My boss told me today that I was confirmed to finish the rest of the summer with him as a clubhouse assistant and would get paid. I told him that my allotted internship hours were met and I would then begin working the rest of the summer and getting paid at the start of the next home stand. Today we are moving the team out to Louisville. We arrived at 7:30 pm to begin loading the bus. Players showed up around 8:30 with the bus leaving at 9:15. Once the players left, all that we had to do was move their cars from the stadium plaza parking lot to the parking garage. We left on my last internship night at 11:30 pm. I was excited to stay on and continue to work in this position.
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Today is the last day of the home stand! We came in at 8 am knowing we had a busy day on tap. The players were treated well to Sunny Street Cafe again for breakfast pregame meal. Ryan Merritt needed new shower shoes so I had to run out to Target and buy him new ones. Next up was rubbing baseballs for the game today. My boss challenged me to a couple games of NHL today as well where he beat me in all 3. Once the game started, we began packing everything up and moving luggage and equipment to the back of the clubhouse to prepare for tomorrow's move-out. Giovanny Urshela and Michael Clevinger were sent back down to us in Columbus and reliever Shawn Armstrong was called up to Cleveland. Chris Narveson got the start on the mound today. He continued his tradition of taking a nap in our office before the game starts. It worked today as Narveson picked up the 9-3 win to finish the series sweep of Gwinnett. The players packed all of their bags to make our jobs as easy as possible for the move out. After organizing everything for the move-out, we left around 8:30 pm.
We have two games left of this home stand before the next road trip. Today we continue our series with Gwinnett at 7:15 pm. We arrived at 11:30 am to continue the routine! We noticed a new security guard at the door and made a joke that at least something is different about today. We had three players leave us today and one player get sent back down to us from Cleveland. Michael Clevinger, Giovanny Urshela and Ryan Merritt were called up and Kyle Crockett was sent back down. After they packed their bags, we helped load them up and they were off to Cleveland. Our day went back to normal after this. Cutting fruit and folding towels has become a tradition for us. Matt Whitehouse is starting today after being called up from Akron Double-A as well. Pregame meal today was Chick-Fil-A with some sushi from our caterer on the side. The players loved the sushi and I tried it for the first time! Whitehouse had a good showing after being called up and got the win with an 8-2 victory. During the game, the local sheriff that makes his rounds during the game came into the clubhouse and talked with us for awhile. After cleaning and the players leaving, we got out at a decent time of 12:30 am tonight.
Adam Plutko was called up today to the Indians. We arrived at 11:30 am to him leaving from the parking lot. Our boss surprised us with lunch again today from BiBiBop this time. After we ate, we cut the fruit for pregame and finished putting out towels. Today we had to pull the netting for the batting cages back out because there was a little kids baseball clinic being held down there in the morning. Once this was completed, we brought more baseballs in from the storage closet and moved them back to the office. The other interns took their turn cutting fruit and cooking today's meal. I was in charge of getting more autographs for birthday cards today and rubbing up baseballs. A couple pitchers came in and asked if I could do their personal laundry as well. Today is the beginning of the series with the Gwinnett Braves. Cody Speer picked up the win today in relief with a 7-6 win. Whenever we win, players seem to always be in a hurry to leave. They all got out quick tonight and we left at 1 am. We stayed a little later to play a couple games of NHL before we actually left.
Another routine day began at 11:45 am today. We had a lot of mail today that needed to be passed out and some mail that needed to be sent out for players. Michael Martinez had a couple duffel bags full of personal items that needed to be sent out to his aunt to send back home. We had to weigh each bag and set them aside for the FedEx to pick up. As players started to cycle in, I was given the task of getting a couple players to sign birthday cards for kids celebrating their birthday at the ballpark today. After this, I took control and wanted to cook the pregame meal today. I cut all of the fruit and made the Italian subs for the day. The players had optional batting practice today so some of them didn't come to the stadium until 4 pm. The atmosphere is so relaxed within the organization with players being able to manage their skills however they choose to a certain extent. The players showed up relaxed and ready to play. The final score was 8-0 to close out this series with Durham. The players came in with high spirits and celebrated the assistant athletic trainer's birthday. We had a little mess to clean up with his cake that added to our time there tonight. After hanging laundry, we left at 12:15 am.
Today, we arrived at 11 am to get to work. My boss came up to me and told me he could probably take me on after I reach my allotted hours and get me paid for work the rest of the summer if I would like. He just had to confirm with the general manager that this would be allowed. I told him I would accept the offer if it is confirmed. After this, we resumed our normal duties. Around 12:30, our pitching coach Steve Karsay came to our boss and said he needed his wife picked up from the airport. He sent me to the Columbus airport to pick up Karsay's wife and bring her back. Once I got back, I had to go on a food run to Happy House Chinese Food for one of the players. By the time I finished all of this running around, I got back just in time to finish rubbing up baseballs for the game. The other interns are very reliable and got all of the other work done. We made a very good team this summer and adapted quickly to learning what needed to be done. Michael Peoples got the start on the mound tonight. However, he did not have a good night. We lost 11-0 tonight. The players showered and left quickly. We left tonight at 12:30 am.
