Alumnus Prieb speaks on working in baseball
Leader in Major League Baseball discusses athlete steroid use, gambling

By Erin Mangen

Mirror Sports Co-Editor
December 7, 2007

Major League Baseball’s vice president for western operations and special projects spoke to students about his career on Tuesday.

Laurel Prieb, a Webster, S.D. native and 1977 Augustana graduate, discussed the importance of public relations and marketing in baseball. Prieb’s presentation was co-sponsored by the communication studies department, the Union Board of Governors (UBG) Lectures Committee, PublicRelations Student Society of America (PRSSA), the Career Center and the athletic department.

Issues surrounding major league baseball athletes include steroid usage and gambling. Prieb agreed that these issues need to be brought to the public’s attention.

“Steroid use is always going to be an issue,” Prieb said. As a result, law enforcement and security departments will continue close monitoring of lab testing.

“Nothing could bring our game down faster than a lack of credibility,” he said.

Prieb was very thorough on his views about steroid use. Junior journalism major Brian Boyenga found it interesting that Prieb believes steroid use is definitely present in the major league and people are aware of it. “Prieb said the best option is to tell the media the truth,” Boyenga said.

Prieb and his staff serve as a networking contact for the Baseball Academy in Compton, Calif., the Arizona Fall League, the Cactus League, business activites in the Pacific Rim and International play. He also worked with the Minnesota Twins and was vice president for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Prieb stressed that the current baseball season is creating a new distribution of wealth throughout the league. “The distribution of wealth makes this the best of times,” Prieb said.

Prieb said it was nice to see that one team is not dominating the entire league. This gives more fans the opportunity to root for a successful team and spreads the revenue out and isn’t concentrated to one team.