He has a shirt and baseballs signed by some of his heroes, but the thing Eric Stewart will remember about rubbing elbows with the world champion Boston Red Sox is trying, unsuccessfully, to rub the pine tar off his hands.
The Gray-New Gloucester Middle School eighth-grader served as the Red Sox bat boy during their game March 6 with the Philadelphia Phillies at the Sox’ spring training home in Fort Myers, Fla. It was something he’d been waiting two years to do, and thanks to a persistent grandfather, not only did he get to meet some of the Red Sox, but he may have been the first bat boy ever traded during a game.
“I got to meet Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. They were pretty cool,” Stewart said. “Then I got switched to the Phillies’ side because they didn’t have any batboys and I got to talk to Jim Thome and Jimmy Rollins. I was pretty excited.”
Stewart originally thought he was just going to Fort Myers for what is becoming an annual visit with his grandparents, Chuck and Diane Stewart. This is the second time they had invited him down for spring training since moving down there in 2001. They’ve had season tickets to the Red Sox spring training games for three years and enjoy taking Eric, now 14, to see his favorite team.
Two years ago, Chuck asked the Red Sox about making his grandson a bat boy for a day. They approved his request, but had to withdraw it when they found out Eric was only 12. Major League Baseball had just adopted a rule that bat boys must be at least 14 following an incident involving Dusty Baker’s three-year-old son during the 2002 World Series.
“Eric was crushed,” Chuck said.
Chuck let the team know he would still be interested when Eric was the right age, and got a phone call from them earlier in the winter saying they had a spot open for him. Chuck called his grandson with the good news.
“It’s pretty special for a kid,” Chuck said. “It’s something we all dream of as sports fans.”
Eric wasn’t able to meet his favorite player, Johnny Damon, but he got to spend time in the Red Sox clubhouse with Ramirez and Ortiz before the game and collect signatures from other players.
“I’ve got a shirt that says Red Sox’ on the front and “Bat boy’ on the back and (Ramirez and Ortiz) autographed that,” said Eric, who plays shortstop and second base on his middle school team. “And I got two baseballs signed by Keith Foulke and Bronson Arroyo.”
But Eric was there to work, too. Besides picking up bats, he had to collect foul balls and, between innings, pick up the equipment teams keep in their on deck circles, such as weights, donuts and a certain sticky substance they rub on their bats.
“I got pine tar all over my hands,” he said.
The Sox topped off Eric’s dream day by beating the Phillies, 5-4.
The next night, his grandfather took him to see Boston play the New York Yankees, but to Eric, it wasn’t quite the same as being a bat boy for the world champions.
“I want to do it again next year,” he said.
“That might take a lot of arm-twisting from grandpa,” Chuck said.
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