Have you ever watched a baseball game on TV or at the ballpark and wished you could hang out with your favorite baseball heroes? Imagine talking with Frank Thomas or Ken Griffey after they’ve crushed a monster home run.
Sound like fun? Well someday, maybe you could be a bat boy for a major league team, like Jeff Freemantle, 21, who works for the Chicago White Sox.
“This is my fourth year with the team. The first two years, I carried bats and helmets and brought balls to the umpire,” Jeff says. “Now I work in the clubhouse, organizing players’ lockers and working with the equipment managers. I never dreamed as a kid I’d be here.”
Jeff says he used to send in bubble gum wrappers that offered kids a chance to be a bat boy for a day. His big break came after his sister gave his name to someone in the White Sox organization. They called him up, interviewed him twice and asked about his other jobs, where he lived and how he would get to the ball park each day.
Jeff reports to the park at least four hours before each home game.
“There’s a lot of preparation before games, both in the locker room area and with equipment that’s needed on the field,” he said. “You really have to hustle to get the job done.”
Jeff says he has never gotten in a player’s way during a play on the field. But he was almost hit a few times with a foul ball.
He insists that all parts of his job are fun.
“Players can get on you if you bring out the wrong mitt, or don’t put things away in lockers the way they like, but there’s so much fun stuff besides baseball,” he says. “On off days, I go golfing with the players and see different sides of them – without their game faces on.”
Besides the White Sox players, Jeff says he enjoys meeting stars from the other teams and visiting the other team’s clubhouse.
The hardest part of the job is sometimes saying goodbye to the friends he has made.
“Tony Phillips is a great friend, and I’m looking forward to seeing him when we play the Angels,” Jeff says. “I miss Tim Raines (who now plays with the Yankees) too. It’s always sad when they have to trade someone.”
Jeff works all 81 home games, and once a year, he’s allowed to take a road trip with the team.
Like many kids, he played baseball for years and dreamed of being a major leaguer.
“But if you can’t make it to professional ball,” Jeff says,”this is the next best thing.”
