Learn a few laundry secrets from the baseball pros — the clubhouse staffers who wash MLB uniforms

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — From the pinstripes of New York all the way to the Dodger blues of Los Angeles, there is a strong connection among the clubhouse staffers who wash the dirt-caked, hard-worn uniforms of the major leagues.

Just like the players who wear the jerseys.

“The clubhouse community is really close,” says Riley Halpin, 29, a clubhouse attendant for the San Francisco Giants.

“There's not a guy in the league I don't think that I can't call with a laundry question that won't answer it,” says Kiere Bulls, a home clubhouse manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On the eve of another season — as players throw their spring training apparel into hampers on wheels in Arizona and Florida — here is a closer look how laundry is done in the major leagues, along with a few tips for your own dirty uniforms — and other items — at home:

TEAM: Chicago White Sox

LAUNDERER: Rob Warren, clubhouse manager

TIP: Dirt on uniforms is more difficult to get out than grass stains. When it comes to the biggest laundry challenges, he preaches patience. “We'll throw it in, and then usually check it again,” he says. “We'll run it through once and then after that first load is when we kind of do the scrubbing and spraying.”

QUOTABLE: “So we'll get the first load started within 15, 20 minutes after the end of a game,” Warren says. “Basically as soon as we have enough to start a load, we'll start a load. Things will change that time. Sometimes a win is quicker or shorter, or you know, getaway day, hopefully quicker.”

TEAM: Cleveland Guardians

LAUNDERER: Sam Hindes, home clubhouse supervisor

TIP: Soaking is important. When it comes to tough stains, sometimes they let the uniforms soak overnight in a mixture of detergent and other products. "Then a big thing that works is a lot of people don't know that pressure, like not necessarily a pressure washer, but the higher the pressure on the water, the better it gets stains out,” he says. “I never really knew that until I started doing the uniforms.”

QUOTABLE: Hindes says position players usually have the dirtiest uniforms — one in particular. “José Ramírez is one that you always know is going to come back that night and it's going to need some work on it,” Hindes says. “He has pine tar on his jersey and he's always out there, he's a grinder. He steals bases. He's always diving all over the place. He plays his heart out.”

TEAM: New York Yankees

LAUNDERER: Lou Cucuzza Jr., director of clubhouse operations

LAUNDRY TIP: It's all about “pretreating” and letting the pretreat treatment soak in for a while. “So if you've got something dirty and you're pretreating it, don't throw it right into the machine because that pretreat's just going to get washed away. You want that pretreat really to soak up that stain and separate the fibers of the uniform or apparel, whatever you're wearing.”

QUOTABLE: The clay that surrounds the field differs around the majors, presenting a unique challenge “So we could come off the road or I'll get a team off the road that played, let's say, in Baltimore. They have a tough clay or Boston, their clay is very different than the clay at Yankee Stadium,” Cucuzza says. “The clay at Yankee Stadium, I have no problem getting visiting uniforms clean. It's really quick. Sometimes I'll get a team, maybe from Baltimore, and it's like, wow, that's a tough red clay. It's a little hard getting out so it may have to go through two washes to get it out.”

TEAM: Philadelphia Phillies

LAUNDERER: Sean Bowers, home clubhouse assistant

TIP: Using the right chemicals is crucial. Some of the laundry chemicals in big league clubhouses aren't widely available, but Bowers says he likes Goof Off for pine tar stains and detergents with protein release for dirt-related issues.

QUOTABLE: “When the field gets painted, getting the paint out is really tough. Just a regular grass stain I can get out fairly easily. But the paint, especially around opening day or after there's concerts and where the stage was, they have to take care of that part of the field. Those outfielders, it's really difficult to get that out.”

TEAM: Pittsburgh Pirates

LAUNDERER: Kiere Bulls, home clubhouse manager

TIP: For uniforms (and, presumably, anything else) caked with dirt, Bulls recommends spraying off as much of it as possible before it even goes into the laundry. He has some chemicals that he uses at the ballpark, but he likes OxiClean and Shout for dirt predicaments at home.

QUOTABLE: “There's a lot of times that if a player's real, real bad that it may have to get washed three times just to get the stains out. But the uniforms are hung dry. ... They don't go in the dryer. They just get washed and hung right outside the lockers.”

TEAM: San Francisco Giants

LAUNDERER: Riley Halpin, clubhouse attendant

TIP: Halpin says washing uniforms is “a trial-and-error process” much of the time. “Obviously when it comes to the at-home kind of washing, you don’t have these top-of-the-line chemicals that professional teams have,” he says. “So I would say just do a little bit of research. ... Find out what the top kind of brands people are using at the Walmarts and stuff like that. And go with it.”

QUOTABLE: Halpin says he gets to the ballpark around noon for a typical night game and leaves around 1 a.m. “It’s long days. But it’s kind of what you sign up for, you know, with this job. And it’s super cool just to obviously get to do what we get to do. So we all put up with it.”

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Baseball pants are sprinkled with Water Mark Protein Release Powder in a washing machine during San Francisco Giants baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin loads a washing machine during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin starts a clothes dryer in the laundry room during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Arturo Maya, right, and Riley Halpin, left, inspect and sort laundry in the San Francisco Giants laundry room during spring training baseball practice at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin gathers dirty clothes in the clubhouse after spring training baseball practice at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin gathers dirty clothes in the clubhouse after spring training baseball practice at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin removes stains from baseball pants in the laundry room sink during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Solutions to clean a variety of stains and pine tar are stored above the San Francisco Giants laundry room sink during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin removes stains from baseball pants in the laundry room sink during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin inspects pitcher Jordan Hicks' jersey before putting it in the washing machine during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin gathers dirty clothes in the clubhouse after spring training baseball practice at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin inspects baseball pants for stains and pine tar in the laundry room during baseball spring training at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

San Francisco Giants clubhouse attendant Riley Halpin gathers a mound of dirty clothes in the clubhouse after spring training baseball practice at the team's facility, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)