John Holland was in high school when he landed his first job with the Atlanta Braves. As a teen, he was cut from his baseball team, but as a lifelong fan, he remained determined to keep baseball in his life somehow. 

As fate would have it, a friend’s dad owned a diner in Atlanta’s Little Five Points, and the driver for the laundry company responsible for cleaning the Braves’ then-wool uniforms brought word that the Braves were looking for bat boys. The diner owner’s older son got the job first, but when he left for college that September, Holland and his friend stepped in to finish the season. The next spring, Holland applied and landed the job for good. It was the beginning of a 52-year career with the organization that ultimately resulted in him becoming the Director of Equipment and Clubhouse Services, a position from which he retired in 2020. 

In November, Holland will be inducted into the second class of the MLB Clubhouse Managers Association Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He’s being recognized for his commitment to the game, the Braves organization, and the various roles he held dear for more than five decades. But he’s also inadvertently being recognized for his impeccable Southern hospitality, especially when the guests of honor are the other team. 

When Holland recalls his responsibilities for the Braves, he speaks with reverence, proudly explaining that even the most lowly tasks were special. During his 35-year stint as the Visiting Clubhouse Manager, Holland’s tasks included setting up the locker room for the visitors, making sure their equipment arrived and was ready, and even grocery shopping for the Braves’ opponents. “I’d end up with two full grocery carts, and I could spend up to a thousand dollars a day,” he says. He remembers when his now-adult daughter, Lolly, was asked by her kindergarten teacher what her dad did for a living; she proudly retorted that he cooked for the Braves. 

And to be fair to her, he did cook. Baseball cities throughout the country are known for certain foods. In Philly, teams expect cheesesteaks. In Milwaukee, there’s a specific bratwurst the players look forward to. So for Atlanta, Holland wanted to give the guests a taste of the South. His go-to menu item was his mother’s banana pudding. “I’d make it, and they would go crazy for it,” he laughs. Guys came to expect that banana pudding on their game-day menu. 

Of course, players would often have their own requests, and Holland made a rule for himself early on: Never say no. “You don’t just say no because that’s so off-putting. Instead, you say, ‘I’ll try to do what I can.’ Even if you know that you probably can’t get it done, you can at least try, and that’s what they appreciate,” he says. The philosophy served him well, and it became a big part of knowing and understanding his guests and what to expect from them. 

He found that each visiting team had a personality that hardly, if ever, changed over the years. New York brought big entourages, heavy press, and pressure, while St. Louis, for example, was more laid-back. Holland compares the job to event planning. “It was like a three-day event that you had to plan for every three or four days,” he says. 

No matter how big the rival and how much competition there was on the field and in the stands, Holland’s hospitality never wavered. “Why do we want to antagonize players if later on they may be free agents that want to come to Atlanta?” Maintaining a welcoming, helpful environment wasn’t just a Southern kindness; it was good for the Braves as a whole.

It turns out, preparing a baseball clubhouse isn’t all too different from getting a home guest ready. Learn what your guests like, anticipate what they’ll need, and make them comfortable…even the ones you’d rather not root for. 

That attitude is likely one of the many reasons Holland was voted in. When the committee called with the news, he thanked them just for considering him. “I appreciate it, and it shows one thing,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t think I made too many people mad in the game.” 

Read the original article on Southern Living