When Marley Joseph, SOC/BA ’27, stepped through the doors of Major League Baseball headquarters this past summer, the experience felt less like a new job and more like the ultimate homecoming.

Stationed in an open-concept office opposite Radio City Music Hall, the broadcast journalism major and lifelong baseball devotee spent nine weeks as a social media editorial intern on MLB’s English-language team. 

Baseball has always been in Joseph’s blood—even if he chose to rebel against his own bloodlines. Raised in Harlem by parents and grandparents who were die-hard New York Mets fans, he broke family tradition to root for the Yankees, spending his childhood soaking in the sights, sounds, and rituals of the ballpark.

While Joseph loves to playfully rib his family by claiming loyalty to the pinstripes across town, his devotion to baseball runs far deeper than team colors. From age 7 through 18, he lived in center field, developing the quiet discipline required of an outfielder. 

“You’re in your own world out there,” he said. “You don’t do much until you have to do everything. You’re fighting to stay locked in, taking your two steps on every single pitch, making sure you’re mentally prepared for wherever the ball might go.”

That deep-seated feel for the rhythm of the game—cultivated by watching heroes like Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Céspedes—gave him an instinct for micro-moments that would prove invaluable behind the computer screen at MLB.

Joseph’s journey to the league’s digital command center began with a calculated leap to American University. While other schools offered strong journalism programs, AU offered the ideal balance of storytelling, campus culture, and access to a vibrant sports media market. In Northwest DC, Joseph threw himself into creative production, serving as editor of EGO, AU’s fashion magazine, and working as marketing and media deputy director for the Student Union Board.

Yet breaking into professional sports media wasn’t an automatic home run. When Joseph first reached out to MLB during his sophomore year, the response was a polite reality check: he was simply too green.

Rather than walking away, Joseph focused on building his playbook. He spent the following summer writing copy and running social accounts for Mutual of America Financial Group. While managing retirement plan posts lacked the adrenaline of a bottom-of-the-ninth rally, it provided the professional foundation he needed to show hiring managers he could deliver polished copy under tight deadlines.

When MLB opened its summer 2026 recruitment cycle, Joseph cast his name into a pool of more than 10,000 applicants vying for roughly 110 spots across the league. Following two rigorous interview rounds that tested his technical chops and baseball knowledge, he got the call on the final Saturday of spring break: he was heading to Midtown Manhattan.

Once in the office, the pace was relentless; Joseph was tasked with translating live-game action into compelling digital content for millions of followers across Instagram, TikTok, and X. 

“Coming into the internship, I would have called my skills pretty basic,” he said. “It took me three hours to edit my first video in Premiere Pro. By the end of the summer, I could turn it around in 20 minutes.”

The job demanded equal parts technical precision and creative instinct. One day Joseph was cutting postgame graphics in Photoshop and producing a one-year retrospective package on A’s rookie Nick Kurtz; the next, he was assembling viral gold. When a stray cat darted across the diamond at Yankee Stadium in August, Joseph cut the footage, slapped on a clever caption—Take Meowt to the Ballgame!—and watched it travel like a Kyle Schwarber moonshot to the upper deck.

“You learn that effective social strategy isn’t just about Aaron Judge hitting a home run,” Joseph said. “It’s about knowing your audience, finding the human—or feline—moments, and understanding that every single platform requires a different voice.”

Other milestones hit closer to home. When Joseph produced an Instagram compilation highlighting former ace CC Sabathia, the six-time All-Star commented directly on the post to thank him. Off the screen, walking the warning track during a Mets game and touring the Jackie Robinson Museum added rich personal perspective to the summer.

Now back at AU for his senior year, Joseph is carrying forward more than just technical clips. Supported by a network of mentors and teammates, he embodies the drive of Eagles who turn classroom instruction into real-world industry traction.

“It doesn’t matter the name of the company on your first internship—what matters is getting your foot in the door and learning the skills,” Joseph said. “Don’t be afraid to take the initiative, reach out to people, and build genuine relationships. You never know where that next opportunity will come from.”