Ask a New Yorker: I’m with Luis “Squeegee” Castillo, author
of “Club
House Confidential”. Squeegee, please explain how you received your
nickname.
Squeegee: 1998 – first day on the job.
Ask a New Yorker: What job?
Squeegee: Yankee batboy.
Ask a New Yorker: Hence the title, “Club House Confidential”.
Squeegee: In 1998, I’m in the locker room and the club house attendant named
Joe Lee walks me up to Derek Jeter. I’m star struck. I’m 15 years
old. I’m 120 lbs. soaking wet. And Derek Jeter looks at me in the eye and
says, “What’s your name kid?” And I say, “Luis Castillo”.
And he goes, “No” and in the back of my mind I’m going, like,
“No, what?” He looks me up and down and says,”That’s it,
Squeegee”. And I said, “OK”. That’s Derek Jeter; he gives
nicknames to everybody on the team. He’s the captian.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s Jeter’s nickname?
Squeegee: Jete
Ask a New Yorker: So how did you get this great gig?
Squeegee: In 1997 I sat in the seat of Tina Lewis, Queen of the Bleacher Creature,
and my friend had cursed her out. We got kicked out of the stadium. She got us
kicked out. And the next day my friends and I went to apologize to Tina. We became
best friends. I told her one day what my dream job would be, to become a bat boy.
She gave me the instructions of how to become a batboy. Write a letter, stay in
school and keeps your hopes high. It was a hand written letter with a photograph,
a 5 x 7 picture of myself. They asked about why you would want to be a bat boy,
who is your favorite player etc…
Ask a New Yorker: What are the duties, job requirements of a batboy?
Squeegee: The duties of a batboy: cleaning dirty underwear, shining shoes, picking
up bats during games, handing baseballs to the umpires, patrolling the right field
line and warming up the right fielder of the game.
Ask a New Yorker: You would hand the bats to the players?
Squeegee: Depending which players, different players such as Bernie Williams sometimes
asked for a bat and he’s two feet away from it. Some guys when they strike
out they would bring their own bat back to the bat rack or if they hit a home
run they want you to pick it up and bring it back to the cubby hole.
Ask a New Yorker: What was the pay like?
Squeegee: $5.15 hour was the hourly rate in the 90’s.
Ask a New Yorker: Players would tip you?
Squeegee: Yes, great. Posada was great. Roger Clemens was great. Randy Johnson
was shabby tipper.
Ask a New Yorker: Did you travel with the team?
Squeegee: Yes, time to time I would travel with the team. I traveled to the World
Series playoff games. During the regular season players would accommodate me by
paying my road trip, my hotel room, flight, pretty cool stuff.
Ask a New Yorker: Favorite Player?
Squeegee: David Cone
Ask a New Yorker: How many batboys are employed at one time?
Squeegee: There are a total of four batboys at the home side and four on the visiting
side plus three clubbies on the home side and three on the visiting side, so a
total of fourteen.
Ask a New Yorker: Any batgirls?
Squeegee: I know Boston has them but the Yankees never had a batgirl.
Ask a New Yorker: What was it like being there for the perfect game?
Squeegee: The David Cone perfect game in 1999 was a weird day. It was about the
third inning and it starts raining. It was a 45 minute rain delay, which is unusual
in July. David Cone after a rain delay would usually not come back into the game,
or any starter for that matter. The rain delay ends and we’re getting ready
to get back onto the field where the players need to go through their routine
again. David Cone calls me over, “Squeegee got a glove?” I replied,
”Got it in hand”. Cone, “Do you have a baseball?” Me,
“Got one in hand”. We start warming up in the tunnel in the old Yankee
stadium where the pipes were real low. We threw about two tosses and he goes:
“No, no it’s not good Squeegee, let’s go outside onto the field.
I’m thinking, “What, are you kidding me? Holy crap”. We got
on the field and I’m saying to myself, “Please do not hurt this guy”.
We threw about 7 or 8 tosses. I threw one and nonchalantly he just grabs it off
the field and says,”O.K we’re done”. I kept the ball in my back
pocket. In the ninth inning the ball gets popped up to Scott Brusus, the last
out. David Cone has a perfect game,27 up 27 down. I come into the clubhouse, celebrate
with him and he signs my baseball and we take a couple of pictures.
Ask a New Yorker: What was David Cone really like?
Squeegee: David Cone was down to earth. He was a New Yorker. He and David Wells
were like Batman and Robin. They loved New York. They loved the atmosphere. They
loved the people . They loved the fans. They thrived off that, they loved it because
they were New Yorkers themselves. Then you had guys like Randy Johnson who wasn’t
used to the New York atmosphere. He wouldn’t go outside. It was like he
was always locked up indoors. But you had some players who were down to earth
like Derek Jeter, who was easy going in the clubhouse and who led by example on
and off the field. Most guys were great.
Ask a New Yorker: The ticker tape parade. How was that?
Squeegee: The ticker tape parade, Grand Canyon of Hero’s. 1998 we won. At
that time we were the best team in baseball, 125 wins and 50 losses. Now we’re
going down the Canyon of heroes in Manhattan with confetti all over the place
falling on top of you. I’m on the float with Derek Jeter and Chuck Knoblauch
and Scott Brosius, Scott Brosius has a broom of the San Diego Padres waving it
back and forth indicating the sweep. The fans are throwing toilet paper at us.
Knobby has a toilet paper roll and hands it over to me and says, “Throw
that back”. I was like, “No we’ll get in trouble” I threw
it back which was a cool experience because now you’re interacting with
the fans. It was a great experience. The whole town went crazy.
Ask a New Yorker: Give us your best George Steinbrenner story.
Squeegee: There was one time George Steinbrenner was walking in the Yankee clubhouse
and I’m walking out with a garbage bag. I didn’t know George Steinbrenner
was going to walk in at that time. I’m holding a garbage bag. I hope it’s
not leaking because he was a neat freak. First thing he does is he walks in and
we bump into each other and he looks at me up and down analyzing me but I knew
he was looking at the garbage bag to make sure it wasn’t leaking. And all
of a sudden he goes,”Hey kid, need some help?” And I thought to myself,”
You can’t call him George. You can’t call him Steinbrenner. You have
to call him boss”. So my reaction was,”No boss, I’m OK, I’m
fine” Then he said,”OK kid”, then he slaps me in the face like
a mobster. Then he goes,”Hey kid, hold on” and I’m thinking,
“Hold on what?” I’m trying to get away from him. He pulls out
a wad of cash which amounted to $100 and gave it to me. That’s the side
of Steinbrenner people didn’t get to see, a funny side. Everyone only got
to see him firing people. I got to see a different side of George.
Ask a New Yorker: I take it there was no confidentiality agreement?
Squeegee: Never had to sign a confidentiality paper, the main reasons my writing
the book was because I wanted to give the Yankee fans an insight into what went
on behind the scenes, the player’s routine, and their character on and off
the field.
Ask a New Yorker: Any perks for an ex- Yankee batboy?
Squeegee: It’s more out of sight out of mind. Rameria Mendoza was a former
Yankee player now he’s retired and Ruben Serra, Chuck Knoblauch , these
guys stay in touch with me through twitter and cellphone. I built these relationships
with these guys, they’re down to earth and they stay in touch to see how
my family and I are doing.
Ask a New Yorker: What’s next for an ex- Yankee batboy? What’s going
on now?
Squeegee: I’m an author now and enjoying the lifestyle of being an author.
I want to give back to the community. I’m married with 2 kids and one more
on the way. So just living fatherhood and trying to become a better man.
Ask a New Yorker: Great meeting you Squeegee!
