SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Few other sounds sing summer like the crack...
(SOUNDBITE OF CLUCKING TONGUE)
SIMON: ...Of a baseball bat or the smack - (vocalizing) - of a ball hitting a glove, but a lot also happens off the field to make major league games run. The New York Mets are at home this weekend. Reporter Jeff Lunden spent a recent day at the park with the hardworking young adults, sometimes known as ball boys or ball girls, that the Mets now call clubbies.
JEFF LUNDEN: It's noon on Saturday, and the Mets' clubhouse is starting to fill up.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Eddie, how are you?
LUNDEN: Players, coaches and trainers are all arriving, but the clubbies - mostly 20-something young men - have already been there for an hour, even though they left Citi Field after 2 a.m. early that morning.
SCOTT KELTNER: It takes a village. We got nine guys that are working to get the team ready every day.
LUNDEN: Scott Keltner is the coordinator of clubhouse operations for the Mets.
KELTNER: We show up pretty early in the day, and whatever the guys need to get ready for the game, we make sure they have it, whether that's getting laundry done, shoes cleaned. Any random asks, we'll help out to make their day easier and so they can focus on playing on the game.
LUNDEN: That means clubbies do everything from stocking the refrigerators and making sure there's plenty of Gatorade, bubble gum and sunflower seeds in the dugout to doing the players' personal laundry or washing their cars. Francisco Lindor, the Mets' star shortstop, says...
FRANCISCO LINDOR: Clubbies, to me, are the hardworking guys in the organization. They're here before everybody, and they're here after everybody, so it's easy to play baseball compared to what they do.
LUNDEN: Before every game, several clubbies mud up the baseballs in a room next to the batting cage. When balls come out of the box, their surfaces are slick. Special mud from the Delaware River is rubbed lightly onto each baseball so players can get a decent grip. Anthony Scarogni showed his muddy hands and the muddy balls.
ANTHONY SCAROGNI: Each ball takes about 20 seconds, so that 16 dozen just took about 40 minutes.
LUNDEN: Scarogni got his start with the Mets working behind the scenes, in food and beverage service in Florida. Ball boy Brendan Stephenson, a college student who grew up 10 minutes away from the stadium, started on the promotional staff. When the game begins, he sits next to the dugout, and whenever a ball touches the ground, it gets tossed to him.
BRENDAN STEPHENSON: Each inning, we can go through anywhere from, like, five balls to 25 balls, so it really depends on who's pitching and how they're pitching. Every time I get the ball, I toss it over to the authenticator. He puts, like, a stamp on it, and it confirms, like, which play the ball was used on and who hit it or who caught it.
LUNDEN: The balls are then sold to fans, and the proceeds go to the Mets charity. Over in the laundry room, Jason Pastuizaca is folding towels. He left a job as a doorman at 22 and became a clubbie. Last season, he was named the Mets' bat boy at home and on the road.
JASON PASTUIZACA: So my job is mostly on the field, but, like, behind the scenes, I also have to take care of, like, all the players' helmets, their bats and uniforms as well.
LUNDEN: Pastuizaca is something of an athlete himself. Before each game, he pulls out a mitt and catches balls from the infielders at first base.
(SOUNDBITE OF BASEBALL HITTING GLOVE)
LUNDEN: Then he shags balls in the outfield during batting practice...
(SOUNDBITE OF BASEBALL BAT CRACK)
LUNDEN: ...And during the game, he sets everything up for the batters.
SCAROGNI: I'll get their helmet ready, and their bat ready, and bring it right out to them outside of the dugout so they can just go straight to the on-deck circle and just, you know, focus in on the pitching.
HARRISON BADER: Baseball players are drama queens, to be honest with you, about their routines.
LUNDEN: That's Harrison Bader, the Mets' Gold Glove center fielder, who appreciates Pastuizaca's calming effect.
BADER: He's just sensitive to each player's emotion and their routine, and, you know, he's fantastic at what he does, but a lot of that comes from the fact that he loves doing it, which we also pick up on.
LUNDEN: Pastuizaca's spirit and athleticism is why the Mets take him on the road. Very few teams have traveling bat boys. With the new pitch clock rules, he's got less than 30 seconds after a player gets a hit to sprint to grab the bat, run to whatever base the player is on and take the various arm and leg guards they're wearing back to the dugout.
PASTUIZACA: The pitch clock just made it, like, a goal - like, yeah, we need our own guy 'cause we can't afford to, like, miss or get a strike because a guy is too slow or something like that. I got to beat the clock. Most case scenario, I never miss it, so I'm always back in the dugout by, like, 12 seconds.
LUNDEN: On this Saturday, Pastuizaca got quite a workout, but the Mets lost a heartbreaker. Win or lose, the clubbies still have about three hours of work to do after every game. There are cleats to clean...
(SOUNDBITE OF CLEANING CLEATS)
LUNDEN: ...And many loads of laundry to run. When the Mets win, clubhouse coordinator Scott Keltner says...
KELTNER: You enjoy the moment, and then, about an hour later, when all the guys have left and the laundry's coming out, it's time to put it away, get it done quick and go get your sleep before you're doing it all again tomorrow.
LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden at Citi Field in New York.
SOUNDBITE OF NANCY BEA HURLEY SONG, "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A BALLGAME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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