Many children who are fans of baseball dream of being bat boys, but for one William & Mary graduate, that dream has become a reality — sort of. Liam Holland, who graduated from W&M in December, and his childhood friend Eric Shellhouse, a recent James Madison University graduate, may not be retrieving bats, but as social influencers called the Bat Boys, they’re retrieving anecdotes from players to share with followers and subscribers. The pair has over 120,000 subscribers on YouTube, close to 400,000 followers on TikTok, and their videos regularly get hundreds of thousands of views. And their numbers keep growing. They interview players with a loose and fun tone on topics ranging from what the players like to eat before games to their takes on music. It’s clear from the videos that developing relationships with players and focusing on their more human sides — rather than statistics — is what the Bat Boys are all about. “We’re just dedicated to sharing the cultures and personality of all baseball players,” Holland said in an interview with The Virginia Gazette. The guys behind Bat Boys Baseball — @batboysbaseball on social media platforms — say their content is unique. “Most of the interviews that fans are used to seeing is with the players after the game and they’re talking to them about their performance in the game,” Shellhouse said. “We’re just trying to take a completely unique approach and ask them questions about their personality and culture and stuff rather than their performances in the games or how the team is playing.” The childhood friends, who grew up playing baseball together, said they each have their own strengths. “I’ve always been passionate about applying what I’ve learned through that major to baseball, because baseball’s such an international sport,” said Holland, who graduated with a degree in international relations. “How different we are is a huge strength of ours,” he added. “I’ve always been more passionate about, like, culture, music, fashion, chains, stuff like that. I also speak Spanish and I’m really passionate about learning about Latino culture.” Shellhouse, who majored in journalism and is more interested in numbers, stats, streaks and game day rituals, said the pair works well with each other to develop ideas. “If one of us isn’t rocking with the other person’s idea,” he said, “we’re brutally honest about it.” The two started the page in spring 2020 during their senior year of high school after they lost their last season of baseball to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, they would do skits, challenges, hit random things with baseball bats, “the most random stuff you could think of,” Holland said. By the summer of 2021, when stadiums were opening back up, they started going to minor league games. “From there, we worked hard doing minor league interviews and kind of built up enough of a resume,” Holland said. They ended up getting media credentials for more official interviews the following summer. “Then the Fredericksburg Nationals, who’s the low A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, helped us get in touch with the director of communications for the Washington Nationals, and that was our first in to the MLB interviews. And from there it’s been a gradual process of building connections and trying to get media credentials wherever we can.” Along the way, as they covered more sporting events, Holland and Shellhouse found themselves in a hotel room learning from Mike Tyson that he felt if he were in his prime, it’s possible that he could take a tiger in a fight — a question any honest “Hangover” movie fan would be glad to have answered. The guys stress that they are very thankful to their followers for making it possible for them to do — and make a living at — something so enjoyable. “We’re so grateful to have these opportunities,” Holland added. “It means the world that all these people are following us now and support what we do, because when we started, we didn’t know if people would like it.” Coming up, the duo plans to go to even more events and bring more long-form content to their viewers. But for now, they’ll just continue living their dream. “To get to connect with the players and develop relationships with them, and then watch them go out and succeed on the field,” Shellhouse said, “is the coolest thing ever.” Sam Schaffer, [email protected]
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