Tag: Pitcher

My Field of Dreams (Cooperstown, NY)

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(I also published this story on my Yankees site: Start Spreading the News as part of the series “One Last Shot” as I document my return to playing baseball after 34 years away from the game as a player.)

***

How often have I dreamed of playing baseball professionally?

I don’t know… it probably hasn’t been every day of my life, but it’s been most days and probably multiple times on most days.

Oh, who am I kidding. It’s ALL I think about!

As of the writing of this post, I have been alive about 19,400 days.

That’s a lot of dreaming.

***

Before August 11, 2021, I had never played baseball on a field other than a recreation or high school field.

I never played in a real ballpark or in a stadium.

But, on August 11, the dream, came true, at least a little.

On August 11, I arrived in Cooperstown, New York.

On August 11, I pitched, in a tournament game, on Doubleday Field, in Cooperstown, New York.

As the Yankees prepared to play on the Field of Dreams in Iowa, I played on a field of dreams of my own in baseball’s most special village.

Continue reading “My Field of Dreams (Cooperstown, NY)” →
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One Last Shot – Season 3, Post 2: My Spring Training

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(Note: This article can also be found on Start Spreading The News.)

***

Opening Day is a month, a week, and a day away. That’s my Opening Day. The day my baseball season begins.

In 2019, after not pitching in any competitive baseball game for over 34 years, I made a comeback as the old guy, a 50+-year-old pitcher, in a highly competitive wood bat 35-year-old + baseball league. I pitched again last year.

The upcoming 2021 season will be my third.

After proving to myself that I can hold my own on the mound, and even pitch complete nine inning games, I am no longer content with just being able to do that.

Now I want to win.

Continue reading “One Last Shot – Season 3, Post 2: My Spring Training” →

One Last Shot – Season 3, Post 1: This Time It’s For Real

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(This post can also be found on my Yankees blog Start Spreading the News.)

January 2021

***

This time it’s for real!

…or so I tell myself.

Yes. For goodness sake, this time it is for real.

This coming season, the 2021 season, will be mine. This will be my chance to shine. To pitch well. To win. Often.

And I have a plan to make sure it happens.

Continue reading “One Last Shot – Season 3, Post 1: This Time It’s For Real” →

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 13) – The Doctor, The Bench, and an All-Star

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This is the story I didn’t want to write…

***

Two days after I pitched on June 23, I had my first appointment with the orthopedist.  This doctor is very well known and very respected.  He took X-Rays, put me through a battery of small tests, he examined my legs, took careful note of my right Achilles, and, after all of that, said that my baseball season, my softball season, and my running season are all over.

I knew this was coming.

We all knew this was coming.

I just didn’t want to hear it.

I still don’t.

Continue reading “One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 13) – The Doctor, The Bench, and an All-Star” →

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 12 – Game Four, The Story of a Catcher)

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Well, I am the happiest 0-4 pitcher on the planet.

***

I pitched well enough, I guess. I gave up more than a few hard hit balls for loud hits, some of them long drives for extra bases. I also gave up some weak ground balls for hits. And a few bloopers also fell in.

On the other hand, some popups were dropped or missed altogether by the fielders behind me, a few grounders went under the infielders’ gloves, and a few would-be ground outs resulted in poor throws that instead netted no outs.

(And, to be fair, a couple of the loudly hit balls were caught by the fielders behind me. If nothing else, my pitching kept the team on its feet.)

In short, for much of the game, there were a lot of runners on the bases as I pitched.

Continue reading “One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 12 – Game Four, The Story of a Catcher)” →

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story Part 10 – RAIN!

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My third start of the season was scheduled for Sunday, May 5.  We were going to be back to Wright’s Field in Bloomfield to play a different team from the area. It seems that a few towns, Bloomfield being one of them, have more than one team in the league. I was looking forward to this opportunity to see if I could build off my modest success the week before.

This would also be my first chance to pitch in back-to-back weeks – a true test of whether or not my arm, and body was up to this challenge.

It wasn’t to be.

Rain, dreadful rain, washed away our chances to play.  

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One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 4)

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This is the story of my attempt, at fifty years old, and after not playing any organized baseball since I was sixteen, to have a comeback, of sorts, and return to the game in a men’s 35+ baseball league – as a pitcher.

This is the fourth installment of the series. The previous installments are listed here:

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part One)

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part Two)

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part Three)

***

Yesterday, April 3, brought with it a great deal of optimism and hope.

After work, in the early evening, I met my friend Michael Saffer to have catch. At the start of my career, almost thirty years ago, Michael was a student in my class. I had been his school teacher, now I’d be his student.

Continue reading “One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 4)” →

One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 3)

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The following is the tale of my attempt to play competitive baseball for the first time in over thirty years. Since there is no way that I can hit (I could never hit a fastball), I offered to try out for this team in a 35+ league as a pitcher.

This is the third installment of the series.

Continue reading “One Last Shot… A Real Life Baseball Story (Part 3)” →