Gents: Let me recommend to you all the fine Times Union story on over-62 Pirates catcher Amber Ring
that's cited at the top of this chain.

My former TU colleague Joyce Bassett did a terrific job showing how Amber discovered the game, its lure and
how she worked determinedly, with lots of practice, to be a part of it.

I like a discovery that Amber found about playing the game. "Baseball has always been my therapy," she said.
"As soon as I'm in baseball mode, everything else is gone. As soon as I step into that field, the million thoughts
that are in my head, they just disappear. And the only thing that's in my head is baseball."

League commissioner John Reel said that he's open to having more women in our game, and over-62 Pirates manager
Jim Dalton took the first step toward that. The league gave the 39-year-old Amber an age waiver and Jim put her behind
the plate, the Pirates' catcher.

John also notes that some talented ball-playing women are on the edge turning pro. The Women's Professional Baseball League
(WPBL) has been organized. The league will have tryouts this summer around the nation. Six big cities are expected to be
homes for the teams. Play is planned for 2026.

I'm glad that day is nearly here. My first view of a talented female player came when I was five, in 1952, just after my
father died. My cousin Marilyn Kolb, then 16 and our family's baby sitter, was also an all-star shortstop on two teams. She
spent hours teaching my younger brother Shaun and me how to play the game. I can still see the ball she'd toss
our way a white softball against the blue sky and hear her voice, "Come on, you guys, you can catch it."

It took a while, but the women kept after the game, and now it's here, as potential players or as members of our teams.

-Mike



-- Edited by mikehart on Sunday 27th of April 2025 01:00:01 AM