Jim turned out to be an easygoing, soft-spoken man. Hubbard made the introductions, and Alec learned the man’s full name was Jim Turner. Alec thought he was old, but how old, he had no idea. The man was entirely bald, making it harder to determine his age. He was tall and slender and had very large hands and a thin, craggy face. Alec was to learn that he was a talker. Which was fine with Alec, who was more of a listener.
When his father had turned Alec over to Jim and left, the man had Alec sit on one of the chairs in the locker room. The room was nothing like the locker room at Alec’s high school. This one was carpeted with indoor/outdoor carpeting, each locker was the size of four high school lockers and was made of wood. There was a dowel with hangers that had room to hang several pieces of clothing, then a space with shelves for shoes and oddities. Each locker also had a small combination safe for valuables.
Instead of benches, each locker had an upholstered easy chair in front of it and a straight-backed wooden chair as well. Jim had Alec take one of the wooden chairs, then pulled one of the same from the next locker over and sat down.
“Did your dad tell you just what you’d be doing here?” Jim asked.
“Nope. Just that I’d be a clubhouse attendant.”
“Okay. What you’ll mostly be responsible for is coming in each morning and straightening up both the clubhouses and the locker rooms. Instead of one large room as they were originally designed, we separated them. That was because the press insisted on access to the players right after the games, the league administrators caved and agreed the reporters should have access—they thought the more the press had to write about the team, the more interest the fans would have and so ticket sales would increase—and several of the reporters covering the team are women. Most of the players shower as soon as they come in after the games, and some of them, especially the married ones, complained about being naked around female reporters. So, the rooms were divided; the press stays in the clubhouse, separate from the players who are naked and getting dressed in the locker room. Works better this way.
“You and Leo both have the same job. You won’t report to him, but he loves to tease and will probably try to make it seem that way. He’s a really nice kid, a lot of fun. He can also speak Spanish, which can be a great help as some on the team only speak that language. I think you’ll get on great with him.”
He paused, giving Alec time to ask questions, but Alec remained mum.
Jim nodded, as though he were figuring Alec out. “The guys tend not to be terribly neat. Their job is to win ball games. If they win, they’re happy. If they lose, they tend to sulk and growl a bit, but not too much; they know each game is only one of 162 games during the long season. Either way, though, they make a mess and leave it behind when they go. Can’t really blame them. There’s an awful lot of pressure on them, and most of them are pretty young and still learning how to deal with how to be a major leaguer.
“Anyway, what I’m saying is, the place will be a mess when you get here. Sometimes as if a hurricane came through. But there are two of you and only four rooms to take care of. You’re both on salary, so no one cares how many or few hours you work. As long as both rooms look great when you’re done, you’ll be doing your job and won’t hear any complaints.”
Alec did have a question after hearing that. “So, we’ll be here till the rooms are cleaned and
straightened. Does that mean we can leave then? No matter the time?”,
“Usually, yes,” Jim said. “There are exceptions, but they’re rare. One would be, say, that there’s a day-night doubleheader scheduled. We’d want you here between games, doing your thing after the first game when the players are back out there for the second one. We want the place looking good when they come back in after the first game.”
“How long does it usually take to do each room?”
Jim smiled. “With you both working, less than an hour unless the players really were more over the top than usual.”
“Then why do you need two guys? If two guys can do the entire job in two hours, one could do it in four. You don’t need two of us.”
Jim grinned. “In the first place, I didn’t make that decision. Either your dad did, or Mr. Henry, the team’s president did. One of the reasons for that is, you don’t have two rooms to do; you have four. You get to take care of the visiting team’s rooms after every game as well. But, yeah, we don’t really need both of you.
“The thing is, this is an interesting job, one not much like any other you’ll ever have. Here, management is very loose on what people do and how they do it as long as it all comes out good in the end, everyone working together and getting everything done that needs to be done. That applies to what happens on the field and everywhere in the organization as well. So, we have two of you here in case you’re needed for other things. It’s also why you’re on salary. Otherwise, sometimes you’ll be working strange hours and overtime pay would be involved, and we could even get some awkward questions from the Bureau of Labor and Industries here in Oregon.”
