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When It Was a Game
Before
Fancy Websites, Softball Marketing and National Tournaments
By Bo Hayes
Remember when it was a game? Of course you do, we all do. It usually came at a time when we were unable for whatever reason to continue on playing baseball, and we needed some way to find the "fix" for the competitive desire that still burned inside our souls.
Just looking at it from a Street Kids standpoint, I have been a full-time, part-time, fill-in player on this squad far longer than most of the current roster. I remember back when Dave Alonzo still played, when there were more than just one or two members of the "ORIGINAL" street kids still playing every day, not just Xave Creary or Jim Johnson, but those like KC Pocius and Mike Fahey. I remember when that giant guy Mike Grenert hit a ball like 900 feet when we played in the tournament that opened the Bellville Complex.
Back when we used .50 core balls, and there was no such thing as composite bats, double or even triple wall bats, no such thing as Titanium ANYTHING! It was just a bunch of guys getting together to play ball. You could see them all: short, tall, fat, thin, muscular, even once in a while a man playing in blue jeans, playing together for fun. I mean of course you wanted to win, but there wasn't the expectation that you had to win.
I can think back to when I first started playing softball;
TJ Jorgensen and I came into the game at the same time, back when if you hit 4
home-runs a season you were a feared power hitter, and would bat fourth in the
lineup. Back in the day when we thought .326 was a great average.
The days of the Buchanan Bad Boys are long since gone, as too are the endless
summers of
Now
we have super deluxe composite bats that cost $500, and the balls have turned
to sponge because people are getting killed playing third base or pitcher due
to people using state-of-the-art, high tech bats, and taking things a step
further by hollowing out, or shaving bats to get a further competitive
edge. When is it enough? Remember when it was a game, and you
didn't have to worry about getting killed playing a game we love?
Don't get me wrong; I know we love to see the titanic home runs coming off the bats of those like Dan Garey, Hank Minix and Joe Horvath. I do, too, but there needs to be something done to keep it at a game. When you have companies putting together "professional" traveling softball teams it stops being a game and starts becoming a business.
Sponsorship… big time sponsorships make the demand for better teams a must. The desire to win for the sponsor has overcome everything. Be it fair play or fun. Remember when it was a game, and it didn't matter that you popped out to end the second inning with a man on second and third? Or the fact that you were able to laugh about the fact that your team got beat by 12 runs, and you would go have a cold one after the game? I think it is great that teams have sponsors, including the Street Kids, that support their local team. This is more directed at those sponsors that pay upwards of $100,000 a year putting a super team together, where making outs and losing tournaments are unacceptable.
I know that it would seem that I am complaining, because the game has overtook my ability. I was a pretty good baseball player, but struggle at times with softball. I have tried the high-tech bats myself in an attempt to hit the ball like a man of 245 pounds should, that's what makes me qualified to make these statements. I’ve played for serious teams, I’ve played with some stacked tournament teams… I have also played on a team that was so excited to get a sponsor trophy for finishing a distant second to a far superior team.
That’s why I ask: remember when it was a game? I know that athletes forget themselves and where they came from. I have grown apart from the game, because I haven’t got the ability, or time to invest. I still play, but it’s just for fun. It’s for the camaraderie of hanging out with the guys. I have met some great guys in the course of my softball career that have become what I call friends, that I would not have met otherwise: Joe Richard, JR Shapiro, Tony Hardiman, Justin Sears just to name a few. I still play for my work team, and its laughable how poorly we can play.
No one gets mad if someone goes 0-4. The highlight is going out after the game with friends, win or lose. It makes us better as co-workers, better as men and more importantly, makes us better as friends.
Remember when it was a game? Back before all the high dollar sponsorships, fancy stripes softball pants, websites, Demarini’s or Miken’s… when people were not getting killed playing a game they love? Remember when it was a game? When you would make a bear handed catch at Coloma Lanes to impress your girlfriend? Remember when it was a game and the game was the important part? Because unlike its baseball cousin, softball players transcend the game itself, becoming larger than life in their softball circles. With the power of technology and website promotion, you’ll be known by hundreds and hundreds of people in your area.
Play competitive softball. If you have the talent, it should be showcased. I would rather not play against a bunch of superstars in a lower division who blow out teams 23-3 all the time. I envy you that have the skill to do so. But if in the future you start to forget yourself... remember when it was just a game and remember how much fun that game can be. Be safe…
The above story is the expressed opinion of Bo Hayes
and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of those affiliated with the
Street Kids Organization.
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