Confessions of a batboy: When I first read the book "Big League Batboy" as an eight year old, I fantasized about being the Cardinals batboy. I read the book again recently, 35 years later, and all I could think about was the fate (and value) of the bats and uniforms in the photos. Funny how your perspective changes.

"Big League Batboy" was written by Jerry Gibson (with Ed Wilks) and published in 1970. Gibson joined the Cardinals as an umpires' boy in 1966, just before the move to the recently demolished Busch Stadium. It chronicles Gibson's experiences as a Redbird batboy from 1966 to 1969. It's an easy read - it was written for an elementary school audience - but the book includes several interesting memorabilia-related comments and photos that are worth sharing with today's collectors.

For example, he had this to say about Orlando Cepeda and his bats: "Of all the players, nobody had more bats than Orlando Cepeda. He used to have as many as 23 in the bat rack at one time. Besides those, he would use some of Mike Shannon's bats (Mike kept about a dozen in the rack). Orlando also had about 30 more bats in the clubhouse, of all different weights and lengths. Some had thin handles, others had thick handles. Cepeda used to say, 'I got to bat the way I feel.'"

Gibson devoted an entire chapter to players and their superstitions. Lou Brock, for example, didn't like to change pants when he was on a hot streak. He went so far as to hide his dirty pants from equipment manager Butch Yatkeman, but Butch always found them. According to Gibson, Brock also was superstitious about his bats:

"Early in the 1967 season, Lou was swinging for hits every day. His average climbed to .387. Naturally he became attached to the bat he had been using. He drew faces on it with a marking pen and wrote his name all over it. Then one day he cracked the bat. I had never seen anybody as glum as Lou was when that happened. I told him I might be able to get the bat fixed. One of the painters at the stadium frequently repaired broken bats and took them to the kids in his neighborhood. The painter used an adhesive and I told Lou it might work on his bat, too. Brock gave me the bat and the painter fixed it. Lou began using it again. But the bat lasted only about a week. It cracked again, this time in a different place. Brock often wrote things on his equipment for good luck. In 1967, when the Cardinals ran away with the pennant and Lou ran away with the stolen base title, he wrote, 'Hustle' on his batting helmet. Other players did things like that. Mike Torrez, the young pitcher, had 'Good Luck' written in his glove - in Yiddish."

The book is filled with anecdotes about the Cardinals players of the era, including this one about Tim McCarver and his battle with a new-and-improved batting helmet: "None of the Cardinals liked to lose or look bad, particularly McCarver. He had a terrible temper, and when I first became batboy, he was always tearing up his batting helmet or crushing it. When he didn't get a hit or if we lost a close game, he would throw down his helmet and stomp on it. In 1967 we changed to unbreakable helmets, but Timmy didn't know about the change. He came into the clubhouse after one game, pulling at his helmet and trying to wreck it. He even threw it on the floor and jumped on it. When I told him that the new helmets were unbreakable, he just said, 'We'll see about that!' and kept trying. It creaked and bulged when McCarver stomped on it. But it never really did come apart."

Gibson also had interesting stories about players on other teams. From a collector's point of view, this passage about the 1966 All-Star Game offers one of the more intriguing tales: "Most of the All-Stars brought only one or two bats with them, but [Willie] Mays had three or four in his locker. He picked up one and handed it to me, saying, 'Well, if you're the batboy, you ought to have a bat.' He even autographed it: 'Best Wishes, Willie Mays.' His name is burned into the big end of the bat, along with the date of the game. I still have the bat on a shelf in my room at home, along with the cardboard name plates that were put up above each player's locker for the All-Star Game."

Gibson didn't accumulate a large amount of memorabilia, but he did end up with a few gems during his batboy days. In addition to the Mays 1966 All-Star Game bat, he also kept a Musial bat he "found in the equipment room." Though he doesn't identify it as such, it's clear in a photo that the Musial is a 1963 All-Star bat from Cleveland, issued during The Man's last season. Gibson received a few other nice pieces, as well: "Baseballs comprise a major part of my collection. I've got one from each year I've been a batboy, with all the names of the Cardinals who were on the team each season. I have one signed by Sandy Koufax and another by Roger Maris. I have a ball from the last game played in the old park, as well as the infield ball the National League used in the 1966 All-Star Game. Along with these, I've managed to save one of Curt Flood's batting helmets and caps from all the teams in the National League. I even kept a piece of AstroTurf, from my visit to Houston on that first road trip with the Cardinals."

Certain parts of the book illustrate how the 1960s differ dramatically from today. One such tale involves Gibson's first meeting with Yatkeman: "I read in the Sunday paper that the Cardinals were coming home from Florida. I made up my mind to go back to the ballpark and see Butch. I waited four full hours before a car drove up and parked right outside the clubhouse door. The wait proved worthwhile, however, for I was sure that the man getting out of the car was Butch Yatkeman. I went over and introduced myself. Although Gary Fagg and Mike Murphy were going to be the batboys, Butch needed an umpires' boy and he said I could have the job if I could handle it. I didn't have the slightest idea of what an umpires' boy had to do. But I wasn't about to ask questions. I accepted the job on the spot. I would probably have been put to work right away if I hadn't been wearing my best clothes in an effort to make a good impression. Butch needed somebody to help unpack all the trunks that the Cardinals had used to ship home their uniforms, bats and other equipment. But when he saw my good clothes, he said, "You can't help in clothes like that. You better go home and come back Tuesday. Then we'll try you out."

Can you imagine an equipment manager today trusting a kid off the street to help unload the equipment truck? Yakteman is a legendary figure in Cardinals history. He started as a batboy in 1924 and retired after the 1982 season, so he was in the clubhouse during all nine Cardinals championship seasons. One reference to Yakteman reveals an interesting bit of trivia: "When Butch was the batboy, from 1924 through 1931, he said he got the job because he used to hang around the ballpark all the time. The batboy didn't wear a uniform then, just white duck pants or dungarees. He said the first time the Cardinal batboy wore a uniform was for the team's first World Series in 1926."

Gibson also shared insights about the demise of the first Busch Stadium and the move to Busch II, which was particularly interesting given the current transition to another new ballpark: "I'll never forget the last game there. It was played on May 8, and there was a big ceremony. After the ceremony, the fans went out onto the field and dug up pieces of sod, or tore chunks out of the padding on the outfield walls. Some people even ripped loose the seats in the stands and took them home as souvenirs."

While Cardinals fans were able to pilfer a few items from Busch II, tightened security ensured nobody would get away with seats or pieces of the wall. Of course, memorabilia from Busch II was auctioned and sold, raising in excess of a million dollars. Indeed, times have changed.

The photos in the book offer a behind-the-scenes look at Busch in 1969. You can see the original bat racks, which clearly are different than the racks auctioned off by Leland's in November. There also are several clubhouse photos that indicate, with a few exceptions, that players were assigned lockers in uniform number order. One shot shows White (7) followed by Torre (9) and Ricketts (10); another shows Washburn (44) left of Gibson (45); and another shows Huntz (14), McCarver (15) and Gagliano (16) in order.

Copies of "Big League Batboy" can be found through Amazon.com and other online retailers. A simple Google search can help you locate a copy, and prices seem to run in the $5-10 range. If you don't have this book already, it's worth the minimal cost and effort to add it to your library.