Wainwright
Member
- May 15, 2012
- 97
- 0
I used to be an assistant clubhouse manager for the Red Sox in the minor leagues. Some really good things and also some bad things about that job. A quick rundown:
The good:
-I stopped working there in 2007 and still have several players that I keep in touch with, a few on a regular basis. Luis Exposito, Justin Masterson, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Felix Dubront, Wily Mo Pena to name a few. Having a car really helped because each year guys would want to go place after games and needed stuff, sometimes just basic items and I always offered to take them. We went to the mall a lot, places like Best Buy and Walmart as well. Most guys bought laptops. I remember Exposito getting his bonus heck for like $70,000 and him asking me to take him to the bank then him immediately getting a ton of him and we headed right for the mall. He goes, "anything you want, just ask and Ill buy it" lol!
-The autographs. I met a ton of Red Sox legends and other baseball greats; Luis Tiant, Rico Petrocelli, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, lots of guys like that. The front office always had any special guests or visiting guys sign a lot of stuff to either keep in the offices or raffle off/give away to fans during the year. I always made sure to get a baseball and put it aside for myself.
-Bats and other equipment. One of my jobs was to help keep up with inventory. A player got one pair of everything to start the year and if something was broken/ripped//torn whatever, they had to bring it to me and show me what was wrong to get another new one, Guys always wanted a new jersey or sox or something else but unless there was something wrong with what they had, they couldnt get anything new. Now, if something was really wrong, they turned it in and got the new thing. I was able to get tons of bats that were broken and all were signed. Pretty cool perk. I still do regret not buying the top players jerseys though when they offered them to the player for $65/jersey at the end of any special game where they wore a special uniform.
- Other cool items. Many players would get a small contract from Bowman to potentially have a Bowman card/Chrome/auto. The "unknown" guys usually got $5 and they couldnt care less about the contracts. Guys used to throw the contract on the ground, in the barrel, or just leave it in the dugout. I have no idea where the box is I put them all in but somewhere I have a big stack of players contracts. No one huge but some guys who did actually end up with cards.
- Being around baseball in general. I got to be at practices, in the dugout for all the games, acted as batboy for a while, really cool experiences. Just a different way to see baseball and how it operates. It really is a job for everyone and they all have a big role in making a team and developing guys in the minors.
- One cool experience thats sticks out was with myself and Keith Foulke. We used to get a heads up about players coming to rehab but usually didnt hear who in advance unless you knew someone huge was working their way back. One day, its about 95 degrees and humid out. Practice ended early, everyone went in the clubhouse for lunch and I was sitting in the dugout by myself on my phone. In walks Keith Foulke, bag in one hand, glove in the other. He comes over, says hi and asks where everyone is. I told him inside cause of the heat and he starts talking about how he needs to get loose and sees my glove sitting on the bench (I had a pretty nice A2000 and one of the guys I was close with was using it while he waited for his agent to send him his new one).
I said, "Ill go get someone" and he goes, "what the matter with you, you cant throw?" I told him I could but they probably wouldnt want me out there with him unless the coaches were out there and I knew they would have a player catching for him. He says, "well, im here and theres a glove right next to you, if anyone says anything Ill tell them I told you to come out, lets go." Obviously I ran out and played catch with him, it turned into long toss and man did he make it look easy. I know that most can but I certainly never played catch with anyone that had such a strong arm. I got immediately yelled at when the pitching coach came into the dugout and saw me out there with him but Keith did tell him what happened and I was sent in to get one of the catchers out onto the field. He thanked me later and signed a copy of the 2004 Sports Illustrated cover for me!
- The food! I got to eat some really good stuff on a regular basis, especially when a big leagues was with the team. They had regular cookouts and season ticket holder sponsored meet and greets and meals for the players and staff that included steak tips, chicken, rice, beef all kinds of deserts and anything else you could hope for in a comfortable meal.
- Traveling. A few times I got to go on roadtrips with the team. What a blast. Up at night talking about their game that day, hanging out watching, yeah, more baseball lol. When John Papelbons little brother was first with the Sox I remember everyone sitting in the main room in their dorms with the Sox game on and Papelbon coming out to close a game. In walks the younger Papelbon who says "oh, theres my brother" and everyone kind of had the surreal thought of, wow, thats this guys brother, and a bunch of players saying "wow, we are pretty close to the Bigs arent we?" Just a cool moment to share with them.
The bad:
- The hours! I would get to the field at 2:00 for a 5:00 game and 4:00 for a 7:05 game. I would end up leaving the ballpark around 2 AM most nights.
- Laundry. The opposing team would send over their teams BP jerseys following BP and we would get to washing them. Pants, bp tops, undershirt, underwear and coaches personals. All would be washed, dried and sorted, then brought over and hung up in each players locker. They got a yellow band to tie all their items together but sometimes it got loose and you had to hand select a ton of items trying to figure out what belongs to who. After the game, all uniforms and everything associated with them were put into big laundry carts in each clubhouse and again sent to be washed. Same thing. Wash dry and put back in lockers.
- The money. I got paid next to nothing. Not to get too into it but I ended up having to file a claim with the state because at one point, they didnt even pay me for all the hours I worked and I was getting ripped off cause the time clock room would get locked before I left and they were giving me less hours than I really worked. But, anyways, I got the money I was owed and the money was net to nothing before that. It worked itself out to around $5 an hour if I remember correctly. But, having a passion for baseball it was worth it at the time.
- Attitudes. There were several people who just were not pleasant. The biggest one was Gabe Kappler. What a jerk he was to everyone. There was always someone, even some staff who were just unpleasant people in general but hey, their everywhere.
The actual work lol! I was the bat boy, asst clubhouse manager, ground screw member and general errand runner in my time there. You are basically a slave. Something needs to get done on the field or inside an office or elsewhere around the field and they call you there. There was never really any job description when I got hired. They told me right away, you will be made aware of what to do as things happen and are needed. It was always like that. Even cleaning windows in the front office was something we often did.
so, those are just some of the things off the top of my head. Having seen most aspects of the operations, inside and out at least at that level, you know what the fun jobs are? Jobs in the PA booth. The guy who runs the scoreboard probably has the best job. Type the batters number in, the pitchers number in and at the end of every inning mark the runs, plus balls and strikes of course. The announcers also have it great. Thats where there is no heavy lifting and you really get to sit there and enjoy the game. The dream jobs are broadcasters and PA booth guys lol! Hey, I went back to school for communications and Im 23, now have a job at a radio station and Im working my way towards just that!
wow what did you have to do In that job.
Just joking. Thanks for sharing I loved the read
