Jon Teig has served as bat boy for the Cedar Rapids Kernels since 2000.
During his time in the dugout, Jon-Jon (as he’s often referred) has retrieved the bats of 2013 World Series star Mike Napoli, All-Stars Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick and Mark Trumbo and even 2014 unanimous MVP Mike Trout.
But here’s the best part…next August, the team’s longtime bat boy, who is autistic, is getting his own bobblehead.
“[Teig] is a great guy. He always has a smile on his face and has fun being at the ball park,” Tanner Vavra, who played for the Kernels in 2014, told The Hall. “Jon-Jon is the type of person that finds the good in every situation and every person. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
The 27-year-old Teig has been a batboy for Cedar Rapids since he was 13-years-old. He makes $30 a game and has never asked for a raise.
“Jon-Jon is a good dude,” Trout, a Kernel in 2009, told the Orange County Register in 2012. “He was always cheering for us, no matter what the score was, and always with a smile, always there every night taking care of us.”
The August 7 bobblehead night isn’t the first time the Kernels have thought of the longtime fan-turned-bat boy when planning their team promotions. The ball club routinely holds Autism Awareness events and, in 2012, the team (including Teig) donned special jerseys and held a postgame auction to benefit the cause.
As a shock to no one, Teig was the highest bidder on his own jersey and was able to add it his growing collection of commemorative Kernels jerseys.
And next summer…he’ll be able to add a bobblehead.
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