'It's Surreal' | Maryland Native Returns To Baltimore, Makes A Name For Herself In Orioles' Front Office
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Eve Rosenbaum says it's surreal: the team she loved as a child while growing up in Bethesda is now her employer.
Rosenbaum is the Orioles' director of player development, a job that requires her to apply and distribute the massive amount of player performance data that helps the team make the best roster decisions.
After growing up attending games at Camden Yards, Rosenbaum attended Harvard University where she played on the softball team. She knew she wanted a career in sports, and began her career as an intern with the Boston Red Sox before being hired by the Houston Astros.
In Houston, she met Mike Elias, who is now the Orioles' general manager. He was so impressed with Rosenbaum's data skills and feel for the game in Houston he brought her back home to Maryland.
"It's definitely surreal -- I think that's the best word for it," she said. "It's the kind of bizarre feeling where I'm driving on the highways I used to drive on and it's like when you haven't spoken to a friend in 15 years and you see him again it's like no time's past. That's sort of what it feels like -- I feel like I'm back home again."
Rosenbaum is right at home around baseball and she's one of just a few women who hold directorship positions for major league teams.
"I recognize the barriers to get to where I am and sort of the challenges that any minority faces to break into an area," she said. "There's always going to be challenges but it's definitely something special I that I'm doing now."
Despite that, she doesn't swell on being a woman in what's primarily considered a man's world.
"I just want to come in and do my job. I want to learn the neighborhoods in Baltimore and get to meet people and kind of adjust to the city. I'm just trying to be a normal person doing my job but if I happen to be a trailblazer, inspiring people, yeah, that's great," Rosenbaum said.
As the newest member of the Orioles' rebuild team, Rosenbaum said she sees a day in the near future when the team she grew up rooting for is back on top again.
