SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — From the pinstripes of New York all the way to the Dodger blues of Los Angeles, there is a strong connection among the clubhouse staffers who wash the dirt-caked, hard-worn uniforms of the major leagues.
Just like the players who wear the jerseys.
“The clubhouse community is really close,” says Riley Halpin, 29, a clubhouse attendant for the San Francisco Giants.
“There's not a guy in the league I don't think that I can't call with a laundry question that won't answer it,” says Kiere Bulls, a home clubhouse manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
On the eve of another season — as players throw their spring training apparel into hampers on wheels in Arizona and Florida — here is a closer look how laundry is done in the major leagues, along with a few tips for your own dirty uniforms — and other items — at home:
Dirt is worse than grass stains
TEAM: Chicago White Sox
LAUNDERER: Rob Warren, clubhouse manager
TIP: Dirt on uniforms is more difficult to get out than grass stains. When it comes to the biggest laundry challenges, he preaches patience. “We'll throw it in, and then usually check it again,” he says. “We'll run it through once and then after that first load is when we kind of do the scrubbing and spraying.”
QUOTABLE: “So we'll get the first load started within 15, 20 minutes after the end of a game,” Warren says. “Basically as soon as we have enough to start a load, we'll start a load. Things will change that time. Sometimes a win is quicker or shorter, or you know, getaway day, hopefully quicker.”
First, soak it
TEAM: Cleveland Guardians
LAUNDERER: Sam Hindes, home clubhouse supervisor
TIP: Soaking is important. When it comes to tough stains, sometimes they let the uniforms soak overnight in a mixture of detergent and other products. "Then a big thing that works is a lot of people don't know that pressure, like not necessarily a pressure washer, but the higher the pressure on the water, the better it gets stains out,” he says. “I never really knew that until I started doing the uniforms.”
QUOTABLE: Hindes says position players usually have the dirtiest uniforms — one in particular. “José Ramírez is one that you always know is going to come back that night and it's going to need some work on it,” Hindes says. “He has pine tar on his jersey and he's always out there, he's a grinder. He steals bases. He's always diving all over the place. He plays his heart out.”
Let that ‘pretreat’ sit for a bit
TEAM: New York Yankees
LAUNDERER: Lou Cucuzza Jr., director of clubhouse operations
LAUNDRY TIP: It's all about “pretreating” and letting the pretreat treatment soak in for a while. “So if you've got something dirty and you're pretreating it, don't throw it right into the machine because that pretreat's just going to get washed away. You want that pretreat really to soak up that stain and separate the fibers of the uniform or apparel, whatever you're wearing.”
QUOTABLE: The clay that surrounds the field differs around the majors, presenting a unique challenge “So we could come off the road or I'll get a team off the road that played, let's say, in Baltimore. They have a tough clay or Boston, their clay is very different than the clay at Yankee Stadium,” Cucuzza says. “The clay at Yankee Stadium, I have no problem getting visiting uniforms clean. It's really quick. Sometimes I'll get a team, maybe from Baltimore, and it's like, wow, that's a tough red clay. It's a little hard getting out so it may have to go through two washes to get it out.”
Make sure you're using the right solutions
TEAM: Philadelphia Phillies
LAUNDERER: Sean Bowers, home clubhouse assistant
TIP: Using the right chemicals is crucial. Some of the laundry chemicals in big league clubhouses aren't widely available, but Bowers says he likes Goof Off for pine tar stains and detergents with protein release for dirt-related issues.
QUOTABLE: “When the field gets painted, getting the paint out is really tough. Just a regular grass stain I can get out fairly easily. But the paint, especially around opening day or after there's concerts and where the stage was, they have to take care of that part of the field. Those outfielders, it's really difficult to get that out.”
Spray, spray and spray again
TEAM: Pittsburgh Pirates
LAUNDERER: Kiere Bulls, home clubhouse manager
TIP: For uniforms (and, presumably, anything else) caked with dirt, Bulls recommends spraying off as much of it as possible before it even goes into the laundry. He has some chemicals that he uses at the ballpark, but he likes OxiClean and Shout for dirt predicaments at home.
QUOTABLE: “There's a lot of times that if a player's real, real bad that it may have to get washed three times just to get the stains out. But the uniforms are hung dry. ... They don't go in the dryer. They just get washed and hung right outside the lockers.”
If at first you don't succeed ...
TEAM: San Francisco Giants
LAUNDERER: Riley Halpin, clubhouse attendant
TIP: Halpin says washing uniforms is “a trial-and-error process” much of the time. “Obviously when it comes to the at-home kind of washing, you don’t have these top-of-the-line chemicals that professional teams have,” he says. “So I would say just do a little bit of research. ... Find out what the top kind of brands people are using at the Walmarts and stuff like that. And go with it.”
QUOTABLE: Halpin says he gets to the ballpark around noon for a typical night game and leaves around 1 a.m. “It’s long days. But it’s kind of what you sign up for, you know, with this job. And it’s super cool just to obviously get to do what we get to do. So we all put up with it.”
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