LI's Ellie Seifert is the public relations arm behind SNY's Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling
SNY PR woman Ellie Seifert with broadcasters, from left, Ron Darling, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Steve Gelbs before a game between the Mets and Atlanta at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The fifth installment of Sports Jobs, a series exploring jobs Long Islanders have in the world of sports.
It was 100 degrees in the shade outside Citi Field, and Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez were wearing Hawaiian shirts and shooting one another with water blasters.
For passersby, it was quite a sight. For Ellie Seifert, it was just another day on the job.
As director of communications for SNY, she helped set up the event, in which the network’s announcers spent time before a Mets game with fans who had won a sweepstakes to do so.
That sort of activity is one of many in a multi-faceted job that touches on every part of the company, from sponsorships and marketing to media relations – most visibly as it pertains to Gary Cohen, Hernandez and Darling, the SNY game booth in its 20th season together.
Seifert, who grew up in Rockville Centre and now lives in North Bellmore, described it this way: “My job is to shape, direct and safeguard the public image of SNY.”
That sounds dryer than it is in real life, especially when it comes to Cohen, Hernandez and Darling.
By the time Seifert joined SNY in 2018, the trio already was widely regarded as among the best in baseball. She knew it was her job initially to gain their trust.
“I had to get to a point where they were comfortable with me and me asking them to do things,” she said. “I had to work hard to do that, putting in the time, spending a lot of time at the ballpark, whatever had to be done to develop that relationship.”
So, how has that gone, seven years later?
“They’re everything the viewer thinks they are,” she said. “They’re funny. They’re extremely intelligent. There are times Gary says things to me that I need to look the words up.”
Because the announcers are so well known, Seifert thinks more about managing access than drumming up publicity.
“They’re so beloved that it’s important to respect their time and really just use their time for initiatives and/or interviews that are going to be best for them and SNY,” she said.
“A lot of people probably think the more the better when it comes to publicity and PR, but because of who they are we have that choice to be selective.”
Said Darling, “We’re such a behemoth to even think of hanging out with, and she does it with a smile and class and grace. And she always makes it fun, whimsical. And that’s half the job.
“She protects us, too. There are times that things happen that she’s got to make that call every PR person’s got to make. I think her Long Island toughness plays when she has to do that.”
Hernandez said in the early years of the network, which launched in 2006, PR was more hands-on. But now Seifert respects the fact that the group is more established.
“She’s very easy to work with,” Hernandez said. “She’s wonderful. I haven’t had a [public relations] crisis in the current administration, so I’m sure she’s happy about that.”
Seifert grew up in “a household of phenomenal athletes,” with her own early sports years dedicated to soccer.
But at South Side High School she switched to volleyball, a sport in which she would go on to win a state Class B championship as a senior in November of 1993. (She had 26 assists in the state final victory over Minisink Valley.)
She was good enough to earn a volleyball scholarship to Marist, where she studied communications and public relations before graduating in 1998.
Seifert’s involvement with volleyball continues today. She helps coordinate the CYO program for Sacred Heart Church in North Merrick, which involves approximately 225 girls. She also runs the Long Island Legacy Volleyball Club, a travel team based in Bellmore.
Seifert met her husband, Rich, in high school. They have three teenagers, a son and twin daughters, all of whom will be at Mepham High School next school year.
Her eclectic career in PR has included stops at Working Woman and Working Mother magazines, the Women’s Sports Foundation, ESPN, MSG Varsity, Ironman World Triathlon and now SNY.
Seifert worked with SNY Mets reporter Steve Gelbs at MSG Varsity, and he helped get her foot in the door for the SNY job.
“I felt like every step I took in my career gave me a different experience, and everything kind of came full circle,” she said.
The variety is part of the appeal.
“Every day can be completely different,” she said, citing working on an upcoming documentary about David Wright, prepping executives for industry events and a photo shoot to get new head shots of announcers and executives as examples.
She called SNY a “dream job” for someone who grew up cheering for the Mets and comes from a long line of baseball fans. Her great-grandmother used to watch Dodgers games with her mother on television, and her mother attended the 1969 World Series.
“There are absolutely times where I am at work or here at the ballpark and I step back and I’m like, ‘This is really cool,’ ” she said. “My husband’s favorite player ever growing up was Keith Hernandez. And there are times we’re home watching TV and I get a text message or a call from him and my husband’s like, ‘This is so crazy.’
“Now it’s the norm, but when it first started it’s kind of that pinch-me moment, where this is weird but also amazing at the same time.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
