The (Bat)Boys of Summer
Explorers rely on these kids to keep things running smoothly
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Sioux City Explorers' batboys Matt Solomon, Max Tushla and Alec DeVries head to the dugout before the opening ceremonies of the home opener last week against the Sioux Falls Canaries at Lewis and Clark Park. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)
"When you've got somebody like Fluff for years that's always on top of the game and is out of the way, it's another worry you don't have to worry about."
So says Ed Nottle, the colorful longtime manager of the Sioux City Explorers.
And he could only be talking about Ryan "Fluff" Miller, the 14-year-old boss of this year's Explorer batboys after working as a batboy himself for an impressive 6-plus years.
It takes a lot of pressure off a manager to have someone like Fluff guiding this year's crop of batboys, Nottle said from the Explorers' dugout at Lewis and Clark Park shortly before last Thursday's season home opener against Sioux Falls. And Fluff was there to do what batboys do, basically whatever the coaches and players need done before the game.
At this time, it was helping Nottle make rosin bags, the old-fashioned way.
"When you just take a rosin bag and buy it, it doesn't last very long," Nottle said. "If you put 'em inside a sanny, tape 'em up good, double the sanny, then cut it off ... and then you beat the hell out of them. Break it up! And that's the way we did it in the old days instead of just picking them out of the bag and using them and wasting them like they do now. That will last three weeks. Do it the other way and it will last two days. Perfect. Right?"
Fluff nodded. Another lesson learned for the boy who leads the boys who help hold the team together.
Minutes later, Fluff is in the clubhouse laundry area helping clubhouse manager Sam Schweigert mend a player's uniform.
Starting to arrive about 90 minutes prior to game time are this year's three batboys: fourth-graders Matt Solomon and Max Tushla, both 10; and fifth-grader Alec DeVries,11, turning 12 in June.
Because the boys all have experience -- Matt and Max starting their third years, Alec his second -- Fluff said they will rotate assignments this season, one in each dugout, the third getting his choice of bullpens -- the home pen usually preferred.
If there is a scheduling conflict and one of the boys can't make it, they can get by with a boy in each dugout, Fluff said, noting that a few teams bring in their own batboys. And if only one shows up, Fluff can pull a kid out of the stands who looks willing and able for the job. That's how Max got his start as a batboy.
Fluff has traveled on the team bus to some away games when he was one of the unpaid batboys. He sits in front with the coaches and trainer, watching movies and avoiding the poker games out back. The best clubhouse? That would be Lincoln's, he said, impressed by the Saltdogs' solid oak lockers and big screen TV.
Now, with responsibility and age, he is making the big bucks as the batboys' boss -- minimum wage being big bucks to a 14-year-old getting to work all summer on what many boys would consider a dream job.
Worth killing for?
"If I had this opportunity when I was a kid, I would have killed for it." said Max's father, Tim Tushla, the team photographer: "Sometimes, I think we're more excited than he is."
The boys admit many of their friends envy them.
"It's great! I've had the best time of my life here," Fluff said.
A second baseman/outfielder himself on a Heelan-affiliated traveling team. Fluff and the guys say they've all picked up some good baseball tips from the players. Shortly before game time, the boys were hanging around in their corner of the dugout comparing stitches and sports injuries while discussing the various positions they have played. They haven't been injured on the job, though one of Max's feet was dinged once by an errant bat.
Safety is the watchword for all batboys.
"Yeah, we normally make them stand behind the fence," Fluff said. "If they're going to be on the field at all, you have to wear a helmet. That's one rule. Like always pay attention. Make sure like if the players are going to throw something, you're out of the way."
If the boys are around during practice, they'll shag balls. During batting practice, Fluff said he will sometimes chase down the home run balls beyond the fence. Once the game starts, the boys in the dugouts will retrieve used bats from the field, and the home team batboy will run new balls out to the umpire. They also run errands for the players, fetching pop and snacks and getting tips from the more generous players. Sometimes notes are dispatched to the other team ... or elsewhere. Whatever needs to be done.
