A Whole Other Ballgame

By Andy Brown

As a young ballplayer, Jordan Wiley ’19 dreamed of being in the World Series. Today, he’s making an impact behind the scenes for a championship-winning organization, helping shape the Dodgers’ experience for fans.

The brand was developed in Brooklyn, New York, in honor of the residents who were known for darting between trolleys—or dodging them—as pedestrians in city streets. Eventually, it also identified eternally respected players such as Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider.

The Dodgers name followed the team in the 1950s to Los Angeles, where it makes less sense from a location perspective, but fits the squad’s athleticism and title-winning drive. Hall-of-Fame caliber athletes such as Sandy Koufax, Adrián Beltré, Fernando Valenzuela and Don Sutton have continued to don Dodger Blue over the years along with Shohei Ohtani, who is currently thought of as the best player in baseball. The team’s legacy further extends to renowned broadcasters such as Vin Scully and managers such as Tommy Lasorda and Dave Roberts.

Certainly, attending a Dodgers game is as much about history and baseball appreciation as it is about the on-field product, and a Kalamazoo College alumnus is among the people responsible for marketing that experience.

“When you play baseball growing up, you dream of winning a World Series,” said Jordan Wiley ’19, a supervisor of premium seating for the Dodgers. “Granted, when I was younger, I thought that would mean sending our team to a championship by getting the last hit. I work for the other side of the coin within the organization. But people who work in sports put a lot of time and effort into their craft. It’s truly a career, and when you invest that much time and effort, you have a lot of pride in whatever part you play. I think our ownership group makes it apparent that every part matters because you’re working for something bigger than yourself. The Dodgers were around before me, and they will be around much longer. But by being a part of their legacy, it’s going to be cool down the road saying, ‘I contributed to the overall success of the organization.’”

Even at K, where Wiley was a business and Spanish double major, he was certain he would work on the business side of sports. He made that well known on campus when he and Amanda Moss ’19 co-founded the Sports Business Club, a student organization that aimed to help members chart their way to careers in sports-oriented businesses while linking them with alumni in the field. Moss now works as the head of international strategy for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.

Wiley also became a President’s Student Ambassador on campus, representing the College at formal events for community leaders, alumni and donors as an extension of the president’s office. And from an athletics perspective, he was a standout shortstop on the baseball team. He played 164 games during his four-year stint with the Hornets, hitting .308 his senior year and finishing with a career average of .307. At the time he graduated, Wiley was the Hornets’ all-time leader in career runs scored with 129. He remains the all-time leader in stolen bases with 123. He also holds the records for stolen bases in a single season (38) and a single game (five).

“After visiting my senior year, I realized Kalamazoo seemed like a great fit in terms of the culture of the baseball program and the institution as a whole,” Wiley said. “It seemed like there was a true community there. My first year I got the lay of the land and focused on getting my footing in terms of academics while also making a footprint on the baseball program. But throughout my years at K, I found myself heavily involved in extracurriculars.”

After graduating, Wiley extended his baseball experiences by a year, playing professionally in Utica, Michigan, for the Eastside Diamond Hoppers of the United Shore Professional Baseball League. The developmental association in Metro Detroit features recent college graduates hoping to draw attention from Major League Baseball scouts. Wiley then joined the Detroit Pistons front office in an entry-level role as an inside sales representative.

Wiley had been working with the National Basketball Association team for about five months when he had a life-changing experience.

“My boss pulled me into his office and said he had a counterpart with the Dodgers who was hiring and building out his team,” Wiley said. “He thought I should take a phone call from him. I wasn’t looking to leave Detroit or go to Los Angeles. I had never been to Los Angeles before, but after hopping on that first call, it seemed like a great opportunity for where my life was. I moved to Los Angeles four weeks after that first call, and I just finished my fifth season with the Dodgers.”

Just four weeks before COVID-19 shut down much of the country, Wiley moved from Detroit to Los Angeles without seeing his new city in advance. A short time later, he returned to Michigan to work remotely for an abbreviated baseball season that began in July with no fans in the stands due to the pandemic. That year, the Dodgers won a neutral-site World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, in a ballpark where seating capacity was limited to about 25 percent.

“Working in live entertainment had unprecedented challenges during the pandemic,” Wiley said. “But being a part of the rebuild that following year was a silver lining of opportunity. We got back to having fans in the stadium. We made business owners comfortable with inviting their employees and partners out to the ballpark again. People missed that in COVID, and I think we were able to fill a gap and come back pretty strong.”

There’s now no such thing as a typical day for Wiley, who describes his field as a young people kind of industry given its long hours, holiday and weekend work, and a sports cycle that never ends. The Dodgers won their second World Series in Wiley’s first five seasons with the team in 2024, meaning he was especially busy with prospect development through the offseason.

“I email, call, network and basically build a business strategy in the offseason on how we fill the stadium and drive as much revenue as we can,” Wiley said. “I primarily focus on new business, so I’m trying to bring in new prospects, but I’m involved in retaining our current clients, too.”

Although he helps companies host single-game events throughout the year, Wiley’s efforts shift drastically during the season as a majority of the team’s sales push has concluded.

“I come in late morning on a game day, look at which of my clients are coming to the games that day and if they’re bringing out the CEO, a top employee or key stakeholder,” he said. “Once the game starts, I’m in our suites and club spaces, interacting with clients and building relationships. I’m getting to know them on a personal level and trying to see how we can best enhance their experience. I’m basically an ambassador for the Dodgers. We put our best foot forward to show why they should invest with us and why we appreciate their business while keeping that relationship year in and year out, hopefully in perpetuity. Los Angeles is one of the top economic hubs in the United States, so you can imagine there are all types of businesses and sectors that invest with us. Obviously, the entertainment industry is a huge part of our client base, but we also work with several law firms and financial institutions. I would say the majority of our client base are business owners or folks who run businesses at the highest level across all business sectors including construction, insurance, financial planning, law and entertainment.”

That carries a lot of responsibility, especially as the Dodgers are favorites to repeat a title run in 2025. Ohtani stands to return to the mound as a pitcher for the first time since his last season with the Angels. All-Star Mookie Betts is expected to be the team’s full-time shortstop and slugger Freddie Freeman will again be at first base. Yet, Wiley wouldn’t have it any other way with the enthusiasm surrounding the team.

“In 2024, winning the World Series, we saw the excitement in Los Angeles in person,” Wiley said.

“The fans didn’t get to celebrate in 2020. There was no parade. There was no rally, so seeing what it’s meant to this community is special. The Dodgers have given so much to Los Angeles since they moved in the ’50s. It’s been great to see it, and I can say that I’m a Dodgers fan as much as an employee. It’s definitely a special place to be.”