Anyone ever work for an MLB team?

[Triple B]

Another post is talking about the glamour of working for an MLB team and those that haven't thinks it would be awesome and those of us who have know that that isn’t always the case.

I worked the 2003 season with the Toronto Blue Jays. During games, as on field security and before and after as security for the visiting ball club. Greatest job ever BUT if you want to kill your ability to be star struck, that’s the fastest way.

Many stories came from that one year but of note:

- Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez are top notch behind the scenes.

Clemens learned my name early in the season and the Yankees came back twice that year and both times, he called me out by name and stood with me and talked at length both times. One morning he called me over and gathered a few Yankees players to have a contest. He gave each of us a ball and we had a running start, had to plant our foot on home plate and throw the ball as far as we could. I got the ball just past 2nd base a few guys got it into the outfield. Clemens steps up and launches the ball, clears the wall and into the seats. I look at him and ask "are you happy now?" and he laughed his head off.

Manny Ramirez sees me in the tunnel behind the visitor dugout and gives me a note to give to the clubhouse attendant. I take it to the attendant, he runs in and comes out with a tube of cream and hands it to me. Walking back towards Ramirez, he has his pants around his ankles and looks at me. I look at the tube and look at him and yell out "OH HELL NO" and he dies with laughter. He says "no, give to me" and laughs.

- Rocco Baldelli and Mark Prior both believed their own hype. It was a hell of a thing to watch.

- An unnamed hall of famer threw down a 20 second fart that made me realize that these “superstars” are nothing but people who can play a child’s game very well.

- Juan Gonzalez shared a bag of “chenet” (a Caribbean seed fruit) with me after finding out my parents are from Trinidad. Awesome, awesome guy.

- Eric Hinske took a bunch of us out drinking and paid the tab. That was dope as hell.

- The Seattle equipment manager gave me a pair of Ichiro game used shoes (that he was tossing out) for helping him load their truck on getaway day. Sold those shoes to help pay for a wedding I was saving up for the following year.

[mattglet]

Originally Posted by Triple B

Another post is talking about the glamour of working for an MLB team and those that haven't thinks it would be awesome and those of us who have know that that isn’t always the case.

I worked the 2003 season with the Toronto Blue Jays. During games as on field security and before and after as security for the visiting ball club. Greatest job ever BUT if you want to kill your ability to be star struck, that’s the fastest way.

Many stories came from that one year but of note:

- Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez are top notch behind the scenes.

- Rocco Baldelli and Mark Prior both believed their own hype. It’s was a hell of a thing to watch.

- An unnamed hall of famer threw down a 20 second fart that made me realize that these “superstars” are nothing but people who can play a child’s game very well.

- Juan Gonzalez shared a bag of “chenet” (a Caribbean seed fruit) with me after finding out my parents are from Trinidad. Awesome, awesome guy.

- Eric Hinske took a bunch of us out drinking and paid the tab. That was dope as hell.

- The Seattle equipment manager gave me a pair of Ichiro game used shoes (that he was tossing out) for helping him load their truck on getaway day. Sold those shoes to help pay for a wedding I was saving up for the following year.

How dare you not tell us!

[smanzari]

Not MLB, but I was a Bat Boy for a MiLB team for all of High School (Chattanooga Lookouts / Cincinnati Reds)

- I can confirm on Mark Prior and Ryan Wagner was the same way
- Saw Wily Mo Pena chug 4 beers and take the field to hit 2 home runs (he was underage)
- Saw "things" in the trainer room and was skirted away
- Adam Dunn is one of my favorite people ever and I still have his cell number (haven't talked to him since college though)
- Dontrelle Willis once gave me a $100 bill to pick up $8 of wings and told me to keep the change
- Worked a few exhibition games with MLB Players, no longer get starstruck for similar reasons you mentioned above (except Derek Jeter- have ran into him twice since then and have trouble speaking to him)
- Was regularly tipped for the most stupid things ever (calling other players names, swapping out lockers as a joke, etc.)
- Umpires tend to be the coolest guys on the field (had tons of fun hanging out with the players, but those dudes were notches cooler)
- Heard Harmon Killebrew's infamous "autograph talk" and ever since have insane pride in my signature. (was a Lookouts Alum)
- "Spreads" are literally the best thing ever to a teenager, but something players love to complain about even if there's steaks

I have many stories, met many guys who never made it but others who are still in the league (Encarnacion was on the team, as well as a few others)

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by mattglet

How dare you not tell us!

gotta be Bert

[premium1981]

I haven't worked for a MLB team, but I read Chipper Jones' book. After hearing the story about him showering with Greg Maddux only to realize that Maddux was pissing on him while having a conversation........Needless to say I cannot look at Mad Doggy the same way as I did before.

