Video: JPRaineri/Kitty Alvarado

Phyllis Werner and her husband bought the very first season tickets to The Diamond, the baseball stadium the Lake Elsinore Storm baseball team calls home. Phyllis never imagined she’d soon lose her husband and would be sharing her home with Storm players, but that’s exactly how her life played out.

Phyllis didn’t set out to use her Wildomar home as a home away from home for out-of-town minor league baseball players. In fact, she first said no when she was approached by the newly formed Lake Elsinore Storm Booster Club, feeling it was too soon after her husband’s death. However, after the initial refusal she received a desperate phone call from a friend in charge of housing for the club. The friend gave Phyllis a nudge, reminding her that she had a big home with a few extra bedrooms and the players were coming soon with nowhere to stay.

"Well, why not," Phyllis remembers responding.

Currently Phyllis has two players staying at her home. One of them, Nick Schmidt, who lives in Arkansas, has been staying with "Miss Phyllis," as he affectionately calls her, for almost two months now. He says living in a one room studio apartment is not fun and staying with Phyllis is just like home. He says she’s a great cook and she does a lot for them. He says he tries to help out around the house because he’s not used to just letting people "do stuff" for him, but Phyllis doesn’t let him help much.

"She has a beautiful home, she’s a beautiful lady. If you need something, she’ll help you out any way she can and never complains," says Nick.

Nick has grown very fond of Phyllis in the short time he’s lived with her. He admires her generosity and selflessness.

"I don’t think Miss Phyllis has a mean side to her. She’s probably one of the most loving people I know."

His wife and son were visiting for a few days and also stayed at Phyllis’ home. Phyllis says she loves everything about hosting the players. She thinks of how much they miss their homes and families, so she tries to make them as comfortable as possible.

Of "Miss Phyllis," Mrs. Schmidt commented, "I miss him [Nick], but I don’t worry. I know he’s being taken care of. I’m so grateful to her for taking such good care of my husband."

Phyllis doesn’t ask much of the players that stay with her and there isn’t much that bothers her, but one of her few pet peeves is lack of communication.

"I don’t like it when they’re gone for hours and hours and I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t need to keep track of them except like you do in your own family. You know, are you gonna be gone all night or Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] are you going to be home? The lack of communication… I do worry," says Phyllis.

Phyllis does not get paid to take in players, but does it for the sheer enjoyment, and still even pays for her own season tickets.

"It’s more benefit to me than it is to them, I can tell you that much. They’re company, I go to all of their games. I enjoy it. Otherwise what would I be doing? I’d be sitting here watching television. I go to all of their games and root for them," she says.

Phyllis has collected many fond memories and pictures that now fill her special baseball wall. She doesn’t like to talk about favorite or non-favorite players that have stayed with her over the years. She’s as fair and impartial as a good umpire. But she did say that there was one player she still keeps in touch with that is special and whose wedding she even attended. He shared painful childhood memories with Phyllis. She didn’t want to give his name but said his mother had died when he was younger and he was sent away to school.

Phyllis explained, "He came to me and said, ‘I not only lost my mother, I lost my friends,’ and that just tugged at my little heart … I’m glad I could be here when he needed somebody to be around."

As for the players that were bad news, Phyllis is pretty tight-lipped and didn’t think it was a "very fair question." She says the good players more than make up for the ones who weren’t so good.

"Actually, I have had maybe in all the years, maybe had two that I was very happy to see walk out the door," she admits with a nervous laugh.

"Let’s just say we didn’t see eye to eye on lifestyle," she said after a little prodding.

During the off-season Phyllis catches up on all of the errands, doctor appointments, and visits family and friends, but she says she misses her housemates. She often wonders what they’re up to and how they’re doing.

"When they’re gone, they’re gone. They get back to their life, and I expect that, so it’s always a plus when I hear from them," she says.

Sixteen years of cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, being cheerleader, and all-around-mom to over 40 minor league baseball players later, Phyllis says with enthusiasm that the experience has been, "awesome."

Phyllis doesn’t seek gifts, money, or even praise for what she contributes to the baseball community. The last few lines of her favorite journal entry, "A Bridge" express the emotional connection this kind and sassy, gray-haired woman has with all of her "boys".

"I am just a bridge between what they have known and the future which is uncertain. Though their leaving makes me sad, I am happy to have been a part of what their lives have in store. I have loved them but it’s time to say goodbye."