Major League Batboy

Text and photographs follow a day in the life of a bat boy for a major league baseball team.

A batboy tells about his job and experiences while employed by the St. Louis Cardinals.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Million-Dollar Throw. Brian is living every baseball kid's dream: he is a batboy for his hometown Major League team. Brian believes that it's the perfect thing to bring him and his big-leaguer dad closer together. And if that weren't enough, this is the season that Hank Bishop, Brian's baseball hero, returns to the Tigers for the comeback of a lifetime. The summer couldn't get much better! Until Hank Bishop starts to show his true colors, and Brian learns that sometimes life throws you a curveball.

A unique look at baseball's clubhouse culture through the eyes of batboys

Takes readers through the day of the Anaheim Angels' batboy.

In the winter of 1948, the Detroit Tigers host an essay contest to find their next batboy. Already a dedicated Tigers fan, young Danny Dillman enters the contest, and to his delight he wins. From 1948 to 1950 he becomes clubhouse boy, ball boy, and batboy for visiting teams at Detroit's Briggs Stadium. In these glorious years, Dillman discovers the complexities of an apparently simple game. But even more fascinating, he becomes intimately involved with the game's best players. He listens as Ted Williams explains how he became baseball's greatest hitter, witnesses the breaking of the color barrier with the emergence of black players, and sees the Casey Stengel era begin with the New York Yankees. With vivid detail, Dillman shares the often unknown events of major league baseball. Players had nicknames unheard of to fans and had their own language to describe events on the field. Dillman also discovered that his heroes were just ordinary men-some nice, some not so nice, and some hilarious. Hey, Kid! A Tiger Batboy Remembers offers a slice of nostalgia from baseball's post-World War II years. Dillman provides insights into clubhouse life and offers vignettes of players, famous and lesser-known, from the forgotten age of baseball.

The late 1940s and early 1950s was the Golden Age for minor league baseball. The National Pastime thrived in small town America with hundreds of professional teams in over 50 leagues playing at every level. The lowest rung of professional baseball--Class D, the "bush leagues"--was an exciting mix of returning soldiers and recent high school grads, all with dreams of climbing up the ladder to make it to the "big show." For seven seasons (1946-1952) the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League offered some of the most memorable bush league baseball of the era. Of the 1,588 young men who donned a KOM League uniform, in places like Independence, Kansas and Ponca City, Oklahoma, 30 made it to the majors and one made it to the Hall of Fame.