{"id":16071,"date":"2011-08-29T08:42:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T15:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seamheads.com\/?p=16071"},"modified":"2011-08-29T10:31:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T17:31:04","slug":"touring-the-bases-with-garrett-totty-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/29\/touring-the-bases-with-garrett-totty-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Touring the Bases with…Garrett Totty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy of Shawna Arndt<\/p><\/div>\n

Garrett Totty is the Head Batboy for the Texas League Tulsa Drillers.\u00a0\u00a0 Garrett also plays catcher\u00a0on his high school baseball team at Morris (Oklahoma) High School, where this past season he was teammates with Yankee’s 18th round draft choice Hayden Sharp.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seamheads:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Being a batboy on a professional team is probably something that many young players would love to do. How did you go about getting this job, and how long have you been doing this?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 This is my third year as batboy for the Drillers. I started going about getting this job in the later part of the 2008 season. \u00a0My family and I are season ticket holders and we know a lot of people in the front office so I went to Mike Melaga, the General Manager, and asked him about getting a job as a batboy. He set me up an interview with Peter McAdams, who was the Director of Field Operations at the time. I got hired in the spring of 2009, and the rest is history. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>How did you first get interested in baseball?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 Well, my Mom and Dad tell me that, at 9 mos-old, I would sit and watch an entire baseball game and never take my eyes off the field.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember that but I do know that I have ALWAYS loved baseball.\u00a0 As I got older I studied the game and learned how to hit and field the ball the right way.\u00a0 Even as a little kid playing T-ball I worked at learning the game and constantly improving.\u00a0 Hahahaha\u2026 I think I was the only kid on my T-ball team to catch the ball the right way, with your fingers over the top of the ball and your thumb under it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>Obviously a batboy is responsible for bats and balls during the game, but what are some of the not so obvious responsibilities that you have that either are not seen by fans, or happen before or after games?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 Bats and balls are all of what fans see during the game, but during the game we also have to check on a lot of things in the dugout. Playing in the middle of summer in Oklahoma the weather can get pretty brutal so the water jug that we have in the dugout has to be filled and have ice in it so the players can stay cool and have water. The umpires have to stay cool and hydrated too so I take them water every so often during the game. We also have a jug of Gatorade in the dugout and sometimes I have to fill that up and make more Gatorade. A lot of the time we\u2019ll run out of water cups in the dugout and I\u2019ll have to run into the clubhouse to get more.\u00a0 I\u2019ve almost run out of baseballs a few times because if a baseball gets a scuff on it we can\u2019t use it again so a lot of times we go through quite a few baseballs. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Before the game, I get there an hour and a half before the start.\u00a0 I put out all the gum, sunflower seeds, and towels on the dugout bench and on the bench in the bullpen. I have to make the Gatorade, and fill up the water jugs on both the home and away bench and bullpen. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>About 30 minutes before game time I put my uniform on and I go to the umpire\u2019s dressing room to get the game balls. The umpires usually prepare 120 baseballs for the game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0After the game I take in all of the gum, sunflower seeds, and towels from the benches and bullpens. We dump out all of the excess water and Gatorade from the jugs and take them up to the clubhouse. I sweep the dugout on the side I work on and the other batboy does the same on his side. If any players leave any of their equipment in the dugout we take that up and give it to them. After all of the postgame responsibilities I clock out about an hour and a half to two hours after the game. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>You always seem to know when the umpire needs some more new baseballs.\u00a0 How do you know when to come out with more balls?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 Most umpires carry six baseballs in the two pockets that they carry on their belt and I learned early that when three balls would get hit out of play or thrown out they would ask for three baseballs so I started counting how many baseballs got hit or thrown out and when it got to three I wouldn\u2019t wait for them to ask I just went ahead and took out three baseballs. The umpires liked that so I just kept doing it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Could you describe what your interaction with the players is like, and how they treat you?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 The players treat me very well. They treat me better than a lot of the fans treat me. I interact with the players a lot more than people think. Between innings and before the game I talk to the players a lot. I\u2019ve made a lot of good friendships with players. I still talk to a lot of them on Facebook. The players will talk and joke with me during the game if they\u2019re not playing or if they\u2019re on the steps of the dugout while they\u2019re in the hole they will talk to me till they have to go on deck. So I interact with the players a lot. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 What have you learned about what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ that you didn’t know before?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned that there is a lot of interaction between the batboys and the umpires. I didn\u2019t really realize how much the Umpires and the batboys talked during the game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 Yes, <\/strong>you seem to have many conversations with the home plate umpires between innings.\u00a0\u00a0 What are some of the things that they talk about with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 We talk about a lot of things. Mostly it\u2019s about how many baseballs he needs or if he wants a drink of water, but we\u2019ll talk about mostly anything. We\u2019ll talk about what is going on in our lives, the weather, what town and ballpark is the best in the Texas League, and I ask the question a lot of the time which team has the best batboys. The other day an umpire and I were talking and we ended up debating if John Wayne or Clint Eastwood was a better actor and which one was in better Westerns. So when I say we talk about anything I mean ANYTHING. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>This is the second year the Drillers have been in their new stadium.\u00a0 From the perspective of someone who gets to see the inside areas, what is the greatest are of improvement over the old stadium?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 The new stadium is a lot more player friendly than the old one. The clubhouse is a lot bigger. The batting cages are a lot bigger and more convenient for the players to get extra batting practice before the game. The dugouts are a lot bigger and substantially wider and that makes it a lot easier for all of the players to walk through there. Having the clubhouse area underground is better because at the old stadium a few times fans tried to get through the back way to the field or to into the clubhouse. \u00a0I think the players feel a lot more secure than they did in the old stadium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>What do you love most about your job?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty: \u00a0What I love most about my job is that I get to be on a pro baseball field and I<\/strong>\u00a0get to interact with pro baseball players.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>What is the most difficult part about being a Batboy?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 The most difficult part of being a batboy is probably the postgame cleanup. I think it\u2019s the most difficult part of the job because after the game you\u2019re tired and\u00a0you\u2019ve been running everywhere. If it\u2019s been a long game and you still have to clean everything up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>Who is the most interesting person you have met in this job?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 I\u2019ve met a lot of interesting guys but the most interesting group of guys have been the pitchers on the teams. \u00a0For example, the bullpen pitchers last year would line up in different formations out in the bullpen during the National Anthem and do other fun and crazy things.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0 <\/strong>What has been your most special memory so far?<\/p>\n

