Merritt Riley

Well, actually, my mom and dad were big Yankee fans, so I really didn't have a choice to tell you the truth.

It was always extra special to be at a game, smelling the grass and smelling the popcorn.

You know, I always sought to get autographs and meet the players.

But at the games, I'd be sitting there watching the bad boy retrieving foul balls, and I always wondered, how in God's name can I become that kid?

I figured, you know, what the hell, I'll give it a shot, and I wrote a letter to Yankee Stadium.

I didn't address it to anybody in particular, just hoping it would get a response.

And he did, pretty quickly, from a bat boy named Joe.

Being the kid I was, I got the letter, and I was so excited.

It was written on Yankee letterhead stationery, and I was like, wow, this is it.

I showed my mom and dad.

Yeah.

I'm kind of making fun of myself here.

When I was in high school, I was like a little nerdy kid, you know?

I wasn't really, you know, one of those popular kids, you know what I mean?

All of a sudden, everybody wanted to be my friend.

Kids that I thought would never talk to me because they were the cool kids, they were the jocks.

You know, it's funny because a lot of those kids are friends still today.

Best part of the job was being around players that, you know, a year or two before I was watching on TV and only dreaming that it would be like a dream to, you know, to meet these people.

You know, and now I'm in the same locker room as them.

During the game, you have one responsibility.