This week's home stand starts today against the Durham Bulls at 7:05 pm. Today I spoke with my boss after arriving at 11:30 am about nearing the end of my internship hour requirements. I asked if he had any positions available for me to come on where I could get paid after I complete the hours. He told me he would let me know when I reach a specific amount of hours worked with him. I began prepping the pregame meal for today. Turkey burgers and mac and cheese were the key ingredients for the meal. Working here this summer has expanded many of my skills like cooking and folding laundry. We also have Brandon Guyer down today for a rehab assignment in the outfield. Once he arrived, he immediately went to our boss to talk about buying dinner for the team tonight. Of course, Texas Roadhouse was the choice. Once again, a bat boy forgot to show up. At this point, I have no faith in high school kids showing up for their jobs. This time I had to stay out in right field for the whole game. The game goes so much faster when being on the field and being involved in the game. It always seemed to drag on when we were sitting around inside waiting for something to do. After the game, I took normal bat boy duties seriously and completely swept and cleaned the dugout. Once this was finished, I resumed normal duties in the clubhouse with cleaning the players cleats and cleaning the kitchen after the players ate. Louis Head picked up the win in relief tonight with a 3-2 victory. We left at 12:30 am this night.
The team moved back in today, June 11th, at 8:15 pm. We arrived at 7:30 pm to move all of their cars back to the stadium from the garage. Once the team arrived, we opened the bus bay doors to see a very poor pack job by the Indianapolis clubhouse guys. It took us a little longer than expected to empty out and organize the equipment. Once inside, we unpacked all of the players bags and waited for our boss to finish washing the laundry. We hung and folded the remaining laundry loops from the players and left at 9:30 pm. Our routine for unloading the buses has become expert level now and we have cut quite a bit of time off of our work.
The team is moving out today, June 10th, for a two game series in Indianapolis. We loaded their equipment after arriving at 7:30 am to prepare everything and wait for the buses. The team left around 9 am for their 7:05 pm game that night. We moved all of their cars and did some small cleaning things around the clubhouse to finish up work for the day at 10:30 am. I am really liking the job at this point. My supervisor is making work so much fun and relaxing. Even though I am doing practically the same job everyday it isn't as tiresome and boring anymore.
After taking the 7th and 8th off so I could play in a golf tournament, I was back in action on the 9th to help out the clubhouse guys. It was nice to have a little break from the repetitive routine that I had grown to hate. I got in ready to work today at 12 pm. I started off rolling and folded all of the towels that we had to finish and cut the strawberries and pineapple for pregame. Our boss had left to pick up Chick-Fil-A for pregame meal today so us interns were left to hold down the fort. Our boss has us properly trained to handle any situation that may arise while he is gone. We continued our normal day while he was out running errands. Everything went smoothly. One intern had to make a couple runs to the pharmacy for some medications for the players as well as run to Chipotle to get food for a player. The usual routine continues. The players were in high spirits today as they had music blaring in the clubhouse and they were all talking about their Clash of Clan standings. Batting practice started at 3:45 with a couple players having to hussle around to get out there because they were playing Clash of Clans. Our boss came back at the beginning of batting practice and set up pregame meal. The players were excited to see the Chick-Fil-A wrappers on the table when they came in. The food must have helped because we won this game 8-1 with Shawn Morimando gaining the win. Some of the players stuck around playing cards later than usual so that slowed out cleaning and laundry process. We left at 1:30 am tonight.
Getting back into the groove of work again is taking its toll. The week off that we had allowed us to get some good sleep and not have to be up so late. The times of being up until 12:30 or 1 am are hard to get used to again. We rolled in to the stadium at 12 today like zombies. Today was a very slow and boring day with nothing but the same old routine to do. At this point, I am getting very annoyed with this internship and am considering whether I should've found another job. As we finished rubbing up another 10 dozen baseballs for the game and prepped the dugout for the game, our boss handled the pregame meal by cooking brats and asparagus for the players. Chris Narveson was just activated off of the disabled list today and will pitch in today's 7:05 game. As game time neared, Chris took a pregame nap back in our office while watching tennis. Chris loves getting into other sports and doesn't like to only focus on baseball all of the time. Tonight, he didn't have his best stuff and we struggled at the plate. We lost 5-3. Narveson was a little down on himself after the game and left without eating post game meal. We cleaned up quick tonight as well because we were dragging along all day. We got home at 12:30 am.
