Wanna Play Softball After Work?

[seawolf17]

That would be the side benefit of rain tomorrow; I'd get to spend the day on my dad's pool table downstairs instead of dealing with my family.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Now I want to join a softball team. I'm like Edgy though in that I'm employed in a field that's unlikely to field a team. I'll have to seek out a recreational league that's not polluted with bros and dudes.

[Guest d'Kong76]

at the risk of completely derailing this..

POOL AND DARTS!

[Vic Sage]

my softball life...

I was a shitty little-leaguer... no arm, no speed, no bat, but i could catch the ball. Unfortunately, i was also a leftie, so my defensive options were limited. So i was a good-glove/no-bat LHed 1bman up until HS. Then i gave up hardball for softball and suddenly i didnt suck quite so much.

We had intramural club teams in HS, and of course i played for the Science Fiction Club... we were the Clones, and we all wore the same number. We played on concrete city school fields, so there was no sliding. And if you hit one in the gap... well, it'd still be rolling today. But though i couldn't hit a hardball, slo-pitch softball was my kind of game. My slow reaction time which prevented me from catching up to the most mediocre fastball was right on the money for softball. and the ball is, well, bigger. So i became a decent hitter. And defensively, i could move around. for some reason, a leftie is allowed to play anywhere in softball... who knew?

In college, at Seawolve's current institutional employer, we had intramural softball, too. I played for the Student Polity team, which were mostly nerds, so i looked good in comparison. We played on dirt fields, so i learned the art of the sliding catch at 3b, popping up to make the throw, and, when at 1b (which was still my primary position) i could scoop anything, and i'd throw up a cloud of dirt for good measure. i was impressive. still only a mediocre hitter, with a torn rotator cuff that kept my from throwing much, and slow as shit, but i ran like a train and was happy to take out a guy at 2b or at home, just cuz. It's easy to look like you can play if you're playing hard and everybody else is just hanging out. I couldn't see the point of not playing to win.

After college, living with friends in Park Slope Brooklyn while in my 20s, we played pickup games in the summer, in Prospect Park. There, i mostly caught, because nobody else would get behind the plate and there was a guy with a bad leg who couldn't play anywhere but 1b. So i had fun banging into people at home. never got hurt, despite playing without anything but a facemask and a 1b mitt. But there were some rough teams roving those fields, and things could get dicey. Still, beers at Farrell's afterwards were always cold. Then a poker game at somebody's apartment. That was our summer Saturdays, for years.

As me and my friends got older, we started moving away from Brooklyn, so we would have an annual BBQ softball game out on LI, near their family homes (Port Jefferson area). We'd play with a beer in our hands, get thru 3 games sometimes, all the while eating hot dogs. I stopped running into people at this point and just relaxed, stood on 1b, and caught whatever came my way with my right hand, and held a beer in my left.

Meanwhile, i was playing in the Broadway show league in central park, and they took that shit seriously. The Local 1 guys, the teamsters, they were all loaded teams with guys who were like semi-pro level. I only played there a few seasons; it wasn't fun. And i started having back pain, so whatever hitting ability i had gained over the years was lost with my lack of torque.

As we lurched into our 30s, all my friends started getting married and having kids, and our annual party became more BBQ and less softball. Then, ultimately, the kids started playing and we just sat around drinking and cheering.

The last game i played was about 6 years ago, when my daughter's middle school team had a father-daughter softball game on the middle school field. I was stuck catching (even though i can't crouch very well any more... i just sort of stood up behind the plate). In the last inning, i hit a solid double and was standing on 2b with 2 outs. the next guy walked. then the next guy hit a grounder and the play went to 3b, to force me. I was determined not to make the last out of the game, so i slid in hard. I was playing in shorts, and though it was a grass field, the dirt was filled with gravel, so i took off all the skin on my leg, from my knee to my ankle. But i was safe! Then the next guy popped out and it was over. And my wife and daughter and doctor explained to me what a total ass i was for sliding. And my diabetes prevented that leg from healing quickly, so i carried that reminder for quite a while. To this day, in fact.

Now, my softball jones is satisfied by watching my daughter catch for the HS varsity team, and for other local teams in the summer. She can't hit the fastball, but she's got a good glove. And though she has no speed, she runs hard.

That's my girl.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Nice, Vic.

Vic Sage wrote: The last game i played was about 6 years ago, when my daughter's middle school team had a father-daughter softball game on the middle school field. I was stuck catching (even though i can't crouch very well any more... i just sort of stood up behind the plate). In the last inning, i hit a solid double and was standing on 2b with 2 outs. the next guy walked. then the next guy hit a grounder and the play went to 3b, to force me. I was determined not to make the last out of the game, so i slid in hard. I was playing in shorts, and though it was a grass field, the dirt was filled with gravel, so i took off all the skin on my leg, from my knee to my ankle. But i was safe! Then the next guy popped out and it was over. And my wife and daughter and doctor explained to me what a total ass i was for sliding. And my diabetes prevented that leg from healing quickly, so i carried that reminder for quite a while. To this day, in fact..

I did this to myself twice while playing for the Cruz Roja softball team... in consecutive season openers. The first time, the slow healing was due to its getting infected, because the initial bandaging-- by two of my well-meaning teammates-- was way too tight. (The well-meaning teammates, of course, being employees of an organization that teaches first-aid instruction for money.)

But, hey-- two triples!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Wanna Play Softball After Work?

Seriously,

It's sad and funny but we lost 4 players in a corporate downsizing of the central creative team. [crossout:9erhg9xt]Tomorrow (wednesday) is our last game of the year and we don't wanna forfeit. Can you get to 107th & Riverside at 6 p.m.? Free t-shirt if you can.[/crossout:9erhg9xt]

Oh just ben informed we did get enough -- and the game isn't at 107th and Riverside. Come on out and support us then!