Its every boys dream to make it to the major leagues. Very few men in their 30s hold on to that childhood dream Cam Booser is the exception.

Actually, the 31-year-old oft-injured Booser didnt really believe it would ever happen for him. Well, it did happen, and Greg Whiteleys (Cheer,AmericasSweethearts,LastChanceU) Netflix cameras were on hand to capture the behind-the-scenes moment, which The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively debut below. OK, technically it was a Red Sox minor league affiliates manager who shot the moment for The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox via a hidden cell phone, and it is arguably the sweetest scene in the eight-episode TV series. The inaugural season of The Clubhouse (premieres Tuesday, April 8 on Netflix) also goes to some dark places. Episode 4, Still Alive, directly tackles the issue of mental health. Whiteley told THR that while didnt anticipate that sort of emotional depth would come out of the project, in hindsight, hes not surprised.

Thats what we observed just being around them. Theres no other sport thats 162 games long in a single season and requires a consistent and relentless focus day in and day out the way that baseball does, Whiteley said. And then theres the amount of failure. As the clich goes, youre considered a Hall of Fame-caliber player if you only fail seven out of 10 times. So I think its a mental exercise to juggle the length of a season and how often you fail during that process. Mental health became an inevitable theme in this show for that reason.

Boosers failure to make it to the Show had little to do with ability it was his body that couldnt handle the grind. After a broken femur, a broken vertebrae and a torn elbow ligament requiring Tommy John surgery, Booser again broke his back while riding a bike. He was medically retired at the age of 25, trading in his glove for a carpenters square to install acoustic ceilings. But in 2021, while giving pitching lessons on the side to kids, the 63 southpaw suddenly found himself pain-free and able to throw 98 mph.

Today, though Booser is still in the League, hes bleached his socks the former Red Sox reliever now comes out of the Chicago White Sox bullpen. Witness the realization of Boosers lifelong (emphasis on long) dream here: The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox is produced by Whiteleys One Potato Productions, Boardwalk Pictures Inc. and MLB Studios. Though this isnt even Netflixs first Red Sox docuseries (The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox premiered in October), The Clubhouse marks the first time Major League Baseball has granted this level of access to outside cameras.

Whiteley said MLB approached him with the idea about four years ago, which places us firmly within the Cheer window and right around the debut of Last Chance U: Basketball. Unlike other professional-sports leagues, Whiteley said that Major League Baseball was willing to give us what we need to do a proper documentary in terms of editorial control and access.

We wound up meeting with a handful of teams and the one that was by far the most ready to do this was the Red Sox, Whiteley said. They had an enthusiasm for the project. They thought it could be good for baseball and good for their organization. After meeting with them, I thought, OK this could work. Its not worth it for me unless were getting the kind of access that we need to tell the kind of stories that we want to tell. They had us meet with the players and that was a very candid conversation. I explained what we wanted to do, and with a level of comfort established, we all agreed to move forward.