Unseen forces: Visiting clubhouse manager — Travis Wong

EUGENE, Ore. — He was an athlete, he knows the grind. Still, 34,000 steps is a lot for anyone — especially a former customer service specialist from Portland.

Picture him. 5-foot-10 rolling into PK Park, the morning as black as night, his old gray station wagon stirring the silence hours before anyone else will be at the field.

Know him. An unseen force, the days blending together, his day long, his bones achy.

Recognize him. Lauded by few, yet all who know him. Without him, the whole show would go for naught.

See him. Amid a 16-hour day, one of his longer breaks — the occasionally five-minute top of the first inning — could potentially be interrupted by a player forgetting a batting glove or a sleeve.

Travis Wong would prefer you not.

He doesn’t need the attention — drawn mostly from him winning the Visiting Clubhouse Attendant Award last year. He doesn’t need popularity, players and coaches knowing him is enough.

He operates mostly in silence — the only part of his job he wishes people to remember is the fact that he is “the guy who keeps the team's uniforms clean.”

He does the job. But for Wong, “it’s never work.”

Travis Wong knows the grind, he revels in it. He’s a simple man. After work, he’ll go work on his music projects or play MLB The Show.

He operates in silence, but he isn’t unnoticed.

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The job was never on his radar. His path to it, however, was simple: he saw the application online and applied. And now, his workday starts at 6:00 a.m.

Given the nature of the job, his laundry cycle begins at six. Taking four hours from the first load in the washer to the last clothes hung and placed in a locker.

Then, it’s miscellaneous deeds time.

Mail runs. Fixing equipment. And of course, the occasional errand with the players.

“They are in a new city, and what’s the alternative? Uber? That isn’t cheap,” Wong said on one of those elusive off-days.

There’s also the impact of sharing a facility with the Oregon Ducks — on the day of this interview, the Ducks didn’t send Wong their practice schedule, meaning he isn’t sure when his fieldwork will take place.

He does his best to balance the shared facility. He controls what he can — making the lives of his players as easy as possible.

“These guys are always on the road. I want to make it seem as much like home as I can,” Wong said.

Wong says there’s a respect factor that takes place between the player and “clubbie” — each a professional going about their job the best they can.

But also: “I was an athlete. I want to stay out of these guys' way and let them do the work they can. We see in the major leagues, those guys have job security — in the minors they don’t.”

One bad game, one off-day, and their jobs are in jeopardy. Wong knows the feeling.

“I can’t really have a bad day,” Wong said. “If I get sick, I’ve got to be able to push through.”

He’s adopted some tricks with experience, folding laundry in different ways, managing the player's name tags, and doing his best to stay out of the office on the rare off-weeks are among the most significant.

Still, there’s the ever-present uncertainties that make his job “interesting.”

“You never know what could happen,” Wong said. “They get sent down, they get called up, they get traded… and then they are here.”

He loves the grind though, even playing MLB The Show on his days off. And can he see himself doing anything else? Maybe “like retiring if I win the lottery.”

After running around and managing things for the players, he goes back and moves equipment and such — readying himself for the game, laundry-loop organization and the post-game work that awaits.

At 10:30 he goes home, rinse and repeat…66 games a year.

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He didn’t know if he’d make it. In more ways than one.

His first A in college — where he was a “terrible student,” was in a How to Study Properly and Time Management class. Yes, he understands the irony.

Being a good clubbie, he says, is simple. “It’s time management. If you're not prepared, and you can’t manage your time, you’re sunk.” — something he learned hours into the job.

“[General Manager] Allan Benavides and [Assistant General Manager] Chris Bowers saw me two days in and said ‘I don’t think Travis is gonna make it’,” Wong said. “They were right to think that, but something clicked on the third day and I’ve found a groove.”

The consensus would agree, the award he received was the first time it had been awarded to a rookie clubbie.

Now that he’s more than a year settled in, the reward for Wong is enormous. The players and coaches — the few groups of people that do see him every day share their thanks.

“Shout out to Listher Sosa of the Hillsboro Hops,” Wong said. “Every day he asked me about how I’m doing and how my family is doing. He doesn’t even know my family!”

He knows the grind has its toll on his body — the calluses, bumps and bruises on his arms and legs represent that of a ballplayer. Still, Wong loves it. The connections and reward the work comes with is worth all of his labor.

“I’ve never had a job like this. Yes there are sacrifices, but I never consider it work and love it every day.”