After a long road trip and a nice week off for us clubhouse guys, the team returned from Scranton at 7:15 today. We arrived at the stadium to move cars back from the garage at 5:45 pm. We unloaded the buses as usual and moved the equipment trunks to their respective rooms. Our final jobs for the night were to finish laundry and unpack the players bags for the next home stand starting on the 5th against the Louisville Bats. We finished all of this work and left at 8:45 pm this night.
Today's home stand is set to start at 7:05 with Julian Merryweather starting on the mound. We arrived at 11 am this morning with a little extra to do from the move-in the night before. We had a couple more loads of players laundry that we had to finish up and hang before the players arrived. One of the interns made quesadillas today for the pregame meal. We had some roster moves today as well within the organization. Shawn Armstrong was sent down to us today and the Indians made a move to acquire the Rangers second base prospect Josh Wilson. These players were active and played in today's game. The Clippers hot streak at the plate continued with a 15-5 win over Louisville to start out the home stand. Post game meal today was from the caterer that our boss is close friends with. Cleaning went by quick tonight because we all wanted to leave as fast as possible. We left at 12:30 am. Another 2:10 pm start for us today gave us the same time to arrive at the stadium as yesterday, 8:30 am. The usual routine continued with us interns mastering our skills in folding towels and cutting fruit at this point. The awesome part about our job is we never have players complain about the food we are cooking or anything along those lines. The players are always so kind and conversing with us like they are one of us. We sat and talked with Chris Colabello for a couple hours before the game and played Xbox with him as well. It's nice being able to say that I have built these relationships with professional baseball players. Our boss cooked up some Italian subs for the players for pregame and he received a lot of happy reviews from the new subs. Once again, another high school bat boy didn't show up. I was called on once again to bat boy, but this time it was down the right field line. My boss once again promised that it would only be for an inning or two and he held up that promise. After having no balls hit to me, I went back inside to relax for a couple innings. Once the post game meal arrived, we set all of the food out in the kitchen and waited for the game to finish. The buses had arrived for the team to move out to Scranton, New York for their next road trip and we had already loaded the bus. The team left at 7:30 and we left at 8:30 that night after cleaning the clubhouse and moving the players cars back to the parking garage. Shawn Morimondo picked up the win with the bats still rolling for the guys in a 12-4 victory.
As soon as we got to the stadium at 8:30 am, I was sent on a mission. Our head trainer's, Chad Wolfe, parents blew out a tire on the highway coming to watch the 2:10 pm game today. Chad asked me if I would take his truck and go pick them up at a gas station they pulled over at. Of course, I was willing to help in any way possible. I took his truck and drove 45 minutes to go pick up his parents and bring them to the stadium. Once I got back at 11, most of the work had been done for the game. All that was left for me to join in on was collecting the players laundry from batting practice and helping clean up pregame meal. Adam Plutko was back on the mound today and picked up a solid 13-6 win as the bats started to roll for the players today. With this day being pretty boring for me and not much work being completed at the stadium, it was odd to help clean up after the game. We left quickly though and got home around 8 pm that night to finally get a good night's rest.
The second game of the series against Norfolk starts today at 7:15 pm. We arrived at 11:30 am to begin the day. Today was hectic for me to say the least. Once we finished preparing pregame meal and folding towels, some players started to roll in. Yandy Diaz came in and asked me to go get Chipotle for him. The Chipotle is only 8 minutes away from the stadium so I run there real quick and get his food. As soon as I get back, Michael Martinez comes up to me and asks if I will get him some Chipotle as well. I get back in my car and run back to get his food. Once again, I get back to the stadium and Ronny Rodriguez asks for our opinions on what he should get for lunch. Sarcastically, I told him Chipotle sounded good. He decided that we wanted that as well. I made three separate trips to Chipotle today. I did get some extra money from them in tips to make it all worth it. After I finished all of this running around, all that was left to do was rub some baseballs. I finished rubbing those for the guys and went down to make sure the dugout was set up. The game started on time at 7:15 with Ryan Merritt on the mound. Merritt brought home an 8-5 win for us tonight with a solid showing on the mound. Post game tonight was Carrabba's chicken parmesan. After the players left, we got out of there around 1:15 am.