[Mandy1320]

Originally Posted by smanzari

Not MLB, but I was a Bat Boy for a MiLB team for all of High School (Chattanooga Lookouts / Cincinnati Reds)

I was a bat boy for the Tampa Yankees (now Tampa Tarpons) throughout high school.

-Worked Spring Training one year (2009 of all years!) and got to meet a bunch of guys from the big league team.
-The game was about to start and Jeter forgot his mouthpiece. He asked me if I could go into the clubhouse and get it for him. I got to basically snoop through his locker, it was pretty surreal.
-Played ping-pong with Cano (Spring Training) and Joba (rehab stint).
-Had small talk with Yogi Berra. He just hello and asked me how my day was going when he was hanging out in the clubhouse. I remember stuttering really bad.
-At the time, A-Rod was d!ck. When players did rehab stints, they usually put them in the same clubhouse as everyone else. He requested to be in the coaches clubhouse because he didn't want to be bothered. Makes me still hate him to this day.
-Teixeira was a nice guy. He gave another bat boy some cleats for helping him out with something, I forget what.
-Austin Romine was cool. His locker was right next to ours and he just hung out on his phone or took naps in his locker. Lol
-I played long toss with Pat Venditte, the ambidextrous pitcher, all the time. Great guy with many funny moments on the field between him and switch hitters just going back and forth.

I have some more stories but those are the big ones that I look back on. I agree with OP that it kinda ruins the façade of ballplayers when you realize that they are just humans at the end of the day. But I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and have been looking to work for a ballclub again by studying/learning programming languages that are used by data analysts in hopes that I can land a job as an 'analytics nerd' for a ballclub.

[Remmons22]

Originally Posted by Triple B

Another post is talking about the glamour of working for an MLB team and those that haven't thinks it would be awesome and those of us who have know that that isn’t always the case.

I worked the 2003 season with the Toronto Blue Jays. During games as on field security and before and after as security for the visiting ball club. Greatest job ever BUT if you want to kill your ability to be star struck, that’s the fastest way.

Many stories came from that one year but of note:

- Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez are top notch behind the scenes.

- Rocco Baldelli and Mark Prior both believed their own hype. It’s was a hell of a thing to watch.

- An unnamed hall of famer threw down a 20 second fart that made me realize that these “superstars” are nothing but people who can play a child’s game very well.

- Juan Gonzalez shared a bag of “chenet” (a Caribbean seed fruit) with me after finding out my parents are from Trinidad. Awesome, awesome guy.

- Eric Hinske took a bunch of us out drinking and paid the tab. That was dope as hell.

- The Seattle equipment manager gave me a pair of Ichiro game used shoes (that he was tossing out) for helping him load their truck on getaway day. Sold those shoes to help pay for a wedding I was saving up for the following year.

Originally Posted by smanzari

Not MLB, but I was a Bat Boy for a MiLB team for all of High School (Chattanooga Lookouts / Cincinnati Reds)

- I can confirm on Mark Prior and Ryan Wagner was the same way
- Saw Wily Mo Pena chug 4 beers and take the field to hit 2 home runs (he was underage)
- Saw "things" in the trainer room and was skirted away
- Adam Dunn is one of my favorite people ever and I still have his cell number (haven't talked to him since college though)
- Dontrelle Willis once gave me a $100 bill to pick up $8 of wings and told me to keep the change
- Worked a few exhibition games with MLB Players, no longer get starstruck for similar reasons you mentioned above (except Derek Jeter- have ran into him twice since then and have trouble speaking to him)
- Was regularly tipped for the most stupid things ever (calling other players names, swapping out lockers as a joke, etc.)
- Umpires tend to be the coolest guys on the field (had tons of fun hanging out with the players, but those dudes were notches cooler)
- Heard Harmon Killebrew's infamous "autograph talk" and ever since have insane pride in my signature. (was a Lookouts Alum)
- "Spreads" are literally the best thing ever to a teenager, but something players love to complain about even if there's steaks

I have many stories, met many guys who never made it but others who are still in the league (Encarnacion was on the team, as well as a few others)

Thanks both for sharing these stories. Hope there's more out there as these are good reads.

