- Name: Dan Frankel
- Hometown: Chappaaqua, NY
- College: IU
- Graduated: 2013
- Fraternity: Kappa Sigma
- IU Major: Sports Communication- Broadcast
- IU Minor: Telecommunications
- Reason for attending IU: Wanted a Big Ten school with great sports, academics and a strong Greek system
- Favorite Fan Cave Guest: Yasiel Puig
- Relationship with Fat Joe: Close
Odyssey: Hey Dan, thanks for being with us today!
Dan Frankel: No problem. I can always make time for another kid from IU.
O: Now there are some people who know of MLB Fan Cave, but there are also some that think that’s just the nickname for where Cubs
fans sleep. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is you do at the Cave?
DF: Yeah, absolutely. We have a great setup here in
Manhattan with a giant wall of 15, 46-inch flat screen TVs. I watch every MLB game here, where I spend 10 to 12 hours a day while also doing social media content.
It is our job to connect with baseball fans from a more laid-back and
fan-oriented angle. We really take advantage of all types of social media to
show interesting plays or events from each game every day. For instance if I
wasn’t doing this interview, I may catch a great play in one of the games,
screenshot it or videotape it, then tweet it or put it on vine for everyone to
see. It’s all about finding quirkiness.
O: Oh wow, that sounds like a great set up you have! Honestly, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little bit jealous.
DF: That’s the response I usually get. I’m really lucky to
get this position. I’m really lucky today actually because we have the Mets
social media team visiting to watch some games.
O: That has to be a pretty neat feature of the job, getting
to meet many different types of people. Do you always have visitors hanging
around or is this a rare occurrence?
DF: Yeah, usually. If a player doesn’t swing by - for instance, tomorrow we have Cory Kluber of the Cleveland Indians stopping in - we’ll have
someone else, whether it be someone involved in baseball or a celebrity. The Fan
Cave is basically a way for the players and other visitors to escape from the
mainstream media and hang out with real, passionate fans and be themselves.
O: So it has to be pretty interesting getting to discover
some of these players’ personalities.
DF: Definitely. But it isn’t just limited to players. We’ll
also have concerts, talks and other things like that. We’ve been lucky enough to
have Timeflies and Kip Moore stop by as well as a few others. It’s really a
fun time.
O: Sounds like you are really struggling to have fun there…
DF: (Laughing) Yeah can never find much to do around here.
O: To change topics a little bit, you were a Kappa Sigma at
IU. How was that experience?
DF: IU and Kappa Sig gave me some of the best times of my
life. I loved every second of it and really appreciated the brotherhood I found
at Kappa Sig. Honestly it reminds me a little of the Fan Cave because of how
close we have gotten. We have people from around the country spending all day,
every day of the entire summer watching games together and hanging out, so I
have gotten pretty close to all the other “cave dwellers”.
O: I was about to say, just from the way you talk about
interacting with everyone, it seems like you’re just watching a game at your
fraternity house, although it seems like there aren’t quite as many people. How
many “dwellers” are there per year?
DF: There are six dwellers total from all around. There’s a
Mets fan (myself), a Yankees fan, a Giants fan, a Dodgers guy, Cubs and then
White Sox. So we’re all over the map.
O: So it seems like you’re in a pretty select group?
DF: Yeah there are about 25,000 applications per year to be
in the Cave. Then they cut it down to about 18, where they then take us to
Arizona during Spring Training to kind of test us to see how we would do in the
regular season. I was lucky enough to make it through the whole process, and
now here I am today.
O: Well now that you're sitting where you are, are you able
to look back on how you got there? What made you want to pursue going after
this position?
DF: I’m glad you asked that. During the summers while I was
going to IU, I would work in NYC and pass this place all the time, so I
definitely knew what it was. My first job out of school I worked for a minor
league baseball team in Newark and was in charge of all of their social media. So I would tweet, Facebook, all of that stuff. Oddly enough, Fan Cave
recruiters would follow all of these accounts for the minor league teams, and
for whatever reason, what I was doing stood out to them. So they reached out to
me about applying, I did (I never thought I’d get the job) and one thing led
to another and now I’m sitting here watching 15 baseball games a day.
O: That really is amazing. So now that you are there, you
have a bunch of different responsibilities - one of which is appearing on the show “Off the Bat,” a pop culture/sports show on MTV hosted by Fat Joe, Sway,
Melanie Iglesias and Chris Distefano. So I have to ask, was it always a dream
of yours to work with Fat Joe?
DF: (Laughing) I love Fat Joe, he’s awesome. The first time
I came to the Cave and was able to interact with him. I was shell-shocked. I
was so scared to talk to him. Like, what do I have to say to someone like Fat
Joe? But now after a few months I can see him or Sway or any of the others and
they’re all my buddies. I can just talk to them about whatever; it’s really
something special.
O: I guess that is something you thought you’d never be able
to say.
DF: Absolutely not. But that’s one of the neat things about
the Fan Cave. From meeting all of these different types of people, it has given
me the confidence to go up and talk to anyone, whether it's Derek Jeter, Barack Obama or anyone. Everyone just wants to be a normal person and have a
regular conversation, no matter what their status in the world may be. And I
should mention, Fat Joe is not fat anymore. He’s a family man now.
O: Wait, what? He’s a family man now? And skinny?
DF: Really! You all should start calling him Lean Joe now.
But to me, he’s just Joe.
O: That may make readers more jealous than you just being a
member of the Fan Cave. Anyway, regardless of your relationship with famous
rappers, it seems like this is almost a dream job for you. Did you do anything
at IU that helped you get to where you are currently?
DF: Definitely. That’s the most important thing you can do.
I always enjoyed sports and commentating on them, and people told me I have the
voice and face for radio. So I started working at the IU student radio program
to get involved in that field in some way. I spent all four years learning how
radio is produced and everything, and I fell in love with it. Having your voice mean something to other people really resonated with me, and I believe
that experience helped me get the minor league baseball job, which in turn
helped me get this Fan Cave job.
O: It sounds like that is really the perfect spot for you.
DF: I completely agree. It seems like a really daunting task
to watch 2400 baseball games in a summer, but coming to work everyday to watch
sports with your best friends instead of working in a cubicle all day really
makes this the best job in the world.
O: Well I think I speak for everyone here at IU when I say
we really are incredibly jealous of you. Thanks for your time, and keep making
the Hoosiers proud!
DF: Any time. Thank you, and go Mets!
