Coach works at Wrigley Field

Alongside his teaching job, teacher Rob Caliendo enjoys working with the grounds crew at Wrigley Field in the summer and on the weekends. While working at Wrigley, every day can be a little different, and that makes the job special to many people.

“On the first day, we went and we cleaned up the scoreboard; the old scoreboard that you manually do things. I was up in that and it was a lot of fun to clean out the garbage, since there’s [been] a lot garbage there for the last 50 years. Where we hang out is the old locker room of the Cubs, so it’s fun with that stuff. Every time I walk out on that field it’s a little special,” Caliendo said.

Getting the opportunity to work at multiple places can present itself through many different ways.

“My daughter wanted tickets for a game, so I went on their website. Then I saw career opportunities and I just thought [why not]. So I clicked on that, and then it said: for grounds crew, part-time grounds crew. I’ve coached baseball before, and I played for most of my life. You’re always working on the field, and I thought ‘man, this would be pretty cool to do this, that I could work there.’ I’ve had some special memories from Wrigley Field as well, so it’s a special place to me,” Caliendo said.

After realizing there were job openings to work at Wrigley Field, he decided it would be something of interest for him, so he took a moment out of his day to do the application process.

“I filled out the application, and I did it kind of quickly because I don’t really like computers and stuff like that. So, I just filled it out quick, submitted it, and they emailed me back and said [they’re] interviewing on this date, come in [then]. When they sent it back, I was already on my vacation. We were out in Nevada or California at the time. I said, ‘I’m out of town. Could we do a skype interview or a phone interview?’ They said, ‘No, sorry. Check again on the website and re-apply.’ Then a week after that, they said, ‘Are you still interested?’ And I said, ‘yes.’ We did a phone interview. It lasted five minutes, and then they said, ‘you’re hired’,” Caliendo said.

Once getting the job, he started his work as soon as he possibly could. Since working as a teacher, Caliendo cannot work every day of the week, but he works as much as he can and does as much school work on the way there and back.

“I started on August 1, and I’ll do most of it in the summer, and then the weekends I go down there. On October 8, I got the opportunity since we were off and I got to work. It’s not too difficult to balance those, just because I could grade on the way [since] I usually take the train. It’s very manageable, and it’s fun,” Caliendo said.