Kristen Aiken
Intern in Action, November 2002

New York, NY--Baseball is part of America's heart and soul and Barnard history major Kristen Aiken loves the game so much that she wants to make it her career. After working as an intern at the National Baseball Hall of Fame for two summers, she is now a publications intern for the New York Yankees.

Working at Yankee Stadium, Aiken writes articles for Yankees Magazine and other team publications, comes up with story ideas and conducts research for the publications department, using her knowledge of baseball history acquired over the years and from her time with the Hall of Fame.

"I've been into athletics since childhood, and I have two older brothers who nurtured my love for baseball," said Aiken, a junior. "All of the paths I've chosen have been carefully aimed at a career in baseball. I seem to be on the right track now."

Aiken grew up in Sidney, NY, a small town an hour from Cooperstown, where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located. After getting resume assistance from the Office of Career Development, she was accepted for the Franklin and Peggy Steele Internship Program the summer after her first year at Barnard. That first summer, Aiken met and worked with baseball legends like Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn.

"Since I was a returning intern the second summer I received many privileges," she says. "I got to throw out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game, and I was interviewed on television by Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas at a Philadelphia Phillies game. It was amazing. I wouldn't trade my experience at the Hall of Fame for anything in the world."

It was this invaluable experience at the Hall of Fame that led to Aiken's current internship in the Yankees' publications department. One of her supervisors at the Hall had been director of public relations for the Bronx Bombers in the early 1990s, and he wrote her a letter of recommendation.
"The Yankees normally don't even look at internship applications," Aiken explained. "But because of my supervisor's recommendation, they considered me. I went in for an interview, it went well and I got the job."Aiken has done independent studies at Barnard on wartime baseball and women in baseball and plans to write her senior thesis on a baseball-related topic. "Baseball is an integral part of American culture, and I feel my background in history helps me understand the bigger picture," she said.

She hopes to be kept on as a Yankees intern at least until the beginning of next season. "The job doesn't allow me to be star struck because of the constant exposure to baseball stars during the season," she said. "But it still sends chills down my spine when I realize what my job is."
After interviewing Yankee legend Don Mattingly, which Aiken describes as "like an out-of-body experience," she was able to talk with him about his first year in the minor leagues, spent in Oneonta, N.Y., a town near Sidney.

Asked what she plans to do after the internship, Aiken said, "I love the game so much that I can't imagine working in a field that's not baseball-related. I would love to work for either the Yankees or any other part of the MLB organization in public relations or publications."