The Batboy Character Analysis

The main character in the book The Batboy by Mike Lupica is Brian Dudley. Brian tries to solve a big problem with one of the players on the Detroit Tigers, Hank Bishop. Brian knows more about baseball than most MLB players. He tries to get Hank Bishop to be a good hitter again. Hank started going through a slump and almost nobody believed in him. He struck out or grounded out almost every time. Brian helped him get out of his slump and get to his 500 home runs. Brian had three big character traits, nervous, respectful, and helpful. His character traits affected him by making him who he is and making him a great person. Nervous changed him because he needed to tell Hank what was wrong with his swing but he waited a long time.

Brian is a nervous boy in the beginning. When he got the job as a batboy he was nervous to do anything because he thought he would mess up. He also wouldn’t talk to anybody except the other batboy and the owner. He was afraid that one of the players wouldn’t like something that he said. Brian was also nervous to tell Hank Bishop what was wrong with his swing. Brian knew exactly what was wrong but

he waited until the last home series to tell him. He really helped him get to 500 home runs though. I think that it might not be a good thing for some people that he can help.

Brian is very respectful to everybody that he is around. He even influenced some of the players and the manager to be more respectful. When the owner or a player asks him to do something he says “yes sir” and does it immediately. He doesn’t waste time because he thinks it could get him fired if he takes too long. Whenever Hank Bishop came to Brian’s house after a game Brian treated Hank like he was his dad. He showed Hank around, walked him to his car and even helped Hank move some things around. I think that Brian is more respectful than most kids his age and he will stay like that.

Brian is very helpful throughout the whole book.

He says that he has to-do list every game of what to put out, when to put it out, and where to put it. He puts out gum, sugar free gum, Big League Chew, bats, helmets, and towels. He does that every game and makes sure it is exactly where it’s supposed to be. Brian helped Hank Bishop get out of his very bad slump. Hank was nearing 500 home runs near the end of the season, he had 499. He kept striking out so Brian told him what was wrong. Whenever Hank came over to Brian’s house Brian waited until the end and took him to his room and showed him what was wrong with his swing. Brian said “You need to lower your hand a little, you have them too high up”. They went to the nearby baseball field and fixed it that night. Hank did that their last home game of the season and hit his 500th home

run.
It is important that the author made Brian that way because if he didn’t then Brian wouldn’t have been a batboy and never would’ve helped Hank Bishop. If he wouldn’t have helped Hank the Hank never would have gotten 500 home runs and wouldn’t have made it into the Hall of Fame. If Brian wouldn’t have known a lot about baseball then his travel team wouldn’t have made it to the state finals. If you are ever a batboy then you should not be nervous like Brian if you want to tell a player how to fix their swing. You should be helpful and respectful like Brian all of the time. On the baseball field or at home.