The batboys' parents are usually big fans, often season ticketholders and/or host families for the players.
Typically over the years, the batboys are chosen from such families, said Shane Tritz, the team's general manager. "And we want to make sure we've got some good kids down here, good kids who want to be involved," he said. "Safety's the number one issue -- making sure kids know what they're doing when they go out and get bats -- and their surroundings, not walking by the guy that's on deck swinging."
That's where an old pro like Fluff comes in, Nottle said of his main man.
"Well, I want him to be the president of this club, so he won't fire me," Nottle said. "But he spends a lot of time in the library, so if it doesn't work out, he's going to be the president of the United States."
Eriq Quarberg, the Explorers' first baseman/designated hitter from Plymouth, Minn., said the dugout would be a lesser place without the batboys. With the boys around, the on-deck hitters don't have to worry about picking up the bat or a loose ball. They can focus on the batting, lock in on the pitcher and not worry about all that other stuff, he said.
Quarberg, whose host family this year is the Millers, said it's great to have kids involved in the game. "They love it. The fans love it. Everybody loves it," he said. "Every once in a while, you have to watch where you're swinging and everything, but usually they know where they're supposed to be and you know where they're supposed to be. They know exactly what to do."
His one regret: Not having the opportunity to be a batboy when he was a kid.
Getting to know players who move on to the Majors, yet keep tabs on the boys back in Sioux City, is one of the better perks, Fluff said.
Getting into the swing of it
And the kids tend to loosen up a bit once they're into the swing of their job.
Max, a seemingly reticent kid with "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" answers to our initial questions, became effusive once in the dugout with his buddies -- all resplendent in their Explorer batboy uniforms.
At one point, Max breathlessly blurted: "I remember last year there was a fight where I was sitting in the bullpen and I was just talking to some of the guys. Then we looked up and the batter started charging the mound. Then Mike Richardson came up behind him and tackled him. So then the teams, just all the players, jumped out of the bullpen and started running out there, And I just watched them. And they were jumping on top of each other! There was a huge pile on top of each other! And a couple guys were being hit!! I think the pitcher got hit on the shoulder or something!! It was a big fight!!!"
Sounds like a guy thing. Which is probably why the one girl who signed on as a batboy a few years ago didn't last too long in the X's locker room. "She really didn't like it too much," Fluff said, "cuz there's a bunch of guys and stuff, so ... guys naked. But she really didn't like that too much."
She might not have been too fond of the other "perks" that come with the job either,
"I've been taped to a chair. I've been hog-tied and stuck out in centerfield in the middle of a rain," Fluff said, recalling the incident with a grin. "I've had gum put on my helmet and then a cup stuck to that. So I ran out there with a cup stuck to my head. I've had shaving cream on a plate stuck in my face. That's just something they do for fun."
Alec considered the time he was taped to a chair and dropped on the pitcher's mound as a badge of honor.
The players don't do that to kids they don't love, Nottle noted.
"Fluff," in fact is a nickname bestowed on Ryan by the players several years ago. Ask a player where "Ryan" is and you'll just get a blank stare. "When I first started, my hair was like short and fluffy," Fluff said. "So they'd rub it and say it was good luck. And so they'd call me Fluff. And Adam Springston, who used to be a pitcher here, said that I was full of fluff."
The name stuck. And he stuck with the job. As most boys would.
THE LINEUP
Ryan "Fluff" Miller, 14
Parents: Jamey and Melissa Miller
School: Mater Dei, 8th grade
In: Host family, and Mom works in front office
Matt Solomon, 10
Parents: Ed and Marilyn Solomon
School: Dakota Valley, 4th grade
In: Host family, and his Dad knows Fluff's Mom.