Jim was holding a bottle of water and paused to take a gulp. He wiped his lips and continued. “Why, you ask?” He grinned again. “It’s because, sometimes, you might be asked to work a game as one of those guys sitting on a chair on the field in foul territory wearing a glove and collecting balls that are hit down the foul line—you know, foul balls. Sometimes we’ll need a spare batboy when one of the two that should be here is missing for whatever reason. What I’m saying is, there are a number of reasons we’d need someone to fill in somewhere, and you two are perfect and available for that. A jack-of-all-trades was an expression used way back when. That’s a role we’ll sometimes need filling.”
Alec looked stunned. “You want me to be the batboy?”
That made Jim laugh. “Maybe. Doesn’t happen a lot, but attendants like you have been asked to fill in when needed. We employ quite a few young guys, and they aren’t always as good as adults at being here when they’re scheduled to be. The thing is, most of our games are under the lights. You come to work at nine in the morning. So, if you do get asked to stay to help out somewhere else, you’d sometimes be here for over 12 hours.”
“Wow!”
“Yeah. But if you like baseball, it’s thrilling to be out on the field, up close and personal with the players and umps. We’ve had boys who had your job who liked being out shagging balls in the outfield during batting practice.”
“Shagging fly balls?” The stunned look hadn’t faded. “You mean I could be out there! With the players! Wow! But, hey, will I be with them when they’re in here, too?”
“Not usually. Sometimes. Some of the guys like to come in quite early, and you might not be done with your job here yet; then you will meet them. Same with visiting players; the young ones don’t have any place else to go during the day. That’s why we make the clubhouse available to them and have pool and ping-pong tables and games they can use. Alec, let me say this: some of these guys will be real friendly. A couple of them are only a few years older than you are. Some won’t be friendly, however. You have to learn who you can talk to and the ones to leave be. Some guys get real intense before a game, trying to get in a competitive mood. You shouldn’t bother them. But you’ll pick that up fast. You won’t have a problem as long as you’re sensible.”
Jim stopped again, figuring Alec must have something else to ask from the way he looked, his body language suddenly appearing unsettled. Jim smiled at him encouragingly.
Alec took a deep breath. “I can see a large open doorway back there,” he said, gesturing to the back of the locker room. “I assume those are the showers?”
Jim studied Alec closely, wondering where this sudden nervousness was coming from. “Yep, there they are. Why?”
“Well . . .” Alec paused then; Jim’s easy demeanor was helping settle him. He breathed again and, having decided, said, “I’ve never seen anyone naked before. Not in person. Pictures, internet, but not in person. No one showers in my high school. There’s a shower room, but after gym nobody uses it. Kids just don’t get naked together like my dad says they used to. Even for the swim team, we have to shower before and after using the pool, but we all have our swimsuits on when we shower. We even wrap towels around ourselves when putting the suits on and taking them off. It’s almost like it’s rude to be naked.
“I guess, because we’ve sorta been trained to be so modest, the idea of being in here with a lot of naked older guys, well, I don’t know, it just feels funny. I don’t really know what that’ll be like or how I’ll respond.”
Jim nodded, holding back a smile because showing one might make Alec think he was laughing at him. “You don’t have to worry or even think about that. As I said, we play mostly night games. Guys shower after those, which is usually around 10:30 or 11. You’ll almost never be here that late, and if you’re here to see a game, you’d have no reason to be down here afterwards. But even if you are, nudity shouldn’t be a problem. Most guys do what you said: they wrap a towel around themselves going to and coming out of the showers. But like most adults, they aren’t all that modest about casual nudity.”
“Oh. But they do cover up mostly? I didn’t know adults cared as much about keeping covered as guys my age do. My dad told me everyone showered together at school when he was my age and no one thought anything about it. I kind of figured if they did it as kids, they’d do it as adults, too.”
