Dumbo the Elephant was waiting – or to be more precise, it was Steve Fortunato’s twin daughters who were poised to climb aboard their favorite ride at Disney World. It would’ve been a moment made in camcorder-heaven, had Fortunato’s cell phone not started ringing.
The 4-year-old girls heard the chirping, shooting their dad a look that cut him in two: Again?

Wearily, Fortunato stepped away, knowing who was calling before he’d even opened the phone’s cradle. “When you do what I do for a living, you have to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he says. Ballplayers are like that: In Fortunato’s world, they come before Dumbo.

On the line was Alex Rodriguez, Yankee slugger, future Hall of Famer – and Fortunato’s No. 1 client.

Rounding the bases
“Dream job” is what the Fort Lee resident says of his position as CEO of Fortch Unlimited, a sports and entertainment company that specializes in athlete and celebrity management. In street parlance, Fortunato is A-Rod’s go-to guy: He does everything except hit the home runs. It’s not just Rodriguez whose life Fortunato choreographs. Among those in his stable are Yankee outfielders Johnny Damon and the recently-retired Bernie Williams, but the non-local list also includes softball star Jennie Finch and former Met Roberto Alomar, as well as longtime friends Ken Griffey Jr. and Sean Casey, among others.
 
When friends and family ask Fortunato what he does, his response is a better question: “What don’t I do?” As CEO, of his own company Fortunato manages his clients’ publicity and endorsement deals, handles media requests, sorts through the endless stream of face-time seekers, fans, well-wishers and, of course, quacks.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Fortunato burns out cell phone batteries like Madonna used to go through boyfriends. And to those not on his A-list, be warned: You have a better chance of reaching Bill Gates than getting Fortunato on the first ring.

“What people don’t realize is that a major league baseball player’s schedule is, by far, the most brutal in professional sports,” says Fortunato. “Football players, race car drivers – their whole lives are built around one race, one game a week. A baseball player’s schedule is nonstop.”

That’s especially true of A-Rod, who recently signed a 10-year, $275 million contract extension with the Yankees. He’s not only the game’s richest player, he’s the most sought-after, too – which is why Fortunato rarely sleeps. He gets “60, 80 calls a week” from people who want a piece of Rodriguez’ kingdom: a request for a TV appearance, a magazine reporter seeking a one-on-one interview, a corporate meeting, an autograph signing, even freelancers hoping for a one-in-a-million chance at stardom.

“Every entrepreneur in the world wants a little piece of Alex,” Fortunato points out. “From the guy who wants to patent the A-Rod toothbrush, to the guy who’s written a song about Alex. He’ll get me on the phone and say, ‘Don’t hang up, don’t hang up. Just listen. Do you love it? Can I get Alex’s permission to release it?’”

It’s a hectic, crazy life. “Extremely stressful – definitely not for everyone,” he notes. “You sacrifice sleep, you sacrifice everything. But I’m passionate about what I do. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Strategic training
Luckily for Fortunato, he came well prepared. After graduating from Bergen Catholic High School and Manhattan College, the Englewood Cliffs native spent nine years as an officer in the Air Force, seeing action during the Gulf War. But Fortunato didn’t exactly fly combat missions – at least not in the conventional sense. He was a TV producer and director, setting a new standard for set production. Thanks to Fortunato, an entire genre of grainy military documentaries and instructional films were replaced by high-tech, interactive digitized videos, employing music, special effects and professional actors.

As far back as his college years, it’d been Fortunato’s dream to work in television, hustling his way into internships and part-time gigs with MTV and ESPN. But as an Air Force lieutenant, Fortunato was shooting more important footage: following General Norman Schwarzkopf in Saudi Arabia as he addressed the troops during the build-up to the war, making informational videos about new weapons systems for the Pentagon, going up in F-15 fighters to simulate action for future pilots, then dashing off to Hawaii to shoot a historical documentary about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Fortunato also saw action in Somalia, an experience he calls “10 times more dangerous than anything I saw in the Gulf.” By 1997, he’d carved out an important niche at the Department of Defense, and was almost a decade deep into what might’ve become a lifetime career in the military. But to the dismay of his superior officers, Fortunato quit the Air Force and began working for Major League Baseball Productions.

Despite a lack of any real sports experience on his résumé, Fortunato had his new bosses hooked immediately. “All they wanted to do was talk about what I saw in the war,” he says, with a laugh. Indeed, Fortunato’s got stories to tell – so many, all it takes is one question, and he’s off on a conversational sprint.

Perfect pitch
That’s precisely why ballplayers love Fortunato, because he’s got the energy, and metabolism, of a hummingbird. He got the elusive Griffey to agree to a long documentary. Mike Piazza warmed up to him, too. And most significantly, A-Rod bought into the charm, telling MLB he would only agree to on-camera interviews if Fortunato was the producer.

The chemistry between the two blossomed; Rodriguez eventually hired Fortunato to tidy up the loose ends in his off-field endeavors. The word-of-mouth within the industry soon brought other clients, ultimately turning Fortunato into the sports world’s busiest PR architect, even if the surcharge is indeed heavy.

Today, there are only two components to his life: the family, and the job. No hobbies, no outside interests – no time. When Fortunato’s phone rings at 2 a.m. – and it does, waking up his wife and three children – Fortch Unlimited’s clients know the call never goes to voicemail.

“If one of my guys gets back from a game at night and has a bright idea for a business project or a journal entry for his web site, you have to be ready,” he says. “Believe me, if you don’t answer their call, they’ll find someone else who will.”