Max Tushla, 10
Parents: Tim and Barb Tushla
School: Blessed Sacrament/Holy Cross, 4th grade
In: Dad is team's photographer
Alec DeVries, 11
Parents: Mike and Tina DeVries
School: Blessed Sacrament/Holy Cross, 5th grade
In: Host family, and Fluff knew and asked him
So says Ed Nottle, the colorful longtime manager of the Sioux City Explorers.
And he could only be talking about Ryan "Fluff" Miller, the 14-year-old boss of this year's Explorer batboys after working as a batboy himself for an impressive 6-plus years.
It takes a lot of pressure off a manager to have someone like Fluff guiding this year's crop of batboys, Nottle said from the Explorers' dugout at Lewis and Clark Park shortly before last Thursday's season home opener against Sioux Falls. And Fluff was there to do what batboys do, basically whatever the coaches and players need done before the game.
At this time, it was helping Nottle make rosin bags, the old-fashioned way.
"When you just take a rosin bag and buy it, it doesn't last very long," Nottle said. "If you put 'em inside a sanny, tape 'em up good, double the sanny, then cut it off ... and then you beat the hell out of them. Break it up! And that's the way we did it in the old days instead of just picking them out of the bag and using them and wasting them like they do now. That will last three weeks. Do it the other way and it will last two days. Perfect. Right?"
Fluff nodded. Another lesson learned for the boy who leads the boys who help hold the team together.
Minutes later, Fluff is in the clubhouse laundry area helping clubhouse manager Sam Schweigert mend a player's uniform.
Starting to arrive about 90 minutes prior to game time are this year's three batboys: fourth-graders Matt Solomon and Max Tushla, both 10; and fifth-grader Alec DeVries,11, turning 12 in June.
Because the boys all have experience -- Matt and Max starting their third years, Alec his second -- Fluff said they will rotate assignments this season, one in each dugout, the third getting his choice of bullpens -- the home pen usually preferred.
If there is a scheduling conflict and one of the boys can't make it, they can get by with a boy in each dugout, Fluff said, noting that a few teams bring in their own batboys. And if only one shows up, Fluff can pull a kid out of the stands who looks willing and able for the job. That's how Max got his start as a batboy.
Fluff has traveled on the team bus to some away games when he was one of the unpaid batboys. He sits in front with the coaches and trainer, watching movies and avoiding the poker games out back. The best clubhouse? That would be Lincoln's, he said, impressed by the Saltdogs' solid oak lockers and big screen TV.
Now, with responsibility and age, he is making the big bucks as the batboys' boss -- minimum wage being big bucks to a 14-year-old getting to work all summer on what many boys would consider a dream job.
Worth killing for?
"If I had this opportunity when I was a kid, I would have killed for it." said Max's father, Tim Tushla, the team photographer: "Sometimes, I think we're more excited than he is."
The boys admit many of their friends envy them.
"It's great! I've had the best time of my life here," Fluff said.
A second baseman/outfielder himself on a Heelan-affiliated traveling team. Fluff and the guys say they've all picked up some good baseball tips from the players. Shortly before game time, the boys were hanging around in their corner of the dugout comparing stitches and sports injuries while discussing the various positions they have played. They haven't been injured on the job, though one of Max's feet was dinged once by an errant bat.
Safety is the watchword for all batboys.
"Yeah, we normally make them stand behind the fence," Fluff said. "If they're going to be on the field at all, you have to wear a helmet. That's one rule. Like always pay attention. Make sure like if the players are going to throw something, you're out of the way."
If the boys are around during practice, they'll shag balls. During batting practice, Fluff said he will sometimes chase down the home run balls beyond the fence. Once the game starts, the boys in the dugouts will retrieve used bats from the field, and the home team batboy will run new balls out to the umpire. They also run errands for the players, fetching pop and snacks and getting tips from the more generous players. Sometimes notes are dispatched to the other team ... or elsewhere. Whatever needs to be done.
The batboys' parents are usually big fans, often season ticketholders and/or host families for the players.
