Let’s tell you a Hollywood tale about a woman that works with severely handicapped children at Betsy Ross School. This woman, being something of a pro with the needle and thread herself, spends her nights and weekends during the summer keeping the local baseball team from falling apart with her magic mending skills.

(We recommend the whole photo gallery; we hope Sam Zell counts each picture as a thousand words)

Eventually, all the teams in the league come to her for their special needs: commemorative patches, difficult mending jobs, a quick uniform re-design on the road. When the team wins the World Series, she gets a ring for her troubles.

That’s a story that can only happen in L.A., right? According to Arte Moreno, that’s true enough. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim employ just such a woman. Meet Erica Ford.

We’re suckers for backstage stories like Erica’s. (See?) She’s done the home team’s laundry and mends for both sides for 11 years. She’s indeed tireless (especially considering the job starts at 3 am) and meticulous. But don’t ask her to work hockey games anymore: “”They smell worse,” Ford said, referring to the uniforms. “Hockey’s awful.”"