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Fantasy Baseball as a Career

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  • #1

    Fantasy Baseball as a Career

    There seem to be quite a bit of actual fantasy baseball experts here in the 'pen, so I would love to pick your guys' brains a little bit. Prepare for a slew of questions; answer whatever you want...

    If you've written, played, or done anything with fantasy sports as an occupation (either full-time or part-time)...

    - How long did it take for you to get to a point where you got paid for working with fantasy sports?
    - Do any of you work in fantasy sports full-time or do you have other jobs as well?
    - Is the fantasy sports world better now that it has gotten more popular or have the golden days of fantasy past (I'm young)?
    - Does your expertise come more from experience in playing fantasy or from time spent studying the game?


    This topic is incredibly interesting to me. Is there a book or an article out there that I could read?
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Well, there's at least one guy who is an avid poster here who parlayed his baseball writing hobby into a full-blown career with a major league team!

    Comment

    • #3
      #1 - I didn't receive a monthly check for fantasy writing until my 9th year in the business
      #2 - I work full time in educational publishing while maintaining 2 separate fantasy writing gigs at Rotowire & Baseball Prospectus
      #3 - I think the industry is constantly improving with analysis even if a majority of the league styles are stuck in old habits
      #4 - from both playing and writing

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      • #4
        FWIW, I wrote a weekly column for a few different popular fantasy sports websites a few years back and got about $20 a column.

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        • #5
          Listen to Towers of Power...both Jason Collette (Moonlight J) and Paul Sporer (PJS 24) are active posters here as well as being employed in the industry on other sites. Todd Zola of Mastersball posts here often, and in the fantasy football realm, we have Bob Lung (aka Griswold), who writes a column for Rotoexperts.
          "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
          - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

          "Your shitty future continues to offend me."
          -Warren Ellis

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by revo View Post
            FWIW, I wrote a weekly column for a few different popular fantasy sports websites a few years back and got about $20 a column.
            outside of the $$$ we got here for The Fix a few times, I didn't cash a fantasy baseball paycheck until February 2008. I started in 1999....

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            • #7
              I'm in sports-related journalism, and it took me about six YEARS, back in the 1980s, to land a full-time salary. Writing about fantasy sports is not terribly realistic right out of the gate, either, so don't put all your eggs in that basket.

              Like Jason, get yourself a good full-time career that pays the bills. Then if you want to - well, moonlight - go for it. But I suspect the number of people who make a decent living just from their fantasy sports work is shockingly small.
              finished 10th in this 37th yr in 11-team-only NL 5x5
              own picks 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 in April 2022 1st-rd farmhand draft
              won in 2017 15 07 05 04 02 93 90 84

              SP SGray 16, TWalker 10, AWood 10, Price 3, KH Kim 2, Corbin 10
              RP Bednar 10, Bender 10, Graterol 2
              C Stallings 2, Casali 1
              1B Votto 10, 3B ERios 2, 1B Zimmerman 2, 2S Chisholm 5, 2B Hoerner 5, 2B Solano 2, 2B LGarcia 10, SS Gregorius 17
              OF Cain 14, Bader 1, Daza 1

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Judge Jude View Post
                I'm in sports-related journalism, and it took me about six YEARS, back in the 1980s, to land a full-time salary. Writing about fantasy sports is not terribly realistic right out of the gate, either, so don't put all your eggs in that basket.

                Like Jason, get yourself a good full-time career that pays the bills. Then if you want to - well, moonlight - go for it. But I suspect the number of people who make a decent living just from their fantasy sports work is shockingly small.
                without a doubt. I did have one offer for a full-time gig at one time but it would have been a 60% paycut from what my job pays me now. With a family, I simply couldn't make that happen. Had I been single, I would have been ALL over it.

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                • #9
                  Yeah, like Jason said, it took me about 7 years until I was getting paid to write. And that was only about $750-$1,000 per year (but I only wrote for the football section).

                  I also want to confirm that getting paid full-time if pretty unrealistic and I can't imagine it's much.

                  The best path is what most of us have done. Have a full-time job and then slowly get into the business and prove your worth and then if you're lucky, you'll get paid something.

                  But, honestly, I do it for the love of my topic (Fantasy Football Consistency) and the importance that I believe it has in Fantasy Football.

                  If I truly wanted to do it for the money, I would have quit a long time ago....lol

                  Hope that helps!

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                  • #10
                    If you really want to make money writing about fantasy sports you are much better off creating your own nitch and working it as much as possible. When you are established and have a fanbase you can sell things from advertising to products like fantasy guides and e-books. It is very tough to do this and work fulltime especially if you have family obligations and want to have a life outside of the game. But if you are willing to put in what time you have it can become a decent supplement to your regular job.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Moonlight J View Post
                      I didn't receive a monthly check for fantasy writing until my 9th year in the business.
                      Originally posted by Judge Jude View Post
                      ...it took me about six YEARS...to land a full-time salary.
                      Originally posted by griswold View Post
                      ...it took me about 7 years until I was getting paid to write.
                      Wow. I figured it took a while to get established in the business, but I didn't fully grasp the investment of time that it takes. So many years and so many hours. And the fact that those hours must be taken from one's limited free time is amazing. Massive kudos.

                      I really can't believe that so many genuine experts frequent a forum that is open to the general public. Every time I browse the Bullpen I feel like I've been invited to a Rolling Stones sound check or something.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by dave_dewit View Post
                        Wow. I figured it took a while to get established in the business, but I didn't fully grasp the investment of time that it takes. So many years and so many hours. And the fact that those hours must be taken from one's limited free time is amazing. Massive kudos.

                        I really can't believe that so many genuine experts frequent a forum that is open to the general public. Every time I browse the Bullpen I feel like I've been invited to a Rolling Stones sound check or something.
                        a Rush concert would probably be a better analogy ...
                        It certainly feels that way. But I'm distrustful of that feeling and am curious about evidence.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by TranaGreg View Post
                          a Rush concert would probably be a better analogy ...
                          You'll get that reference before too long Dave...
                          "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
                          - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

                          "Your shitty future continues to offend me."
                          -Warren Ellis

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Originally posted by dave_dewit View Post
                            Wow. I figured it took a while to get established in the business, but I didn't fully grasp the investment of time that it takes. So many years and so many hours. And the fact that those hours must be taken from one's limited free time is amazing. Massive kudos.

                            I really can't believe that so many genuine experts frequent a forum that is open to the general public. Every time I browse the Bullpen I feel like I've been invited to a Rolling Stones sound check or something.
                            First off, Dave...welcome to the Bullpen.

                            Second, there are many other extremely knowledge baseball guys here who haven't committed themselves to writing for a website. Be that as it may, that does not reduce their incredible knowledge and dedication to Fantasy baseball and this site.

                            I feel truly blessed everyday that I stumbled on this site and I have made many, many great friendships here and have learned so much regarding Fantasy sports and life.

                            I hope that you will too.

                            Hey, just my thoughts.

                            Gris

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Does that make Seitzer Mick Jagger? Because that's about 180 degrees from the impression I've ever gotten.
                              I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

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