3. Birthdate and where from?
Born: July 14, 1974 (40 years old)
Meriden, New Hampshire
4. Timeline of Career
College Present
Undergraduate School: Amherst College
Graduate School: University of Massachusetts Amherst (Masters in Sport
Management)
1999-2005: Cherington served Boston as an area scout, baseball operations assistant,
coordinator of international scouting, and assistant director (and then director) of
player development
December 12, 2005 - January 19, 2006: served as co-general manager of the team
with Jed Hoyer during Epstein's absence from the team.
January 20, 2006 – January 2009: After Epstein's return, Cherington became vice
president, player personnel
January 2009 – October 2011: senior vice president and assistant GM
October 2011 – Present: General Manager of the Boston Red Sox
5. Why did Ben choose this career path?
-Ben was a huge baseball fan since his early childhood (Studied the stats
and numbers relating to the game of baseball)
-He studied Baseball Digest from cover to cover, implored his parents to
drive dozens of miles to secure a Sunday Boston Globe so he could
devour the baseball notes column.
-He and his buddies collected baseball cards, but, explained lifelong
friend Ben McGee, "The rest of us only cared if it was a rookie card.
What interested Ben was all those numbers on the back.”
6. What is the biggest challenge of being
a GM of a Major League Baseball
team?
• Creating a winning team is the biggest
challenge
• The GM controls player transactions, bears the
primary responsibility on behalf of the
ballclub during contract discussions with
players
• The general manager is also normally the
person who hires and fires the coaching staff,
including the manager.
7. What does an average day at work entail?
• Interviews from the media
• Phone calls with the GM’s of other MLB
organizations (Trades, etc.)
• Meetings with executives and the scouting
department of the Red Sox
• Attending home and away games
8. How many hours per week and how
much travel does the job require?
• 12+ hours at the ballpark every day
• The GM of an MLB team might travel as much
or more than the players on the team,
depending on whether the GM travels to the
team’s away games
• Meetings throughout the year (Winter
Meetings)
• Hours every week on the phone and in
meetings
9. Any advice from this person for
someone looking to get into this area
of sports?
• The first job description is not going to be the
perfect one (the job duties)
• Being around the right people is the most
important thing about your first job
• Try to get into scouting players, talk to scouts
• Skills, qualities and being able to have an
intellectual conversation are key
10. Video
• Ben Cherington Career Advice Video
(17:45, 34:15)
12. Sports Psychologists
What do they do?
Some athletes seek help from a sport psychologist or other exercise and sport psychology
professional when they have a problem .They might become anxious or lose focus during
competition, for example. They might have trouble communicating with teammates,
controlling their temper or even just motivating themselves to exercise. Or they might
choke at key moments during a game. But athletes don't just consult sports psychologists
when they're having difficulties.
Sport psychologists can also help athletes:
Enhance performance
Cope with the pressures of competition
Recover from injuries
Keep up an exercise program
Enjoy sports
-John Murray treats NFL players, professional golfers and professional tennis players.
13. Career path and how John Murray got
to where he is
• Started as a tennis coach, but he saw something glaring while on
the road watching matches. Saw how important the mental game
was to success and how few athletes trained it.
• BA in psychology from Loyola University,
• University of Florida Graduate School (1990s): 2 masters degrees
(Sport Psychology and Clinical Psychology) and a PhD (Clinical
Psychology)
• The 1997 national champion Florida Gators football team was the
subject of my doctoral dissertation
• Clinical and sport psychology internship at Washington State
University and a
• Post doctoral fellowship at Florida International University
• Currently, owns a private practice in Florida
14. Advice to people wanting to follow a
similar career path
• “To be a sport psychologist you have to wear many
hats and credentials are extremely important. I believe
the only way to do it is to become a licensed
psychologist first, as the bare minimum level of
training. You need to know what makes people tick,
how they break down, all of the assessment and
treatment training.”
• “a license in psychology is not enough. You also have to
have studied the sport sciences--the physical bases of
sport--the movement sciences, the biology, the
physiology etc. Then, and perhaps the hardest part to
acquire, is the hands-on training by another qualified
sport psychologist.”
15. Fun Facts
• A big element of his job is attending sporting
events (See the athlete in his/her natural
environment)
• He is available 24/7 to his clients
• He always meets his new clients in person
• All across the country, the stigma of mental
illness is slowly disappearing. As a result, more
and more athletes are willing to discuss their
feelings with a professional (More open).
