Hey Batboy!

As promised I will tell more tales of the Five Golden (Baseball) Rings, but not all of them…yet. What can I say, I like suspense.

This is the story of Joe McDonald’s first negotiation in baseball. When Mr. McDonald was fourteen he worked as a batboy at Ebbets Field. This was back before the Dodgers stopped playing there and made Terrence Mann sad (Field of Dreams reference!!). The opposing team on this particular day was the Cardinals. And they had no batboy.

Now the Cardinals manager at this time had a bit of a reputation for being, shall we say, a bit uncouth. In other words he was a hothead that preferred strong language. He swore a lot. Yeah that’s what I’m tryin’ to say.

Mr. McDonald called the manager up and asked how much a batboy for the Cardinals made per game. “Three dollars” was the reply. “Well I’m making six dollars right now” was Mr. McDonald’s reply. “CLICK!” was the manager’s enraged reply. So Mr. McDonald waited…

About a half-hour later the Card’s manager called back (after striking out trying to get another batboy). “I’ll pay ya five in cash. It’s the same since you won’t be paying taxes.” Mr. McDonald considered it and agreed provided he threw in two baseballs. With a harrumph the manager grudgingly agreed.

Mr. McDonald ended the story saying that even though as a general manager he’s negotiated multi-million dollar deals with ball players, he still recalls his first negotiation.

And this is a 1982 Cardinals World Series ring. Mr. McDonald earned one of these as the general manager for the 1982 Cardinals.

1982-World-Series-Ring

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Nathaniel

Nathaniel is the main trumpet player for Longbow and handles much of the blog work. He is currently being homeschooled through high school.

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