“Some aren’t particular,” Jim acknowledged. “We have reporters talking to players after the games. The league mandates that. Some of the reporters are women, as I said. But the nudity is only in this room, and there’s almost never reporters in here. There can be; some players will invite someone in, usually someone they know well. Some of the guys don’t pay any attention to who’s here and who sees them. They figure it’s their locker room, it’s where they get dressed and undressed, and if a woman does come in, it’s up to her to avert her eyes if she is offended. But we’ve only got a couple of guys like that, and only two women cover the games of the Sea Otters, so unless a visiting team has women reporters traveling with the team, and for some reason they’d be here in the locker room . . . well, it just doesn’t happen. No, most of our guys are as modest as you are.” He grinned after saying that.
Alec was thinking how good it was to have a boss as easygoing as Jim. He felt very comfortable with him.
««« »»»
Jim explained the ins and outs of his job. Alec’s principal duty, he was informed, was to do what was needed. This wasn’t a job that had strictly assigned duties, one you had to stay within the boundaries of no matter what. This was a job where anything you saw that needed to be done was something to do. You did have general assignments, but outside and above those, you were here to help the place run smoothly. Baseball was a team game, and that attitude was emphasized throughout the entire organization. Sure, you were paid to pick up towels off the floor, but if you saw something that needed to be done that was more critical and urgent, you should leave the towels and come back for them later.
Jim told him his relationship with Leo was up to him. “The guy’s full of himself, but basically he’s a really nice kid. I think you’ll like him once you get to know him, but he can tease and joke, and sometimes it can get stale, maybe even under your skin. Best not to have a thin skin with him, but just remember, he doesn’t really mean it when it gets a little too much. Let him know if you’re tired of some attitude he’s putting on, and you’ll find he’ll back off quickly and apologize. He doesn’t do things to annoy, he does them to be funny. You’ll see.”
Jim stopped for a moment, then said, “Alec, I’ve done most of the talking here. You’ve been on the quiet side. Some of us are the one, some the other. I think you’re quiet. Well, my advice is, don’t let Leo have too much sway over you. He doesn’t realize that some of his humor comes across as being too aggressive. You let him know when he’s making you uncomfortable and he’ll back off. I like Leo a lot. He lights up the place. He gets on with the players great, especially the Spanish-speaking ones, the ones who happen to like coming in way early. I hope you’ll feel good working with him. Not for him. Not under him. With him.”
“Thanks, Jim. I’m sure I’ll be all right with him. Yeah, I am kinda quiet. But I don’t let people push me around.”
“Good. Oh, and there’s one more thing I should tell you about. Knowing this in advance might be helpful. We were talking about showering and modesty. Well, Leo showers when he’s done for the day. And he’s not modest at all. When I’ve been in here and he’s come out of the shower, he hasn’t bothered to cover himself up at all. I wouldn’t even mention this, but you spoke about it and I just want you to be prepared. If you ignore it, well, maybe that’s the best response you could have. But you’ll figure it out. You’re free to shower, too, if you want to. I didn’t tell you, but both you guys have your own lockers in here. I’ll show you. Leo always brings spare clothes that he can change into after showering. He keeps them in his locker.”
Jim walked back to where the door to the locker room was located and let Alec peek inside. Then he showed him his locker which was near the front door of the clubhouse and next to Leo’s. Theirs were the only two lockers actually in the clubhouse; the attendants weren’t expected to be in the locker room when naked men were there. Alec didn’t know if that was why their lockers were separate from the players’, or if it was because they’d only be changing clothes, assuming they’d actually do that, when no one else was around. Or, perhaps this was a way of isolating the players from anyone or ones who were not part of the actual team.
There was another door near their lockers in the front of the clubhouse. Alec asked what that was for.
“That’s the manager’s office. It’s quite small, just room for a desk and his chair and a couple more chairs for people to use if he’s called them in. You don’t have to clean that room. It’s Eli’s hideaway, and he, well, you’ll get to see how he is eventually. He doesn’t want anyone in there unless he invites them, so you can ignore it. Best to just stay out of there unless he tells you to come in.”