[phildow]

"An unnamed hall of famer threw down a 20 second fart that made me realize that these “superstars” are nothing but people who can play a child’s game very well."

I would hope that player also had control of the pitch & volume of said flatulence. Those are skills one would expect from a HOFer.

[SGC300ier]

Great thread!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[smanzari]

Originally Posted by Mandy1320

I was a bat boy for the Tampa Yankees (now Tampa Tarpons) throughout high school.

LUCKY! Working for an MiLB Team was cool, Working for a Yankees MiLB Team would have been insanely awesome (I'm a huge Yanks fan!)

[asujbl]

I worked in the Front Office of an NHL team for 5 years but in an executive role so I have no good stories

I’m just glad I don’t work there anymore

[eye4talent]

I wasn’t technically employed by an MLB franchise; it was more like a contracting situation. I was an editor for the A’s and Giants magazines (stadium programs) for a couple years.

It was fun, but after a couple years I grew tired of interviewing jocks about their offseason hobbies (fishing, fishing, and fishing) and other less essential matters.

But it was a great experience. Seeing Rickey Henderson walk into the clubhouse was a pretty surreal moment, as was walking by Bumgarner months after he single-handedly won the ‘14 World Series.

I developed a decent rapport with a few players, including Josh Donaldson, who‘s a card collector—I actually got him in contact with a guy from my hometown who had a Cam Newton 1/1 RC. (Donaldson mainly collects football.) Pat Neshek is a big-time collector.

The 20-second-fart story reminded me of when I interviewed A’s players about the 19-inning game they had recently played, in 2013. It was an inside-the-dugout perspective of how one manages his time over 19 innings.

So I’m talking to Brandon Moss, and I ask if at some point you have to eat a second dinner or a big snack during such a long game. And he just straight up said, “No way, man. Because then you’d have to go poop. You can’t afford to do that during a game.”

And then he went on a little rift about whether he should use “poop” or “poo,” but he was going with “poop” because that’s what he says with his kids.

Indeed, they are just people who can play a child’s game really well.

I’ll come back later to share my Bartolo Colon experience...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[iluvfish2]

Thanks guys great break time read!

[Skeely]

this is one of my favorite threads in a while. looking forward to hearing more. I have kind of the same thing regarding losing the star struck type feeling towards players when it comes to basketball right now having played high school and club ball with a bunch of current NBA rookies and young guys and having meet some players through them. Not nearly as good of stories tho. Cant wait to hear more in this thread

[beauspencer]

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing. Love reading the stories. I worked one summer for a MiLB team, but was just game day staff in the press box so had very minimal interaction with players.

[freddyb]

I worked for the National Baseball Hall of Fame for a decade

[salas1991]

Haven't worked for a team - though there's always hope! - but I've been lucky and able to save some pennies to do the Tigers Fantasy Camp a couple of times, and it's been fun to get to know a lot of the players I grew up watching. Usually a mix of guys who were either on the '68 or '84 championship teams, or more recently the '06 runner-ups. Was really sad to find out a few weeks back that the camp director was let go with all the various budget cuts, so this year's might have been the last in a run that went all the way back to '84.

Dave Rozema is just as crazy now as when he was trying to karate kick Twins back in '82, and can still throw strikes. One of the perks used to be a BP session on the field against Rozie at Comerica, and they'd actually schedule stand-alone opportunities for other people to pay to do BP weekends when the team was out of town. One year (and probably others) they scheduled them back-to-back in early August, it was probably 95 out, and he must've thrown a thousand pitches, easy, but he kept getting most of them right there, while also being absolutely drenched in sweat.

Last year Brandon Inge was one of my coaches, which was great being about the same age; ditto Nate Robertson a few years back. Dan Petry was the other this year (2 per team), and he wrote a really nice thank-you card to everyone after camp, which I'd been meaning to respond to, and then COVID - need to do that.

Kaline was a bit intimidating, but he signed for folks a couple times and I got to ask him a few questions during a Q&A. We didn't get to talk with him, but we warmed up on the same field with Verlander and some other guys who reported early one time. He was laughing that everyone kind of stopped warming up and started taking pictures of him - no, Kate wasn't there, so they really were just of him.

I'd say hey to Bruce Rondon when I came into the locker room as some of the minor league guys' lockers were pretty close and he was around early a couple of days, but otherwise they told us we should leave the current players alone - no auto hounding.