With yesterday's rainout, blue skies returned today for our 7:15 pm game. We arrived at 11:20 today to packages for the players waiting at the front desk for us. The packages were mostly new bats for the players that they had ordered. Our boss was ahead of the game today as he had already folded all of the towels for us. All we had left to do was cut up some more fruit for pregame. We eventually rubbed up some balls for the game today and the relaxed until game time. Today took an unexpected turn for me as one of the high school bat boys did not show up for work. With me being the newest intern, I was forced to be a bat boy behind home plate for the game. My boss promised he would call someone and get them there as soon as possible to relieve me. It only took and inning and a half for someone else to show up. It was a cool experience though to be right on the field during the game and be there while the players are on the on-deck circle. A lot of the players like Yandy Diaz and Ronny Rodriguez were messing with me because of how I looked in the uniform. Once I got back inside, it was time to relax until the caterer brought post game meal. Our boss brought his Xbox in to work today and hooked it up to his flat-screen computer screen. We played a couple games of NHL14 on it before the food showed up in the 7th inning. After that, I went down to the dugout to watch the rest of the game before coming back up at the end of the game. Michael Peoples took a tough loss on the mound as we lost 14-3. Some players who struggled at the plate during the game hung around and talked with the hitting coach afterwards so our cleaning didn't get finished until 1 am tonight.
Today was a very exciting day for us. As we arrived to the stadium today at 11:45 am, we walked in and our boss informed us that Corey Kluber would be down for a rehab assignment and would pitch in today's game. Kluber is one of the most highly touted pitchers in the MLB right now and will most likely be inducted into the hall of fame after his career. We went through the normal pregame routine. The only difference was that we had to rub up Major League baseballs for Kluber instead of the Minor League balls we had been using. We anxiously awaited his arrival. Once he walked in, we immediately catered to his every need. We unpacked his bag, found a parking spot for his car and made sure he had everything he needed. All of the anticipations for the day was built around Kluber throwing tonight. As pregame meal finished up, we caught word that there was going to be some storms moving in that would last awhile. That rain moved in quickly. The game was postponed for the night. Another intern and I still went and picked up the post game meal of Texas Roadhouse for the guys to eat. However, all of the anticipation of watching Kluber pitch was gone. The good news was that with the game being cancelled we would be getting out early and finally be able to get some sleep! Once the players ate and left, we grabbed some left over food, cleaned everything up and left at 10:15 pm.
Another beautiful day for baseball awaited us at Huntington Park as we pulled in around 11:30 am. Today, our boss surprised us with some lunch from a local food truck. After we ate, the towels were ready to be folded and pregame meal was ready to be prepared. While the other two interns took care of those tasks, I began unwrapping the baseballs so we could get ahead of the game and get most of them rubbed up early. I rubbed up 5 dozen and left the rest for the other to guys. I went down to get the water, Gatorade, seeds and gum ready in the dugout. As I got to the dugout, I realized the bat boys did not clean up very well after last night's game. I had to sweep up some more dirt and seeds from the ground and make sure everything was as clean as possible before the game. Game time tonight is 6:35 with Shawn Morimondo scheduled to start against Scranton. "Mondo" is one of the most relaxed guys on the team and tries to interact with us as much as possible. The guys on the team that are like this are what makes this job fun. I played a couple games of ping pong with him before he started to get warmed up for his stretching. After that, I helped prep the pregame meal of turkey burgers and made sure the food trays were properly filled for the guys as they came in from batting practice. We cleaned up pregame meal as the game started and began to relax a little for the night. Mondo picked up the win on the mound with a 5-0 shutout of Scranton. Our winning ways were officially restored. The team started to have more positives vibes after each game and continued to leave quickly (which was a huge benefit for us clubhouse guys). We cleaned everything and left around 12:30 am once again.
Monday May 22nd is a required off day for the team. They usually golf on off days and today they asked the clubhouse staff to join. We played Foxfire Golf Club in Columbus with about 10 of the players, us three interns and our boss. Tuesday May 23rd started our next home stand with Scranton, the Yankees Triple-A affiliate. We arrived at the stadium at 11:30 am to the same old routine. There were towels waiting to be folded and fruit needing cut. Us interns had a solid routine built at this point where we would rotate positions on and off throughout the week. Today Austin Jackson was sent down on a rehab assignment and he bought the post game meal for the team. We also got a nice home win 6-2 with Adam Plutko gaining the win on the mound. Another intern and I went to pick up post game meal, which was Texas Roadhouse, in the 6th inning. After the game, the players were feeling good about getting back on the winning side of things and most of them left the stadium pretty quickly. We finished our nightly routine and left around 12:30 am.
On May 21st, the team finished their game in Louisville and were heading back for the stadium tonight. Our boss said we had to be at the stadium at 8 pm to start moving cars back over. We moved all 16 cars back over from the parking garage to the stadium plaza parking lot. The team arrived around 9:30. We had to unload the bus completely and starting unpacking everything in the clubhouse. The training room and weight room equipment trunks were rolled back to their rooms for training staff to unpack. We strictly unpacked the coach's and player's bags from the trip. We also have to check the player's cleats and clean them if the opposing team did not take care of them. Our boss handled getting all of the laundry started and we sat around and waited for laundry to finish. Once we finish all of that, we left the stadium at 12 am.
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