2007–Our “Lost Summer” Cooking
Whew! What a summer it was in 2007 as La Bear and the Baby Boomer became full-time cooks resulting in our “lost summer” so to speak. Upon reflection, it’s hard to believe that it’s been 18 years since we said, YES, to our son, The King, in becoming his cooks for the summer.
Please allow me to digress. The King is a “baseball guy” through and through as his love for the game cannot be denied with it being in his blood. He received his master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2005 in a niche major area called Sports Leadership while also being the graduate assistant coach for the VCU baseball team. Upon graduation he continued to be the assistant coach for two additional years receiving a small stipend for the experience he was acquiring. To make “ends meet”, he became a long-term substitute high school teacher and worked in the clubhouse for the Richmond Braves who were the Triple A affiliate for the Atlanta Braves. In 2007, The King became the clubhouse manager for the team which led to our “lost summer” of cooking.
As the clubhouse manager, The King was responsible for both the home and visitors’ locker room operations. Certainly, he hired a team to run the visitors’ locker room which he oversaw while concentrating the majority of his attention on the home team. His responsibilities were many and the commitment of time was exhausting during each home stand, but The King persevered having a very strong work ethic.
An example of the work and responsibilities needed to have a successful home stand from start to finish were many and included meeting the team at the airport upon arrival from an away stand to pick-up all the equipment and team bags filled with their dirty uniforms and personal items. The locker room at The Diamond was a bit outdated and somewhat confining as every inch of space had to be properly utilized. Yes, there were lockers for the players along with bathrooms, sinks, and showers along with a separate coach’s area with lockers, showers, and a small office space. The center of the locker room was the scene for some more comfortable seating along with tables and chairs for eating, gaming, and card playing along with a small prep area for food service, drinks, and snacks like chips, gum, and seeds. Surprisingly, the hub of the locker room from The King’s point of view was the laundry room which seemingly was constantly running all day everyday laundering all the uniforms, towels, and personal items.
On each game day, the player’s lockers were set up in a particular organized way to include their practice uniforms, game uniforms, and equipment. The King would provide a light meal during pre-game practice usually consisting of snacks, salads, and sandwiches for the team. After the game a large hot meal was provided consisting of three entrees and three sides along with other accoutrements. By the home team dugout was an umpire’s room and that’s where the ball boy would rub up dozens of baseballs prior to each game. The King was also responsible for the bat boys–hiring, training, and scheduling. Of course, he had an assistant “clubby” who worked alongside him. Getaway day was extremely stressful as the team equipment and player’s bags had to be packed, loaded, and taken to the airport, as well as all of the normal duties. Whew!!
The Braves paid The King for his role as clubhouse manager hourly and he also received reimbursement for certain expenses, clubhouse dues, and gratuities from the players and coaches. The clubhouse dues were paid at the end of each home stand and items like drinks, snacks, seeds, and all the food for team meals was paid for from these monies in addition to toiletries that were provided to the players and coaches. The King also maintained a small fridge in the coach’s area for some adult beverages.
Keep in mind most of the players were very young with the hope of someday making it to the Major Leagues. Some were highly drafted and received significant signing bonuses, but most made very little and were just thankful for the slimmest of slim opportunity to make it to the “bigs”. WTBS, the clubhouse dues took up a large chunk of their pitiful pay which meant the large post-game hot meal was their primary source of sustenance so it better “meet the mark”!
The King knew this and was challenged with being certain his players were not only satisfied receiving proper nourishment, but satisfied with the meals that were being provided to them. Nutrition was extremely important as was creating the number of different entrees and side dishes to please the palate of the players from so many varied backgrounds, races, and ethnicities.
Another opportunity for The King was to successfully run what was his small business knowing at the end of the day he needed to manage his expenses in order to create a profit from the clubhouse dues. He also had an opportunity to earn additional income by charging for personal favors and tasks, when a player from the Atlanta Braves was rehabbing with the R-Braves before returning to the big team, and providing the pleasing service necessary to earn gratuities on top of the clubhouse dues. Those players and coaches who did possess those extra dollars would actually rent apartments for the season on a month-to-month basis. The King would secure those apartments, negotiate the lease terms, then furnish them not only with furniture, but outfit the kitchens and bathrooms along with linens. At the end of the season, he would then undo what he had done. Depending on the wants and needs of the individual, The King would add a fee to the total cost to put in his pocket and usually received a generous gratuity in addition. A player on rehab would normally purchase a meal or two for the entire team which was catered by a restaurant which The King organized tacking on a fee for his efforts and again usually receiving a gratuity in addition. These rehab players were normally rather “high maintenance” and had many additional requests which The King fulfilled receiving some added gratuities. At the end of each home stand, the players would pay the clubhouse dues owed and although some really couldn’t afford to add a gratuity, most did and many were very generous. One thing we admired about The King was rather than keeping all the “extra” for himself, he graciously shared with his team as a way to show his appreciation for a job well done!
