Rob Antony was a junior at the University of Minnesota in August 1987 when the Twins hired him as a public relations intern.
"I'm not sure I aspired to a lot, right then and there," he said. "I was just hoping to graduate, and hoping there would be a full-time job."
More than 25 years later, the Twins promoted Antony, their assistant general manager, to vice president. After years in the closet-like confines of the Twins' old PR department in the Metrodome anterooms, the former Minneapolis Henry High School player and lifelong Twins fan works out of a spacious office at Target Field.
"I still can't say I aspire to anything, or that I aspired to this," Antony said. "I really didn't envision being in this role 25 years ago. I just hope Terry stays in his role a long time, and I get to stay in this role for a long time and we get better as a team, so they want to keep us around."
In December, Twins General Manager Terry Ryan called Antony in for his job review. In Ryan's informal way, he told Antony about his new title, saying something like, "I'd like you to handle this."
Antony had moved from PR intern to PR assistant to media relations director, a destination job for many in the industry. He left that role to work in baseball operations for Ryan, meaning he entered a realm where people get fired when the team loses. He began working with minor league affiliates while learning how to scout from Ryan and other veteran talent evaluators.
"It was like starting all over again, at the bottom of the totem pole," Antony said. "Everybody was my boss. That was fine by me, because that meant I had room to grow if I did well. I did that for about 12 years. I loved it, because I was involved in the minor league and scouting and with the major league staff. I learned so much."
He scouted amateur players. He traveled to Australia, the Dominican Republic and The Netherlands in the Twins' search for undiscovered talent. Soon, he was handling contract negotiations.