SAN ANTONIO — ‘Homerun!’ You know the call if you’ve been to a San Antonio Missions Baseball game in recent summers.
"They actually hear from third base and first base," said Cruz Mendiola.
He’s been working the lower level concourse for six years with a voice that is hard to miss.
"Everybody’s a winner here," he bellows, adding that fans can even hear him from the parking lot. And he’s right! I did.
Minor league fans can pay two dollars to spin the big wheel, and that’s the best part. Fans of all ages win no matter where the wheel stops, single, double, triple, homerun or out.
"All the fans wanna know where it is coming from, and they finally figure out where it is at, and they just keep coming over and over and over," said Mendiola. And why not? As he mentioned, everybody is a winner.
"I need a slugger!" he yells to fans walking by.
"Just one day they asked me if I wanted to do it. I just like the fans. I like the enjoyment. I just like having a good time," he said.
Cruz said his booth stays open before, during and even after the games. He told us repeat customers are always the case once they discover the fun to be had, and that makes it all worth the effort.
"Making kids happy makes me real happy. They’re having a great time, and they’re here to enjoy themselves," said Cruz.
Nothing is more family fun, or friendly, than baseball, and that’s what Cruz loves about his summer job.
"I see the crowd coming back over and over, and the young kids are the ones that make it," he said.