INDIANAPOLIS — Bob Martin has worked at Victory Field since 1997 and took over as the Indians clubhouse manager in 2005. Since then, he's made an effort to collect as many game-used bats as possible from home and away players that have stopped at Victory Field. The bats line the walls in both the home and away clubhouses.
"Once they're up, they're up," Martin said. "We're going to keep filling up these walls as far as I can go. As long as I'm here, we're going to keep doing it."
The home clubhouse features bats from big-league stars like Andrew McCutchen, Adam Frazier and Josh Bell. Martin is the creator and curator of this unique museum.
"Almost everybody that comes in, they all go through the bats," Martin said. "Everybody stands here for a good 5 to 10 minutes and looks."
But some of the biggest names, have come through as visitors.
"Aaron Boone the manager of the Yankees, Jay Bruce, a Cincinnati Red," said Martin, pointing out the bats on the wall. "Joey Votto, another Red, and Joe Mauer."
He said he started hanging them around the clubhouses to fill some empty space.
"We've got a lot of tan walls around here," Martin said. "Talking to my brother, we needed to put something up."
The job that gets tougher every year, finding more space.