Garrett Totty:\u00a0 Every day that I get to step on a professional baseball field is special for me. I have a lot of special memories since I\u2019ve been a batboy. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>In 2009, opening day was the first ever game that I worked. \u00a0During that season I went on part of a road trip with the Drillers. \u00a0Two games before the last game of the season the Drillers needed to win out to make it to the playoffs.\u00a0 In the 9th<\/sup> inning, there were two outs, a runner on second base, the Drillers were down by one run when Michael McKenry came up to bat.\u00a0 He hit a ball over the left field net that won the game and extend the Drillers playoff hopes. The Drillers lost the next night but that moment was amazing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>In 2010 I worked Opening Day of the new stadium, OneOK Field, and saw Tim McGraw throw out the ceremonial first pitch, that was pretty awesome. That year I went on part of a road trip again. Seeing the first half and how much bad luck and losses that they had in the first half of 2010, and the second half was a totally different story. In the second half they were in the playoff race till the day before the last day of the season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Opening day is always a special moment for me.\u00a0 This year Opening Day was also my 16th<\/sup> birthday. This past month we had a rain delay and they didn\u2019t want to call the game. We kept \u00a0hearing that the tarp was going to be pulled in ten minutes while it was still pouring rain. \u00a0That evening, just hanging out with the players and talking with them was really cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seamheads:\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>What are your plans for the future?<\/p>\n

I hope to play college baseball and then eventually professional baseball but if that doesn\u2019t happen I want to go into a profession like an athletic trainer or a strength and conditioning coach for a pro baseball team. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo Courtesy of Shawna Arndt<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garrett Totty is the Head Batboy for the Texas League Tulsa Drillers.\u00a0\u00a0 Garrett also plays catcher\u00a0on his high school baseball team at Morris (Oklahoma) High School, where this past season he was teammates with Yankee’s 18th round draft choice Hayden Sharp. Seamheads:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Being a batboy on a professional team is probably something that many young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,20],"tags":[15624,47,132,5622,7017,15622,1409,1412,15621,6789,12058,14640,15395,8224,15618,15619,6740,15623,12057,15616,15620,15617],"class_list":["post-16071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-touring-the-bases-with","tag-arndt","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-game","tag-batboy","tag-draft-choice","tag-field-operations","tag-garret","tag-garrett","tag-getting-a-job","tag-high-school-baseball","tag-high-school-baseball-team","tag-learning-the-game","tag-little-kid","tag-mom-and-dad","tag-morris-oklahoma","tag-oklahoma-high-school","tag-professional-team","tag-rest-is-history","tag-school-baseball-team","tag-season-ticket-holders","tag-totty","tag-tulsa-drillers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t