Typically over the years, the batboys are chosen from such families, said Shane Tritz, the team's general manager. "And we want to make sure we've got some good kids down here, good kids who want to be involved," he said. "Safety's the number one issue -- making sure kids know what they're doing when they go out and get bats -- and their surroundings, not walking by the guy that's on deck swinging."
That's where an old pro like Fluff comes in, Nottle said of his main man.
"Well, I want him to be the president of this club, so he won't fire me," Nottle said. "But he spends a lot of time in the library, so if it doesn't work out, he's going to be the president of the United States."
Eriq Quarberg, the Explorers' first baseman/designated hitter from Plymouth, Minn., said the dugout would be a lesser place without the batboys. With the boys around, the on-deck hitters don't have to worry about picking up the bat or a loose ball. They can focus on the batting, lock in on the pitcher and not worry about all that other stuff, he said.
Quarberg, whose host family this year is the Millers, said it's great to have kids involved in the game. "They love it. The fans love it. Everybody loves it," he said. "Every once in a while, you have to watch where you're swinging and everything, but usually they know where they're supposed to be and you know where they're supposed to be. They know exactly what to do."
His one regret: Not having the opportunity to be a batboy when he was a kid.
Getting to know players who move on to the Majors, yet keep tabs on the boys back in Sioux City, is one of the better perks, Fluff said.
Getting into the swing of it
And the kids tend to loosen up a bit once they're into the swing of their job.
Max, a seemingly reticent kid with "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" answers to our initial questions, became effusive once in the dugout with his buddies -- all resplendent in their Explorer batboy uniforms.
At one point, Max breathlessly blurted: "I remember last year there was a fight where I was sitting in the bullpen and I was just talking to some of the guys. Then we looked up and the batter started charging the mound. Then Mike Richardson came up behind him and tackled him. So then the teams, just all the players, jumped out of the bullpen and started running out there, And I just watched them. And they were jumping on top of each other! There was a huge pile on top of each other! And a couple guys were being hit!! I think the pitcher got hit on the shoulder or something!! It was a big fight!!!"
Sounds like a guy thing. Which is probably why the one girl who signed on as a batboy a few years ago didn't last too long in the X's locker room. "She really didn't like it too much," Fluff said, "cuz there's a bunch of guys and stuff, so ... guys naked. But she really didn't like that too much."
She might not have been too fond of the other "perks" that come with the job either,
"I've been taped to a chair. I've been hog-tied and stuck out in centerfield in the middle of a rain," Fluff said, recalling the incident with a grin. "I've had gum put on my helmet and then a cup stuck to that. So I ran out there with a cup stuck to my head. I've had shaving cream on a plate stuck in my face. That's just something they do for fun."
Alec considered the time he was taped to a chair and dropped on the pitcher's mound as a badge of honor.
The players don't do that to kids they don't love, Nottle noted.
"Fluff," in fact is a nickname bestowed on Ryan by the players several years ago. Ask a player where "Ryan" is and you'll just get a blank stare. "When I first started, my hair was like short and fluffy," Fluff said. "So they'd rub it and say it was good luck. And so they'd call me Fluff. And Adam Springston, who used to be a pitcher here, said that I was full of fluff."
The name stuck. And he stuck with the job. As most boys would.
THE LINEUP
Ryan "Fluff" Miller, 14
Parents: Jamey and Melissa Miller
School: Mater Dei, 8th grade
In: Host family, and Mom works in front office
Matt Solomon, 10
Parents: Ed and Marilyn Solomon
School: Dakota Valley, 4th grade
In: Host family, and his Dad knows Fluff's Mom.
Max Tushla, 10
Parents: Tim and Barb Tushla
School: Blessed Sacrament/Holy Cross, 4th grade
In: Dad is team's photographer
Alec DeVries, 11
Parents: Mike and Tina DeVries
School: Blessed Sacrament/Holy Cross, 5th grade
In: Host family, and Fluff knew and asked him
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unspoken wrote on Oct 30, 2007 7:44 AM:
G wrote on May 23, 2007 8:19 AM: