'Popcorn master' at Tropicana Field enjoys providing fans with carefully crafted kernels

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - About twelve hours before first pitch every game day at Tropicana Field, Ervin Whitehead starts his day.

"It's too quiet most of the time, especially when I come in. It's just me for at least six hours of the day," he said.

Whitehead is "popcorn master" at the Trop. He pops all the popcorn for every Rays home game, sometimes in staggering amounts.

"One time it was Yankees and Boston back-to-back, and I did about 610 bags," he recalled.

Whitehead moved to St. Petersburg in 1952, once living on the very spot where the stadium sits now.

"I tell people, ‘You see that palm tree right there, that’s where my house was," he said laughing.

He's been a baseball fan since he was little.

READ: 100-year-old Bay Area veteran worked under 'Father of the Nuclear Navy' after serving in WWII

"I always said, 'Boy I wish we had a team close by because everything was farther away. There wasn’t nothing in the south," he shared.

Not too long after his wish came true, Whitehead started working with the team. But he wasn't always "popcorn master".

He scored the position after winning a popping competition with another employee five years ago.

"I think the guy ahead of me had 43, and I did 63 bags," he said.

Whitehead never misses a game and loves seeing fans enjoy his carefully crafted kernels.

"It looks like they’re enjoying it. Without popcorn, it don’t seem baseball, it don’t seem American-like," he said.

Popcorn and baseball is as synonymous as Ervin Whitehead and a hard day’s work.

"It’s the desire to do it, you know. And being proud about what you do," he said.

WATCH FOX 13 NEWS:

SIGN UP: Click here to sign up for the FOX 13 daily newsletter