Major League Addiction (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781477463383)

My name is Leeronnie Ogletree I was born in Winter Haven, Florida in 1963. As a child I became a clubhouse boy for the Boston Red Sox during spring training. I later moved to Massachusetts where I continued working for the Red Sox. I now use the sharing of my journey as catharsis. As a father, I see in my four children the vulnerability and innocence stripped away from me at far too early an age. In Winter Haven, Florida, during the early seventies, I had an opportunity few ten year old boys or girls would pass up. I was hired to work in the clubhouse for the Boston Red Sox during their spring training season. My newfound status also provided me with an income, much more than my mother earned at the time. When, the man who hired me, Donald James Fitzpatrick, began to sexually abuse me I was trapped in a situation from which most adults would have difficulty extricating themselves. Fitzpatrick was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a lawsuit was filed on September 12, 2001 alleging he sexually abused me and six other young boys who worked in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse as children. That launched a journey of self knowledge. Having gained new found courage and self-respect as a result of telling my story, I began doing so publicly. At St. Petersburg, Florida's Tropicana Field during a game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays on September 10, 2011, I spent ninety minutes informing any and every person who came within earshot about Donald James Fitzpatrick and the harm he caused. Jerry Sandusky's November 2011 arrest and subsequent sexual abuse charges, gave my story renewed media attention. Given a wider audience, although some thirty years after the fact, I see my situation as an obligation to reveal my inside view of the ''America's Pastime.'' In so doing, I have encouraged others to come forward and present their experiences as well. Since the Sandusky scandal broke, I have been thrust into the national spotlight. Further abuse allegations against Fitzpatrick in Boston and Baltimore by former bat boys followed. Having recognized the importance to others of the need to unburden themselves, I view this autobiography ''Major League Addiction'' as the next leg in my journey of self-discovery. Telling what I have kept hidden for far too long provides others with a formula for relinquishing a burden that they should have no obligation to carry.