Alec’s and Leo’s lockers were next to each other. The safe in Alec’s locker had a set-it-yourself combination lock, and Jim showed him how to work it. Then he said Alec should go back to where Leo was working and he’d show him the basics of the job.
««« »»»
Alec found Leo in the clubhouse working with what looked something like a vacuum cleaner, though it was attached to a long, snake-like flexible hose and made more noise than a conventional vacuum. Alec watched and realized whatever it was Leo was doing, it was harder work than just vacuuming would be.
Leo eventually stopped, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and sat down on one of the chairs.
“What was that?” Alec asked.
The way Leo jerked, he obviously had thought he was alone. He looked up at Alec to answer. “Steam cleaning the carpet. We do this in the visitors clubhouse every time a team leaves. In our clubhouse, it’s once a week. It’s a lot of work! You’ll see. We need to do the visitors room today. I’ll get it started, show you how, and you can finish it. The days we do it, it’s the last thing we do because it’s hard enough that we work up a sweat. I always take a shower afterwards. I keep an extra set of clean clothes in my locker. You might think about doing that, too, if you want.”
Alec saw the room didn’t need any other cleanup to be done. The locker room was finished, too. That meant Leo had done most everything all by himself. Of course, the two visitor areas still had to be attended to.
Those two areas were a mess. In the locker room, towels were strewn on the floor, pop and beer cans and cups were littered about, locker doors were hanging open and the place had a humid, sweaty-male odor. Leo’s first place to go, with Alec on his heels, was through the locker room and into the shower area.
It was a large, ceramic-tiled room with numerous shower heads, some mounted on the walls, some on stands in the middle of the room. There was no provision at all for modesty.
“I’m surprised,” Alec said, after looking around. “From the look of the locker room, I expected to find two or three showers still running. If it’s too much trouble to pick up a beer can, I’d think they’d have the same attitude about turning off a shower.”
Leo nodded at him. “They do. Jim had auto cutoffs installed. They only stay on for six minutes, then cut off automatically. They go back on just by having the water control bumped, so even if you have soap all over your face and hair, it’s no problem getting them back on again. Most guys don’t shower longer than six minutes, so usually that works fine. And we don’t waste much water this way. We sure did before the timer-controlled cutoffs were put in.”
There were a couple of empty shampoo bottles and a towel to pick up, but other than that the shower room was fine without more attention. “Every now and then, Jim has me scrub down the walls with something to disinfect them and keep mold at bay, maybe every two, three weeks,” Leo told Alec. “I use a paint roller with an extension so I can get all the way to the ceiling. That’s not a fun job, but with the two of us doing it, it’s not too bad.”
They straightened up the clutter in the clubhouse area, Alec finishing that by himself while Leo went to bring in the steam cleaner. He hooked it up and did an area of rug, telling Alec what he was doing, then had Alec take over.
The machine was heavy, the hose made it awkward, and Alec found what Leo had said was true: he’d worked up a sweat by the time the entire room had been covered. But he felt some pride when he was done: the floor looked great, as did the rest of the room.
“Okay, Alec, we’re done for the day. I’ll show you where we store the steam cleaner, and that’ll be it.”
He dragged the cleaner back to the home team’s clubhouse and stowed it in a closet there. Then he moved into the locker room, where he began undressing. Alec had automatically followed him; he’d been following him all morning while they worked, and he could only watch as Leo stripped off everything he was wearing. He did so in front of his locker, his profile in Alec’s view. Then he turned around, facing Alec. Jim had been right: if Leo possessed the modesty gene, it was a faulty one.
“You going to shower?” he asked.
Alec shook his head. “Maybe next time. I’ll bring extra clothes. No point in showering now and then putting these same clothes back on.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow then.” Leo turned and headed for the shower room, grabbing a towel from the pile on a table by the door. Alec was left standing alone, wondering about taking a shower with Leo the next day, wondering if he had the nerve to do that. Wondering if his body would cooperate if he did or if it would give him away and embarrass the bejesus out of him. Wondering what Leo would think if he wore his boxers while showering.
Wondering if it was time to grow a pair.
Posted 26 February 2025