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Privileged Batboys Create Labor Unrest And Headaches For Major League Baseball

By BRADFORD MIEHL
Published October 14, 2012

The NFL suffered embarrassment from its replacement referees.  Now an unexpected labor crisis threatens the 2012 Major League Baseball Playoffs.  That crisis has been dubbed “batboy insolence.”

The use of batboys dates to the early-1880s when neighborhood youths would collect used bats from the batter’s box and store them for hitters' next at-bat.  Many batboys were trained in bat-making and became master craftsmen.

Today batboys do not make the bats and sometimes do not even collect the bats after a hitter runs to first – the primary function of the batboy.  On Sunday, Elliot Moore, 14, batboy for the San Francisco Giants, refused to pick up the bat of slumping left fielder Francisco Peguero after Peguero grounded out.  “He doesn’t deserve someone picking up his bat,” Moore reportedly said.  He then called Peguero “a glorified gardener.”

Baseball commentator and historian Robert L. Costas said that batboys have evolved into privileged interns looking out for themselves.  “Years ago batboys were humble, middle class kids from hardscrabble backgrounds,” said Costas.  “Now they are the children of the wealthy with connections.”

The risk is that batboy insolence will interfere with the playoffs and hold up play.  Players have grumbled about other insolent batboys since the all-star break.  One player who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation said, “These kids need to show more respect even if they make us pick up our own bats.”  He said that he and other players have been forced to carry cash to tip the batboys after every trip to the plate.  Failing to tip could lead to bats being hidden from the player.

Randy Mitchelson – a recently retired batboy – said that the MLB and its players need to get used to the new reality.  “Batboys want to know, ‘if I get that bat what is in it for me?’” he said.  “They want to enhance their post-batboy career opportunities so fetching bats has little value for them.”

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has discussed hiring “Dreamers” – or beneficiaries of the Obama Administration’s Executive Order for young undocumented immigrants – to replace existing batboys.  He said that he has made calls to the batboy's parents but indicated this has had little effect.