In baseball — like in public relations — success often comes down to developing your skills, working as a team, and knowing who you are and what role you play. Are you the power hitter counted on to drive in runs, or the speedy line-drive machine who sets the table? The same lessons I’ve learned coaching and parenting carry into my work in communications: play your game, trust your teammates, control the controllables.
As a newspaper reporter for nearly 15 years — and then as a public relations professional for the last two decades — I’ve been fortunate to tell stories I’ll remember for the rest of my life. But a curveball changed the game for everyone in the newspaper and PR worlds. Those who adapted thrived, but the process wasn’t easy. If it were as simple as changing jerseys, everyone would have made the transition — but that’s not how it worked out.
Before we get to what did happen, let’s take a step back.
As a newspaper reporter, I told a lot of memorable stories, including:
- The Malice at the Palace — when NBA players fought with fans.
- Sheriff William Kolender’s battle with Alzheimer’s which helped inform the story about the sheriff’s death.
- The mishaps and lack of preparedness that fueled San Diego’s deadly wildfires in 2007.
- Profiles of both a gang member in southeast San Diego and Eminem in suburban Detroit.
(If you clicked on the story links you had to use the magnifier tool to expand most of them because the stories are so old they now live in the deep corners of the web in newspaper archives. How young that makes me feel.)
Back then, news sites and Facebook were just taking off. Reporters weren’t chasing clicks or live-tweeting from press conferences. As an investigative journalist, I was often given weeks — sometimes months — to craft long-form stories for the Sunday front page. Newsrooms were bustling places filled with young reporters eager to prove themselves, seasoned staffers too cool for school, and veterans — coffee stains on their ties or cigarettes in their purses — who’d seen it all.
From the newsroom to PR: Stay in your lane
When I left newspapers to become communications director for then San Diego City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, I did it the old-fashioned way: I found a job opening, applied, interviewed, and gave my two weeks’ notice. My wife Elizabeth — who I met in the newsroom — actually pointed me to the opportunity.
At the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune, like so many other metro papers, was offering buyouts. It was clear where things were headed: buyouts would turn into layoffs. Legacy print media was careening toward the cliffs.
The PR world was new to me but familiar in spirit. I dove in, eager to learn and climb the next ladder. Back then, public relations was straightforward. Earned media — securing positive print and broadcast stories and editorials for your boss, clients, or brand — was the gold standard.
The Internet changed the game
The internet blew up everything with a slew of curveballs most of us never saw coming. Suddenly, everyone with a phone could publish instantly. Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Mailchimp gave us all access to tools — from animation to micro-targeting — that let us reach exactly who we wanted, whenever we wanted.
Digital marketing quickly became an essential part of public relations. Some PR professionals dove in and became online marketing specialists. Others ignored it, hoping it would fade away. I chose a third path: partnering with experts (wizards, really) in that space.
Know your strengths. Stay in your lane. Control the controllables. It’s advice I try to live by, and it served me well when I became a strategic partner at IVC Media.
The team, the team, the team
Flying solo has its benefits, and I liked it — but joining an elite team that competes, wins, and does things the right way with heart and passion? There’s not much that tops that. In business and on the ball field, individuals can only go so far. Teams can do so much more, especially the best ones.
No one said that better than Bo Schembechler, the late and legendary University of Michigan football coach. Bo famously told his players nothing was more important than the team in a 1983 locker room speech that still evokes goosebumps.
Before I earned my spot on my new team, I had to understand my strengths and weaknesses. What did I bring to the table? What did others bring that I didn’t — but my clients could benefit from? And how do you stitch all that together so it looks polished and cohesive to potential clients?
Today, clients seeking strategic communications or public affairs services often want it all — effective PR and tailored digital marketing that’s measurable and moves the needle. The public doesn’t care about the differences between PR and marketing, nor should they. But if your goal is to get people to act — whether that’s building brand loyalty, securing votes, or something else — you need to reach them where they are, multiple times across multiple platforms.
The IVC crew and I have partnered on numerous projects, even launching a podcast together a couple of years ago. We clicked — but we also took our time to get there. At first we were cautious, dating but interested in more. Each collaboration deepened the partnership. The folks at IVC do things I don’t know how to do — and I do things they don’t try to do. That’s how good partnerships work.
Before any of that, mutual trust already existed between me and Juan Hernandez — one of IVC’s partners and my co-host on the Dear San Diego Podcast. Juan and I met many chapters ago when we were working on dueling mayoral campaigns.
Don’t go it alone
To the young PR pros out there: don’t go it alone. Know your strengths. Stay in your lane. Control the controllables. Turn your weaknesses into strengths by finding partners who help you shore up your soft spots. Collaborate. And if you can’t find a winning team, build one. Then lean in and watch the magic happen.
The game changes — whether it’s baseball, journalism, or PR. What doesn’t change are the fundamentals: teamwork, preparation, and knowing your strengths. That’s true on the baseball field, in newsrooms, and in the world of public affairs.
Tony Manolatos is a former newspaper reporter and long-time public relations professional who has started the new Substack Baseball Dad & PR Guy.
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