Maplewood Teen Has Interviewed Yankees, Mets Baseball Legends (VIDEOS)

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — A Maplewood teen’s all-encompassing love for baseball and talent for the spoken word is rapidly amassing him a clip library that can rival New Jersey’s most veteran sports journalists.

Eli Fishman, a 13-year-old Maplewood resident has accumulated more than 1.5 million views and 1,200 subscribers on his YouTube channel, which features dozens of interviews with Major League Baseball legends and current stars.

The self-taught, auto-didactic Fishman has chewed the fat with players such as Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Ron Darling, Pete Harnisch, Greg Bird, Endy Chavez and Rick Cerone, among others.

Recently, Patch got a chance to turn the beat around on Fishman and ask him five questions about his love for the game and the art of sports journalism. Check out some of Fishman’s interviews below, and watch more at his YouTube channel here.

5 QUESTIONS WITH ELI FISHMAN

PATCH: How did you get into sports journalism? Are there any people who have helped you out, or news sites that you model your journalism after?

FISHMAN: I honestly have no idea how I originally got into this business. I've always been a baseball fan and loved watching MLB Network along with talking baseball with my friends. I don't know what lead me to, but I sat down at my desk in my room with my mom's iPad , and as an 11-year-old sports fan, and I talked baseball, made predictions about the upcoming season and made videos talking about player rankings. I loved it, and could have talked forever, and it stuck. I continued to make videos and loved it, that eventually turned to interviews at the local Seton Hall [University] baseball field, which yet again stuck. That kept going more and more which has added up to where I am today.

I really don't model my work off anyone in specific. I love watching the MLB Network and interviews there have really helped me.

I have gotten a little bit of help, but the amount of work I put in all on my own is what I feel is my biggest accomplishment. My parents aren’t baseball fans at all, they don't even come to games with me and when they do, I have to explain a lot about the situation and I talk about each player. I have gotten help like buying me equipment and editing software, of course they drive me, but from there everything is all me.

PATCH: How do your interview subjects - and readers - react to the fact that you're 13-years-old? Do you sometimes find people treating you like "a teenager?” Or have people given you the same respect as an "adult" journalist?

FISHMAN: It really depends who I am dealing with. Veterans usually are pretty calm and treat me as an adult… when you get to superstars, like first-round draft picks or top prospects they treat me as an adult and as any other journalist. But in college and the lower levels of the minors, I have guys taking pictures of me for Snapchat and shaking my hand, asking for my business card, and even asking for my autograph.

In the rare case, that a player treats me disrespectfully, it's not always intentional. It's usually like “Ugg, I don't want to do an interview with this kid after a game.” Usually I get a lot of respect though and am treated like an adult.

PATCH: What are some of the challenges that you run into as a teenage journalist?

FISHMAN: The challenge I always run into is respect. When I email someone asking if I could get a press pass, they’re like, “What are you kidding me? This kid isn't professional or special, he shouldn't have a press pass.” So it's hard, knowing that not until people actually get to know me and see how professional I am will they see that I am worthy of that press pass.

PATCH: What is the interview that you're most proud of, and why?

FISHMAN: There's not one specific interview I'm most proud of. I treasure every interview from the past year or so.

PATCH: What's your goal with sports journalism for the future? What's your dream job?

FISHMAN: My dream job is to be one of the traveling reporters for MLB Network, traveling around the country to all the ballparks and doing interviews with everyone across baseball.

Read more at Fishman’s blog here.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Maplewood Facebook page here.

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: Eli Fishman, YouTube, used with permission