Great experiences all in all, hope someone's able to bring it back in '22!

[Dusty1985]

Originally Posted by Triple B

Another post is talking about the glamour of working for an MLB team and those that haven't thinks it would be awesome and those of us who have know that that isn’t always the case.

I worked the 2003 season with the Toronto Blue Jays. During games, as on field security and before and after as security for the visiting ball club. Greatest job ever BUT if you want to kill your ability to be star struck, that’s the fastest way.

Many stories came from that one year but of note:

- Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez are top notch behind the scenes.

Clemens learned my name early in the season and the Yankees came back twice that year and both times, he called me out by name and stood with me and talked at length both times. One morning he called me over and gathered a few Yankees players to have a contest. He gave each of us a ball and we had a running start, had to plant our foot on home plate and throw the ball as far as we could. I got the ball just past 2nd base a few guys got it into the outfield. Clemens steps up and launches the ball, clears the wall and into the seats. I look at him and ask "are you happy now?" and he laughed his head off.

Manny Ramirez sees me in the tunnel behind the visitor dugout and gives me a note to give to the clubhouse attendant. I take it to the attendant, he runs in and comes out with a tube of cream and hands it to me. Walking back towards Ramirez, he has his pants around his ankles and looks at me. I look at the tube and look at him and yell out "OH HELL NO" and he dies with laughter. He says "no, give to me" and laughs.

- Rocco Baldelli and Mark Prior both believed their own hype. It was a hell of a thing to watch.

- An unnamed hall of famer threw down a 20 second fart that made me realize that these “superstars” are nothing but people who can play a child’s game very well.

- Juan Gonzalez shared a bag of “chenet” (a Caribbean seed fruit) with me after finding out my parents are from Trinidad. Awesome, awesome guy.

- Eric Hinske took a bunch of us out drinking and paid the tab. That was dope as hell.

- The Seattle equipment manager gave me a pair of Ichiro game used shoes (that he was tossing out) for helping him load their truck on getaway day. Sold those shoes to help pay for a wedding I was saving up for the following year.

Where in Trinidad is your family from? My grandmother and mother are from Arouca. Small world.

[Triple B]

Originally Posted by Dusty1985

Where in Trinidad is your family from? My grandmother and mother are from Arouca. Small world.

My mom is from Valsayn (in the north) and my dad is from a town outside of San Fernando called Princestown. Small world

[fjdlrw]

Great stories! Keep them coming. Thanks for the thread.

[jeff24k]

Originally Posted by Mandy1320

-At the time, A-Rod was d!ck. When players did rehab stints, they usually put them in the same clubhouse as everyone else. He requested to be in the coaches clubhouse because he didn't want to be bothered. Makes me still hate him to this day.

Was he ever not one? Always heard stories similar to yours.

[jeff24k]

Originally Posted by Triple B

- Juan Gonzalez shared a bag of “chenet” (a Caribbean seed fruit) with me after finding out my parents are from Trinidad. Awesome, awesome guy.

Juan was my favorite player growing up (along with Pudge). I know he had his faults but reading this made me happy.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by jeff24k

Was he ever not one? Always heard stories similar to yours.

He isn't anymore. If you haven't watched/listen to him during a broadcast he decided to change his personality. He is now considered more of a douche than a dick.

[Mandy1320]

Originally Posted by jeff24k

Was he ever not one? Always heard stories similar to yours.

Originally Posted by premium1981

He isn't anymore. If you haven't watched/listen to him during a broadcast he decided to change his personality. He is now considered more of a douche than a dick.

Yea, he 'turned a new leaf' or some BS.

He was literally the only guy to do that.

Joba, Pettitte, Eduardo Nunez, Cervelli, Eric Chavez, and others that I can't think of at the moment all took lockers in the main clubhouse with everyone else. When ARod did that, that's when I started not to like him...

[TimBuckTwo]

Was working an elevator that transports fans and media to all levels.

6'3" guys older guy gets in and says lower level. This is where the clubhouses are.

I ask him for his credentials and he says really and I say yes sir.

He shows me his badge and normally I just glance at it to make sure he is good but for some reason my eyes immediately lock on and read his name and it is Jim Palmer.

I say "Ah jeez Jim, I didn't recognize you." He goes "I guess I should have shown you my high leg kick". I reach out my hand and he shakes it. All in all seemed like a great guy.