Longtime Chicago Cubs Clubhouse Manager Passes Away
A long-time Chicago Cubs employee passed away on Wednesday, as USA Today reported that Tom “Otis” Hellman died.
The Cubs did not officially announced Hellman’s passing.
Hellman was one of the behind-the-scenes employees that made the Cubs go every day. But Hellman worked for the Cubs for 40 seasons and spent 50 seasons in Major League Baseball.
Last winter, the Cubs named Hellman their home clubhouse manager emeritus, a promotion that recognized his 50 years in pro baseball.
Hellman began his tenure with the Cubs in 1983 when he was named Wrigley Field’s visiting clubhouse manager. In 2000 he transferred across the stadium to take over the home clubhouse.
Hellman had deep respect within the Cubs’ clubhouse and across baseball thanks to his work in both clubhouses.
In a 2023 piece in The Athletic, for example, writer Patrick Mooney related a story about pitcher Marcus Stromam who shouted out a group of Cubs staffers six minutes into his postgame press conference on Opening Day. That included Hellman.
“These people do not get enough credit, so I just want to say thank you to all of them,” Stroman said. “I think we have an incredible family dynamic here, and they do so much behind the scenes that allow us to go out there and perform freely.”
Back in 2010, ESPN did a piece on the renovation of the Cubs’ home clubhouse, which included the installation of a new kitchen. The piece revealed that before the renovation Hellman was the team’s head chef. The piece described the Cubs as a “scrambled eggs and bacon outfit” before the renovation, and then-manager Lou Piniella joked that Hellman should be wearing “chef’s gear” in the new kitchen.
In 2016, the Cubs did more renovations on the clubhouse. In a piece in the Chicago Tribune, it noted that the expansion of that clubhouse brought the total square footage to 30,000. The Tribune described Hellman as “The consigliere of the clubhouse.” At the time, he was in his 33rd year with the Cubs and the article noted that he replaced Yosh Kawano, another Cubs legend, as the home clubhouse attendant.
He was asked about the changes from the old clubhouse to the new clubhouse. His response highlights just how long he had been with the Cubs.
"The difference? I was there when we went from no lights to lights," Hellman said, referring to the Cubs' submission to night baseball at Wrigley Field on Aug. 8, 1988. "Let's put it that way."
Among his duties was to assign lockers to Cubs players in the clubhouse, meaning he had the power to help solidify team chemistry in ways. When the new clubhouse opened in 2016, he relented and allowed the veterans to choose their lockers.
