Not So ‘Crazy’ Career Move: Front Office Work Stokes Margaret Zimmer’s Competitive Fire

There is no linear path to working in a major league front office. There is no formula for having the perfect résumé to get hired. 

Margaret Zimmer is the perfect example. 

She credits the women who paved the path for the available opportunities, but she’s blazing a new trail for those who decide they need to follow their dream, no matter what.    

Now, an assistant in pro scouting for the Red Sox, she gets to do just that. 

Zimmer grew up a diehard White Sox fan, inspired by the fandom of her father. Her first baseball game was at two weeks old, and Zimmer jokes that she has been hooked ever since. 

She played multiple sports growing up and excelled at ice hockey, eventually attending Connecticut to play at the Division I level. 

At the time, she thought her next steps would lead her to medical school. She was accepted to Harvard and received a Master’s in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. Though halfway through her Ph.D program at the Ivy League school, she realized she had a different dream.

“I thought I wanted to be a doctor,” Zimmer said. “That’s why I went the biology route. Then it was during college that I figured out I actually like the labwork more. 

“I graduated, got my Master’s degree from Harvard and passed my pre-qualifying exams (required to become a Ph.D candidate). I got through that and realized that the next four years or so in my life would be just rewriting that grant proposal that I had already written for four years. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this. I want to do something faster-paced, something more exciting.’ ” 

Zimmer accepted that she was ready to move on from what she thought was her dream job. She knew what she wanted to do. It had been an idea growing for a while: She wanted to work in the front office of a baseball team. 

Luckily, she didn’t have to go far for her next opportunity.  

The Red Sox had an opening in their strategic information department, and Zimmer applied. After speaking and interviewing with members of the department, she found that the role would not be a good fit for her. 

However, Boston’s front office offered another opportunity, a baseball operations internship. 

Zimmer left her PhD program and accepted the internship. She was ready for a huge career and life change and wasn’t worried about what her friends and family would say. 

“I would say the more the person knew me, the less surprised they were at this move,” Zimmer joked. “The response I probably got was, ‘There’s Zimmer, doing another crazy thing.’ 

“I mean, I can’t say that I haven’t lived an interesting life so far. I think the most surprising part for people was that I chose baseball. It’s not on purpose at all, but I don’t think I really outwardly displayed my love for the sport before working in it. I love the game, and it has always been a passion of mine.”

More than a year into her role with the Red Sox, Zimmer knows she made the right decision moving into baseball. She’s always had a competitive drive in her—it’s what led her to play a Division I sport, attend Harvard and play semi-pro rugby just to “stay in shape.” 

That mindset has also helped her excel in the front office. 

“I’ve realized that this is a career I could do for a long time,” Zimmer said. “Year in and year out, you’re trying to put a team together and you’re trying to win a championship. That mindset doesn’t change at all. You don’t have periods of time off. You’re trying to win every year.” 

Zimmer was looking for a career that fit her fast-paced and competitive spirit. She found it in one of her first loves, baseball.