Catching Up With Octagon Dir Of Baseball Joe Urbon
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Octagon’s Joe Urbon Discusses
Upcoming MLB Season
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At first, Octagon’s Joe Urbon went with the chalk, offering up two favored
World Series contenders — Yankees and Dodgers — as his picks to meet
in the Fall Classic this season. But like any good agent, he quickly amended those
choices, opting for Indians vs. Pirates instead. Questionable, sure, but not surprising
considering Urbon represents the Indians’ Grady Sizemore and Pirates’
Jason Bay as head of Octagon’s baseball division, a position he’s
held since ’98. While preparing for the upcoming season, the proud father
of four-month-old twins took a moment to speak with Staff Writer Brad Pinkerton.
Favorite Movie: “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (1941).
Last book read: “The Brothers K,” by David James
Duncan.
Next vacation (when/where): We were planning a trip to the Scandinavian
region of Europe when we found out we were pregnant with Walter and Josephine.
So whenever we are more mobile, that will be our next vacation.
Sports business exec you most admire: Octagon President of Athletes
& Personalities Phil di Picciotto.
Favorite sport outside baseball: College football.
Q: What is your daily routine once you reach the office?
Urbon: Usually when I get to the office — when I’m
in the office — it’s a combination of reading the local newspapers
online from virtually all [the markets] our baseball clients are playing in. I
have them all bookmarked. I go through them just to see what’s being said
locally about our clients or a situation going on in those cities. ... I usually
do part of it from home now that I’ve got the twins and one of them refuses
to sleep past 5:15am — I think the record right now is 5:30.
Q: You played professionally in the Phillies organization — what do you miss most about playing?
Urbon: One is the actual game itself, the competition. Number
two is the guys I hung around with and spent so much time with in the clubhouse.
Obviously I was in the minors, so I was on the buses, in the bad restaurants and
the bad hotels. One thing I don’t miss at all is the overwhelming downtime
that is so prevalent in baseball. ... Unfortunately, having my career end so abruptly
because of injury, if I knew it was going to end that quickly, I would have savored
more of the moments. But at the same time, I’ve got such great memories
from that brief time, they’ll always stick with me.
Q: On a competitive level, how does being a sports agent compare
to being an athlete?
Urbon: The competition to represent the best athletes is every
bit as competitive as what goes on on the field. People in our industry are out
there to win. ... As a player you always want to perform better and as an agent
you always want to represent the best players.
Q: How would you grade MLB on its int’l growth? What do
you see in baseball’s global future?
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Brosnan Receives Praise For
Role In MLB’s Int’l Growth |
Urbon: I would grade it as an “A” without question.
I think [MLB Exec VP/Business] Tim Brosnan has done a fantastic job. I think MLB
as a whole has done a fantastic job in all aspects, getting to parts of the world
that they probably didn’t think they’d get to and having great success.
... Just seeing the overwhelming growth in television, merchandising and events,
it’s amazing. I would like to see global competition. Rather than having
some of the best players from the different countries playing in the major leagues,
I’d like to see them stay in their countries and have a truly competitive
league and a true world series. ... I’d love to have the game played out
in a global arena, where we have the World Baseball Classic, but have it count.
Q: Were you surprised by the amount of posting money that was
involved to negotiate with [Daisuke] Matsuzaka?
Urbon: I was surprised in the context of what had been posted
in the past. But at the same time with the type of player we’re talking
about and the economics of the game right now ... it really doesn’t surprise
me. If you look at it on a global scale, the transfer fees you see in soccer for
the best player, this amount pales in comparison. I think this is just a natural
progression of this sport moving toward what’s going on on the global sporting
scene.
Q: Do you see baseball ever reaching that level?
Urbon: No. I don’t see it reaching that level. This was
an unusual case.
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Indians’ Sizemore Being Selective
In Marketing Opportunities |
Q: What should baseball teams be doing with players at the local
level that they may not be?
Urbon: I think by and large the clubs have done a very good job
of getting not only their veteran players, but their young players out into the
marketplace and known within their communities. ... And I think the players are
accepting their roles more positively than players in the past to get out there
and be part of the community. You see that with the winter caravans all these
teams have in the offseason.
Q: What are the Indians doing with Grady?
Urbon: If Grady would let them, he would be utilized every single
day before and after a game and twice on Sunday. For Grady, it’s about playing
and about being prepared each day. He’ll do what he’s asked to a degree,
but when given a choice, he’ll defer to his teammates. On some level, that’s
a bit frustrating for the club because he is their most marketable player. We’ve
turned down so many more opportunities than we’ve accepted — last
year we turned them all down.
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