36 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 

J

onah Hirsch grew up in 
a sports family.
“My grandparents 
were huge on tennis,” explains 
the 24-year-old Detroit 
resident, who works as an 
account executive with the 
Detroit Tigers. “My mom 
was huge on basketball and 
baseball, so baseball was really 
a love that I shared with my 
mom and my grandfather.”
Hirsch, who grew up 
north of Chicago and moved 
to Detroit in 2021 for his 
new role, knew he always 
wanted to work in sports 

management. Yet, in his final 
months at Miami University 
in Ohio, where he studied 
business management with 
minors in sports management 
and French, Hirsch hit an 
unexpected crossroads.
COVID-19 had created a 
major shift in the industry. He 
graduated from college three 
months into the pandemic, 
when the sports industry had 
come to nearly a complete 
standstill. “
At that point, sports 
was actively laying folks off,” 
Hirsch recalls.
As he finished up his 

schoolwork virtually at home 
in Illinois, Hirsch spent the 
time he would have been job 
hunting by networking online 
with others in the industry 
instead. “I wanted to move 
into the ticket sales area of the 
business,” he explains.
Luckily, an opportunity 
came Hirsch’s way in February 
2021. The director of ticket 
sales at the time with the 
Detroit Tigers reached out to 
the recent graduate with an 
opportunity to join the team’s 
inside sales program, which 
included both the Detroit 

Tigers and Detroit Red Wings. 
Hirsch interviewed and, 
shortly after, landed a job with 
the program.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Beginning his role at home, 
Hirsch moved to Detroit in 
May 2021 and switched over 
to the Detroit Tigers’ client 
services team one month later. 
Now, he’s working with about 
600 season ticket holders and 
50 group outings that take 
place at the ballpark.
Hirsch is responsible for 
each account and is gearing 
up to enter the season’s busiest 
time yet: its renewal period. 
“I’m going to be putting my 
head down and focusing on 
that moving into the future,” 
he says, noting that the work 
slows down between October 
through March in the off-
season period.
 Despite how busy this 
time of year can get, Hirsch 
wouldn’t trade his job for the 
world. He loves the sport, the 
atmosphere and, above all else, 
the people.
“Sales is less of a focus in 
my line of work,” he says. “I’m 
more of a relationship-builder, 
someone who makes sure 
everything is going right.”
The most rewarding aspect 
of his career, Hirsch says, 
are the genuine relationships 
he builds with season ticket 
holders, many of whom are a 
part of Metro Detroit’s Jewish 
community.
“We have a great rapport,” 
he explains. “We talk about 
work; we talk about life.”
With most of his family 
still in Illinois, many Jewish 
season ticket members even 
invite Hirsch over for Jewish 
holidays. “I am so unendingly 
grateful for that,” he says. “It 
means more to me, and it 
means more to them than just 
baseball.”
“These folks know my 

NEXT DOR

Meet Jonah Hirsch, account executive 
for the Detroit Tigers.

Season Tickets, 
Anyone?

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jonah Hirsch at Comerica 
Park. His job with the 
Detroit Tigers brought 
him to Detroit.

