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CNN Live Saturday

MLB May Revisit Age Limits for Bat Boys

Aired October 26, 2002 - 13:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: About six hours from now, they will be starting game six of the World Series, a must win for the Anaheim Angels. But a lot of talk has been happening, has been going on about something that happened Thursday in game five with the sport's youngest bat boy. Josie Karp with CNN sports joins us now from Anaheim. Hi, Josie.
JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. You know, it would take a lot to upstage Barry Bonds in this series. The slugger has six hits in 12 at-bats, three of them have been for home runs. But in game five, somebody did finally figure out how to upstage the Giants' Barry Bonds. It was a toddler who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): After this game five close call at the plate involving his 3 1/2-year-old son and Giants bat boy Darren, Dusty Baker got an earful. The Giants manager heard it first from his mother, and then from a Major League Baseball executive.

DUSTY BAKER, GIANTS MANAGER: I'm sure it won't happen again. I got a call from Sandy Olson (ph) today. You know, he's not going to prohibit it. But he still told me to watch out. I am just hoping that this doesn't -- you know, that they don't come up with some rule that prohibits kids from being in the dugout and being able to do these things.

J.T. SNOW, GIANTS FIRST BASEMAN: I just reached behind me, and luckily grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up. His eyes were huge. I don't think he knew what was going on.

KARP: With a promise from Baker that his son will stay out of harm's way, Darren will be back in the dugout for game six, doing the job he clamored for all season.

BAKER: I told him he could do it when he was 5 and he kept bugging me every day. And then I said, OK, when you are 4, and then he asked me every day, is he 4 yet? So finally I just said, I'll try it one day and we'll see how it goes for a couple of innings.

REGGIE SANDERS, GIANTS: The bat's bigger than he is, you know, running across the field takes about five minutes for him to get everything, and run back over.

KARP: Baker picked up his family first policy during eight years playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, then implemented it when he took over the Giants in 1993. Every player, even the game's greatest hitter, is welcome to bring his son to work and meet him at home.

BARRY BONDS, GIANTS: The Giants' organization is just one organization that is a family-orientated organization that allows the kids to participate. And Dusty is a manager that sees -- I guess the relaxation of the players when they do have their kids around.

KARP (on camera): Before he was an MVP, Bonds was a ballpark kid in San Francisco, too. Then his dad, Bobby, and his godfather Willie Mays, had to work around the rules to get him on the field.

(voice-over): Now Bonds is the dad stealing time with his son. Now he understands who's benefiting most.

BONDS: It makes it more -- probably more special to me than it does to him. When my dad played, we weren't allowed to go on the field as bat boys at the time. You had to be a certain age, and we weren't really allowed to practice on the field with the team.

SHAWON DUNSTON, PLAYING FOR 6TH MLB TEAM: Years ago, Barry used to do this running around, kicking everything, and messing with people. And now he's the greatest player in the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some day somebody might look back and say, hey, that's the same kid, now he's in the all-star game or Hall of Fame or just in the big leagues.

KARP: And even if this year's little bat boy doesn't turn into the next home run king, his dad will always remember this post-season because of the tense moments and the tender ones, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARP: As it stands right now, Major League Baseball doesn't have its own rules regarding how kids can be in the dugout, where they can be on the field during a game. Each team is making up its own rules and that's how it stands right now, Heidi.

But Dusty Baker gave the impression, after his discussion with the executive vice president for baseball operations, Sandy Olson (ph), that there's a very good chance that baseball will revisit this issue when they have their winter meetings. And it's really been a hot topic, Heidi, here, talking about whether it's a cute incident, whether it's a dangerous one and how these kids should be handled the rest of the way out.

But as you heard, the kids are going to be allowed in the Giants' dugout tonight and tomorrow, according to Dusty Baker.

COLLINS: Yeah, when you look at it, he's just so cute but he's so tiny that he really could have gotten hurt. Maybe they'll put an age limit on it or something like that. Who knows.

