Ben Dunn is thankful the Boston Red Sox shared.
Dunn, who was an intern on the grounds crew at Boston's Fenway Park last summer, received a nice chunk of change after the team won the World Series championship last fall.
Although Dunn, a 26-year-old sophomore in the two-year Sports and Commercial Turf Management program at MSU, wouldn't let on to how much money he received from the team, he did reveal that they "treated (me) well."
In Major League Baseball, the teams that make the playoffs receive part of the money brought in from ticket receipts.
This past season, the Red Sox received the biggest cut at around $15 million for winning the championship, while other playoff teams made less money depending on how far they advanced. This trickled all the way down to second-place finishers who did not qualify for the playoffs.
The teams then took this pool of money and divided it into shares. The Red Sox awarded 58 full shares at roughly $223,620 each, along with 29 partial shares and eight cash awards. According to Charles Brunetti, the assistant director of grounds at Fenway Park, the vice president and head groundskeeper decided to split a share among the grounds crew, including interns.
"It was always a rumor," Dunn said. "But I hadn't heard any facts, so it was kind of a surprise.
"They are a classy organization to include interns like that."
David Gilstrap, MSU's Sports and Commercial Turf Management program coordinator, said extra playoff payoffs, while not a rarity anymore, are still a nice bonus.
"This is something that is becoming quite common in the majors," Gilstrap said. "But those playoff bonuses are kind of like the holy grail."
And it isn't uncommon for students from MSU to secure these kinds of internships and jobs with professional baseball teams.
Gilstrap said MSU has had students work with the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as many minor league baseball teams.
David Myas, a sophomore also in the Sports and Commercial Turf Management program, worked last summer for the Philadelphia Phillies and also received an end-of-the-year bonus. The Phillies finished second in their division and received a $422,000 cut of the pool, some of which trickled down to Myas.
"I was here at school and got a phone call," said the 26-year old Myas. "It was kind of unexpected. I was surprised."
Gilstrap credits the solid history and prestige of the turf management program at MSU for hiring students like Dunn.
"Due to our program's reputation and the success of our graduates, internships are easily made," said Gilstrap, who coordinated Dunn's internship with the Red Sox.
But these internships are not just walks in the park.
Dunn worked from April 1 to Aug. 15. His responsibilities included daily field maintenance, irrigation, fertilization, repairing the mound and home plate areas and mowing the field.
He often worked day and night shifts, as well as in all types of weather.
Brunetti said Dunn was a solid addition to the crew.
"He was a great worker once he picked up our way of doing things," said Brunetti, who has been with the Red Sox for four seasons. "He caught on real quick."
Gilstrap said Fenway Park's director of grounds David Mellor called him, looking for more MSU students.
"David called me about a week ago and asked me if we had anymore like Ben Dunn," he said. "I said, 'Not quite,' you know."
As for Dunn, he plans to work for a baseball team or other organization after he graduates, but will not soon forget his summer experience.
"It was a wonderful opportunity," Dunn said. "A great opportunity to work at the oldest ballpark in the country and see how things are done on a professional level."
And as Gilstrap pointed out, it might be an opportunity that doesn't happen for anyone else for quite some time, considering this was the first championship for the Red Sox since 1918.
"You could make a strong case that, at least as far as the Red Sox go, this could be a one-time occurrence for my program," he said.
