As the Ball Bounces
This is the first morning since my return from New York City that I am feeling more or less normal and over my bout with a cold. Yesterday, Mike asked me if I was still on to go with him to his ballgame over in Carlsbad. To be honest, I hadn’t remembered that I had committed to a Thursday outing, but I do recall bugging him about when I was going to get to see him play ball since he does it three days a week and as one of the co-Commissioners of the league, it is major activity for him. Baseball is perhaps the only spectator sport I actually enjoy and its probably because I played a bit of ball as a kid, went to a few ball games in my day (including the first game of the 1963 World Series when Sandy Koufax pitched in Dodger Stadium), and even coached a little league team when I was in college one summer in Ithaca. I have far less connection and thus interest in Football (though I did play a bit) and almost no connection other than general interest in Basketball and Hockey. So, here I am at 10am out on a Carlsbad ball field on a sunny but cool San Diego November morning, sitting behind the backstop where there is a very convenient polished concrete bench and table that seems to be for some officiant or broadcaster (I can’t imagine either on this Parks & Rec field).
As I sit here typing on my iPad, I feel like an ace sports reporter with a hat and a press ticket in the band, recording the hits, runs and errors of the two teams. This is a seniors league and I am both impressed and amused by what is going on in the field. Let me start by saying that I think it is great that this group of men and women (I count three women collectively on the two teams) who range in age from early 60s to late 70s or so are out here running and jumping and catching and throwing. Strangely enough, the weak spots don’t seem to show themselves in either the hitting or the catching, both of which seem pretty well experienced and in control. The hitting seems rather strategic (this is slow pitch softball with high lobbed pitches) with well-placed right-field line drives being the early game preferred placement. I do note that as the game proceeds, the hitters ability to be so tactically accurate seems to suffer some fatigue and the balls go more and more to the natural left field locations and more often than not are landing in the gloves of the short-stop or short-center infielders. Their gloves seem more steady than the hitters hitting. By the way, the five infielder and five outfielder configuration seems designed to prevent seniors from showboating or injuring themselves by trying to reclaim their youthful glories.
Mike is a short-stop player and is probably the quickest and best player out there on his team (He hits fine also, but so do lots of other players against the slow pitch). Today he has been asked to play short left-center outfield since the female coaches buddies want to play short-stop. As co-Commissioner, Mike has to be judicious and show restraint, so he does as he is told though it must grate on him to take direction from this late-70s gal who looks more grandmotherly than not. He’s out there waiting for something to come his way, which probably happens more in the late innings as the hitters tire and just flail at the ball.
The critical skills at play here today are running and throwing and imply that in baseball the first things to go are the knees and the shoulders, as we all sort of know already. The league recognizes the problem of having youthful stars who have aged into less capable oldsters on the field and it shows itself in the running adjustments that are made. Both first base and home have alternative paths for the runner so that he/she does NOT collide with the first baseman or catcher. They bases are a good four feet apart, which is clearly much safer, but must create some challenge to the umpire on close calls. There have been a few already, but the steam seems to have mostly left these players when it comes to arguing calls. They may linger on the base with the faint hope of a reprieve, but they walk away when the ump declares them out.
Mike is on first now, having hit into what might have been a double play, but which only ended the fate of the man originally on first. He just got advanced to second, where he was allowed to overrun the base without fear of getting tagged (another concession to age). He has now been hit home and got the chance to show that he still remembers and has the legs to round third at a slant and head in for the plate. The inning ends all of a sudden because there seems to be a run limit that ends most inning before the three-out approach takes hold. Yet another concession to the aged to make the game more fun for all. In the same way that early little league accommodates the youngsters with rules that encourage enjoyment of the game rather than competitive stricture, the same program is clearly invoked in the senior leagues.
Since I am sitting behind home plate, I get to see the whole field. It’s an interesting perspective for this game for sure. A long fly ball to left field gets caught (Damn, it wasn’t quite in Mike’s zone) and the runner on first is already at second so the shouts to throw to first abound. The ball bounces its way to first base and almost gets there ahead of the runner, who is annoyed that he has had to run all the way back on what should have been a good outfield hit. THis makes me realize that for all the constructs to help avoid harmful contact on the field, once a runner is on base, there is no alternative path in getting back to first. The fielders and the runners have to actually avoid one another, which they do, but there is a momentary gasp at the thought that we might actually have a collision on the field. But disaster was avoided and the game goes on.
Perhaps the funniest adjustment I have seen is the one that is right in my face. You know how the catcher is always stage-managing his or her team by holding up one or two fingers to tell them how many outs there are? This has always struck me as an indication that ball players are a bit feeble-minded since it says that they cannot keep their wits about them enough to remember the length of a half inning, just how many outs have been achieved. This league has overcome that hurdle with a large yellow sign with steel hooks on it to hang at eye level on the backstop. It has two sides, one that has a 1 and one that has a 2. Not even the youngsters in pee-wee league get this kind of treatment, but then the combination of loss of memory, loss of hearing and loss of eyesight make this a practical solution to the problem of keeping everyone on the same page so that they can enjoy as much of the bouncing ball as they can.