for nothing for this job but it prepared me for the off-field stuff.
“You have to have a feel for when to talk to a player or not to talk to a player. The preparation came for clubhouse interactions of knowing when to ask a question after a tough game or a good game. It taught me a lot about it relationship-wise. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been able to stay in the game so long. I have a feel for it and a lot of people don’t.”
That includes understanding the reality that if a player like ex-Braves star Freddie Freeman came down on a rehab assignment his needs would be prioritized over the minor leaguers. His success in the position gave him the opportunity to travel with the Braves during the 2021 World Series in a non-working capacity and led to his big-league promotion.
Moving up to the Braves was a reunion with catching coach Sal Fasano, the ex-Hoffman Estates star who played 11 years in the big leagues, since they worked together in the Blue Jays organization. Braves manager Brian Snitker is from Macon, about 10 miles south of Decatur in central Illinois, and played for the 1971 state baseball runner-up that was chronicled in the book “One Shot at Forever.”
“Snitker is the absolute best,” Pink said. “Everyone they bring in is just a good person and that makes the job really good.”
There are many good stories of players who emerged from the ranks of independent baseball to the big leagues. Pinto had four players who made that successful journey.
And Jeff Pink is also a behind-the-scenes success story in making it big in his trek from Marion, Illinois to Atlanta.
“I kept working my way up and working my way up,” Pink said. “It’s a long season but a lot goes into a baseball season. I don’t know what I would do at this point if I left working in baseball. I’m so lucky to be in this industry and working for an organization that prioritizes winning and prioritizes taking care of its staff.”