Clubhouse attendant makes ballplayers more comfortable

It’s all part of his job as the visiting team clubhouse attendant for Frederick Keys.

The Keys will play Lynchburg this night and the game will start at 7 p.m. The players will be long gone by the time the 65-year-old Buckingham finishes up his work.

“It’s not a hard job, but a long job,” said Buckingham, who has been the visiting clubhouse attendant since 2006. He began working for the Keys in 2001 as an assistant clubhouse attendant.

Buckingham taught sixth grade for 30 years, 12 at South Frederick Elementary school and 18 at West Frederick Middle School. He compares what he does now to that.

“They are like grown-up sixth-graders, I still get to watch over them, still get to clean up after them,” he said.

But he added he enjoys the job.

“He is very reliable and it was an easy transition for him because he’s used to being around young people,” said Branden McGee, the Keys assistant general manager and Buckingham’s immediate boss. “It’s a great job for someone that is retired and wants to be around the game.”

“Wayne is very respected in the (Carolina) league by the visiting teams,” Keys General Manager Dave Ziedelis said. “He is very accommodating, assists the umpires and has a very good demeanor.”

Buckingham took the job when he retired from teaching at 52.

“I had 30 years of teaching in and wanted to leave while I still enjoyed it,” he said.

But he wanted to stay active in someway. He liked baseball and went to a Keys job fair. He was looking for a job that would allow him to be around the players.

At the time the Keys needed an assistant clubhouse attendant to help longtime home clubhouse attendant, the late George Bell.

“The first thing he asked me was, ‘How old are you?’” Buckingham recalled. “He said he didn’t want any young bucks.”

He came in for an interview and was hired.

Bell retired in 2008, but Buckingham said he wasn’t interested in that job because it was full-time. He likes the idea of working 70 home games a year. Aaron Boone is now the home clubhouse attendant.

Most of Buckingham’s time is spent around the visiting players. He rarely gets to know the Keys.

“Most of the players are easy to deal with,” he said. “It’s neat to see the camaraderie among them,” he said. “It’s also like teaching because of all of the different personalities.”

Most of the time it’s a quiet job. But he does remember once when a pitcher was quite upset after getting taken out of the game.

“He came in here and threw his glove and his hat and turned a table over,” he said. “He took a stool and threw it against the locker. Then after a few minutes he said he would clean it up and he did.”

The Lynchburg team involved a little more work for Buckingham because it is the only team that has a meal before batting practice, after batting practice and after the game. Most teams don’t have the first meal.

On this particular day he had a variety of fruit on the table by 2 p.m. The meal after batting practice is usually cold cuts or chicken or tuna salad. Peanut butter and jelly, which he called a staple, is also available.

He usually prepares something early for the coaches, managers and umpires to make sure there is food left from them.

The players pay $8 each for the food and the money comes out of dues they get from their club.

He also helps make sure the batting practice and game uniforms are washed and dried. He has to take the dirty uniforms over the to the home clubhouse because there is no folding machine in the visitors’ clubhouse.