kid culture.
BALL BOY: KELLY ERWIN/ TEXAS AIRHOGS BASEBALL; SPORTS ICON: NOUN PROJECT
As a bat boy for the Texas AirHogs, Noah Barton organized equipment, among other tasks, before enjoying games.
WORK WITH THE PROS
the perks of being a ball kid WORDS RUDY KLANCNIK
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HILE HIS BUDDIES WERE TOILING AWAY busing tables, bagging groceries and flipping burgers, Noah Barton was talking about how to hit a curveball with a professional baseball player. And he was getting paid to do it. “I couldn’t believe it when I found out I had gotten the job as bat boy for the [Texas] AirHogs,” says the 15-year-old Mansfield freshman. “For a first job, I couldn’t have found a better one. And the experience really taught me a lot about how to put in a hard day at work and enjoy it at the same time. It was very fulfilling.” Like a select group of youngsters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Noah found his peek into the professional sports world to be eye-opening—and definitely never boring. Noah’s day at the park usually started two hours before first pitch and included filling water jugs, dfwchild.com / march 2020
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