KARP: Well, he definitely had a guardian angel on that plate. And if you look across the dugouts, the Angels themselves, they have a policy that you have to be at least 18 years old to work as a clubhouse guy or a bat boy. So you can see there are differences even in this World Series as there are throughout Major League Baseball, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Josie Karp, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 26, 2002 - 13:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: About six hours from now, they will be starting game six of the World Series, a must win for the Anaheim Angels. But a lot of talk has been happening, has been going on about something that happened Thursday in game five with the sport's youngest bat boy. Josie Karp with CNN sports joins us now from Anaheim. Hi, Josie.
JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. You know, it would take a lot to upstage Barry Bonds in this series. The slugger has six hits in 12 at-bats, three of them have been for home runs. But in game five, somebody did finally figure out how to upstage the Giants' Barry Bonds. It was a toddler who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): After this game five close call at the plate involving his 3 1/2-year-old son and Giants bat boy Darren, Dusty Baker got an earful. The Giants manager heard it first from his mother, and then from a Major League Baseball executive.

DUSTY BAKER, GIANTS MANAGER: I'm sure it won't happen again. I got a call from Sandy Olson (ph) today. You know, he's not going to prohibit it. But he still told me to watch out. I am just hoping that this doesn't -- you know, that they don't come up with some rule that prohibits kids from being in the dugout and being able to do these things.

J.T. SNOW, GIANTS FIRST BASEMAN: I just reached behind me, and luckily grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up. His eyes were huge. I don't think he knew what was going on.

KARP: With a promise from Baker that his son will stay out of harm's way, Darren will be back in the dugout for game six, doing the job he clamored for all season.

BAKER: I told him he could do it when he was 5 and he kept bugging me every day. And then I said, OK, when you are 4, and then he asked me every day, is he 4 yet? So finally I just said, I'll try it one day and we'll see how it goes for a couple of innings.

REGGIE SANDERS, GIANTS: The bat's bigger than he is, you know, running across the field takes about five minutes for him to get everything, and run back over.

KARP: Baker picked up his family first policy during eight years playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers, then implemented it when he took over the Giants in 1993. Every player, even the game's greatest hitter, is welcome to bring his son to work and meet him at home.

BARRY BONDS, GIANTS: The Giants' organization is just one organization that is a family-orientated organization that allows the kids to participate. And Dusty is a manager that sees -- I guess the relaxation of the players when they do have their kids around.

KARP (on camera): Before he was an MVP, Bonds was a ballpark kid in San Francisco, too. Then his dad, Bobby, and his godfather Willie Mays, had to work around the rules to get him on the field.

(voice-over): Now Bonds is the dad stealing time with his son. Now he understands who's benefiting most.

BONDS: It makes it more -- probably more special to me than it does to him. When my dad played, we weren't allowed to go on the field as bat boys at the time. You had to be a certain age, and we weren't really allowed to practice on the field with the team.

SHAWON DUNSTON, PLAYING FOR 6TH MLB TEAM: Years ago, Barry used to do this running around, kicking everything, and messing with people. And now he's the greatest player in the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some day somebody might look back and say, hey, that's the same kid, now he's in the all-star game or Hall of Fame or just in the big leagues.

KARP: And even if this year's little bat boy doesn't turn into the next home run king, his dad will always remember this post-season because of the tense moments and the tender ones, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARP: As it stands right now, Major League Baseball doesn't have its own rules regarding how kids can be in the dugout, where they can be on the field during a game. Each team is making up its own rules and that's how it stands right now, Heidi.

But Dusty Baker gave the impression, after his discussion with the executive vice president for baseball operations, Sandy Olson (ph), that there's a very good chance that baseball will revisit this issue when they have their winter meetings. And it's really been a hot topic, Heidi, here, talking about whether it's a cute incident, whether it's a dangerous one and how these kids should be handled the rest of the way out.

But as you heard, the kids are going to be allowed in the Giants' dugout tonight and tomorrow, according to Dusty Baker.

COLLINS: Yeah, when you look at it, he's just so cute but he's so tiny that he really could have gotten hurt. Maybe they'll put an age limit on it or something like that. Who knows.

KARP: Well, he definitely had a guardian angel on that plate. And if you look across the dugouts, the Angels themselves, they have a policy that you have to be at least 18 years old to work as a clubhouse guy or a bat boy. So you can see there are differences even in this World Series as there are throughout Major League Baseball, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Josie Karp, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com