So, when it came to finding the folks necessary to do the important job of cooking for the team, The King turned to La Bear and the Baby Boomer to fulfill this duty. Of course, without hesitation, La Bear said YES which led immediately to our “lost summer” cooking in 2007. Being the way I am, I asked what the pay would be and, of course, La Bear chimed in to say our pay was LOVE! Hmmm?
Folks, I can’t begin to tell you how challenging this was as the Richmond Braves had 71 home games and the home stands were from a minimum of three days to as long as seven days. Oh, yeah, The King had parameters. He divided the season into thirds with the entrees for the first third of the season couldn’t be repeated, the entrees for the second third of the season were player’s choice based on their favorite entrees, and the last third of the season we could use all the food we had left and basically provide the entrees we needed in order to meet this goal. The real kicker, though, was The King had his “Golden Rule” which should never be broken–the food had to be delivered to The Diamond no earlier than the first pitch at the top of the sixth inning and no later than the first pitch of the seventh inning! Huh? What?
For those of you who may follow the game of baseball, there is no way to determine the length of an inning. We tuned in every evening we were cooking to AM 910 in order to listen to the game announced by Robert Fish. Hey, it was a twenty-minute drive to The Diamond! The two things that could really throw us for a “loop” would be an inning that went “three up and three down” or one in which there was a weather delay. Our favorite innings consisted of one with a few hits and a few runs or one with a pitching change. The few times when we actually delivered the food after the first pitch of the seventh inning, The King’s LOOK of disdain was penetrating and is etched in my memory forever. Believe you me, he didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to–the LOOK was more than enough. We certainly didn’t receive our payment of LOVE on those occasions.
Hey, this cooking gig was challenging, stressful, and plain old hard work. The King did the bulk of the food shopping as we went to the store only on an as needed basis. Prior to each home stand he would meet with us to go over the proposed menu and put together a shopping list. He created a spread sheet in order to track his expenses and at the end of each home stand we’d add up the revenue he collected from clubhouse dues, personal favors and tasks, a player on a rehab assignment, and gratuities hoping there was some positive additional cash flow at the end of the day. This certainly was a learning experience in many ways and became very beneficial to The King when his career advanced with the Atlanta Braves.
Our menu included entrees and vegetables high in both protein and carbs along with some starch. Examples of proteins included steak, salmon, pork tenderloins, chicken, Italian sausage, ham, turkey, and catfish nuggets. We created a number of casseroles like Beef Burgundy, Chicken Continental, Lasagna, Mexican Lasagna (a Baby Boomer creation), Beef Stroganoff, Baked Spaghetti, Roast Beef, Spicy Sausage & Rice, and Smoked Boston Butt. Vegetables and starches included all the usual suspects like cabbage, green beans, broccoli, yellow and green squash, baked potato casserole, roasted white potatoes, white rice, Cajun rice, Spanish rice, corn, lima beans, succotash, and mixed vegetables. We also made coleslaw, a couple variations of potato salad and, of course, a number of pasta salads. Sunday home games were normally also getaway days and we sorta got off easy only needing to prepare breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grilled potatoes, or a French Toast Casserole (La Bear’s creation). The other regular getaway meal was hamburgers and hot dogs with French fries. One side note is we cooked for a total of thirty folks including players, coaches, and staff, but had to prepare food for forty-five folks due to the amount of food they consumed! Whew!!
Word quickly got around the International League that the Richmond Braves were the best fed team in the league and we knew The King appreciated our efforts, even though, he’s never been one to go overboard with compliments, appreciation, or respect. We’re truly not the type who need all that, knowing deep down, The King was proud of our accomplishments–he didn’t have to tell us.
The season was coming to an end and we were so looking forward to game #71–our last game! However, there was one last surprise for La Bear and the Baby Boomer as The King informed us the R-Braves had made the playoffs and we could have as many as ten more home games where we would have to prepare meals. Of course, wouldn’t you know, as our luck would have it, we did indeed have to prepare ten more meals, as the Richmond Braves became the champions of the International League in the summer of 2007–remember our “lost summer” cooking!
In appreciation at the end, once it was all said and done, The King did present us with his International League Championship ring, that is, for just a “New York minute”! However, he finally did say that our effort was the real reason the team had won the championship–enough said!
After the season, The King was given the opportunity to interview and was offered the position of being the General Manager of the Atlanta Braves Spring Training Facility and Minor League Equipment Manager in Orlando–a position he relished and held for several years! Thanks Mom and Dad! LOL!