Check out the belongings of any youth league to high-school-age baseball or softball team. The squads can’t exist without the ownership of five-gallon plastic buckets, or larger, of some brand or color.
Look inside the dugout or around the bench area; those big barrels are easy to spot.
Buckets are needed because they have so many multiple uses for teams. Primarily, they are kept to hold dozens of balls for batting practice, as they are stationed in different spots on fields during that pregame workout.
They also are used a lot by players and coaches as a seat, because buckets can easily be moved around, both inside and outside of the bench area.
Some coaches like to file necessary game-day paperwork in buckets. They can work well as a holding place for bats, hats, helmets and gloves plus extra cleats and shoes and uniforms. They serve as dugout trash cans or spittoons – or basically, a good holding spots for all odds and ends.
Sometimes players bring their own individual personal buckets to games and practices to store stuff.
Years ago, one right-hander for a high-school baseball team liked to keep his throwing hand clean when he pitched. He thought that made him pitch better. So, that pitcher kept clean water in a bucket behind his team’s dugout, where he indeed washed his right hand between innings.
Often, a baseball or softball team will have multiple buckets around during games and practices.
Tennis teams use buckets a lot, as well, often for the same reasons, and often lacrosse teams.
Some buckets now have cushion lids to make the sitting experience more comfortable. Regularly sitting in the open end of a bucket can cause some health issues.
Basically, with their multiple uses, some sports teams can’t get along without those buckets.