They massage out the aches, they clean the uniforms and they are the first ones at work and the last ones to leave. They are the trainers and equipment folks of Major League Baseball, and all sports for that matter.

Their status in the game just received a major boost, and so did their bank accounts, thanks to the Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics.

Yes, there will be baseball in Japan, despite the bizarre Wednesday that did nothing to hurt the position of the players with the fans.

As the A’s and Sox threatened to not make the trip to Tokyo, the phone lines were hot among the players, the teams’ front offices, the players’ association and MLB headquarters in New York.

The Sox and A’s found out the coaches and support staff were not going to be paid extra for the trip while the players would receive $40,000 plus a cut of the gate.

Both the Sox and A’s players said that was not going to happen or they would stay home.

The effort was resolved without definitive numbers coming from MLB, but the coaches and staff will get their money.

While the coaches have been the primary names in the news, those trainers and equipment personnel who never are heard from will forever remember the day the players stood up for them.

They have no union. Their payday really comes from the tips the players leave when the season ends. This victory for them is a big deal.

Boston catcher Jason Varitek said, “They’re part of our extended family.”

He said if they did not get their cut, the Sox would not be boarding that plane for Japan.

Just how much they will receive is unclear. The Sox will apparently make sure they receive the same money as the players. The A’s have not specifically spoken to the dollar amount.

When MLB initially said it would pay the support staff and coaches half of what the players were receiving, the Sox’s Mike Lowell said, “Half isn’t equal,” and equal is what Lowell and the Sox players said had been promised.

Without the players speaking up for those who are never heard from, there would have been no money.

That is the beauty of this strange event. The players actually took a stance where there was no monetary gain to be had for themselves.

What the players did receive was a whole lot more valuable.

The trainers walk the tight rope of solving the players’ physical woes day after day while being employed by the teams. The conflicts they encounter are obvious and the work never ends.

The clubhouse crew shuffles bats, gloves, uniforms and clubhouse needs on an endless basis with demands that never stop.

These jobs are often defined as thankless. No more.

The players of the A’s and Sox said thank-you in a bigger way than anyone could ever have imagined.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net