My across-the-street neighbor, Spike Gonard, is reputed to be one of the best softball players in his league, even now in his 60s. I repeatedly tried over the years to convince him to play for both my 45+ and 55+ Cougars, but he inevitably declined. Funny thing, he has always been an avid reader of our own CDMSBL bulletin board, nonetheless. I recently reached out to Spike to see if he'd like to join the Haymakers, and I have reproduced his refreshingly direct, occasionally irreverent response in its entirety below. And let me tell you it wasn't easy getting his permission to post it here, as the unapologetically macho Spike seems to be feeling abashed at having waxed so poetically rhapsodic on the subject of aging.
So, why have I decided to share it on this forum? Because herein Spike calls for what at first blush sound like radical changes to the structure of our League--specifically, the creation of "private" divisions--which upon closer examination, turn out to be not so radical after all, as current trends would appear to be leading us in that very direction. The question thus becomes, will his proposals remain nothing more than the idle musings of an overactive imagination, never to be put into practice, or do they betoken changes that actually lie right around the corner for the CDMSBL?
Naturally, Spike's stated opinions on various matters are entirely his own, and do not necessarily accord with mine. And please know that while Spike can sometimes be bumptiously outspoken and more than a little competitive, most people will tell you he is actually a peach of a guy and the best of teammates. He'll bust my chops unmercifully--as you will see below--but I would never question that Spike always means well. By the way, Spike got his nickname for his distinctive style of sliding into bases.
And, as an original Haymaker, I would be remiss in failing to acknowledge the tireless team-building efforts of the Haymakers' founder and guiding spirit, my baseball brother-in-arms and the master recruiter who brought me into the CDMSBL back in 2004, Mike Hart. As everyone knows, Mike is an exemplary human being and a credit to our League, and I look forward to having him join me on the field for my third year of participation in the well-run, thoroughly enjoyable Capital Division.
And I, for one, remain convinced that Mike will live to manage in this League again.
F.M.
********** [Begin message from Spike.]**********
Dear Frankie,
Ah, here we go again! Forgive me, but I sense that I would not be a good fit on the Haymakers. But thanks for asking, I think.
I feel as if we've danced around this subject on a number of occasions, so perhaps it's time for me to spell it out for you. So, with all due respect to you and your friend Mike Hart (who I know to be a really good guy), I'll now do exactly that.
So, Mike wants to put together a team composed of players nobody else wants? Ouch! Good luck with that! That's the last thing League officials should agree to. After all, your League should be endeavoring to raise the standard of play, not lower it. And, tell me, what self-respecting 62+ team would even want to show up for yet another excruciating 27-to-zip shellacking of such a singularly sorry squad of senescent senior citizens? Sheesh!
Anyway, I'd bet my batting gloves that Mike won't be able, on his own, to find enough players to form a team. I hope he doesn't expect to get help from the League, as I strongly suspect that none would be forthcoming. There's probably little that League officials can do for him anyway; besides, I can't imagine that they'd go out of their way to facilitate the formation of a team that is destined to finish the season without a win--but I could be wrong. And don't assume that just because you and Mike have been loyal members of the CDMSBL for decades, managing teams and helping to build up this organization, that the League owes you guys anything. Baseball isn't about debts of gratitude; it's about winning, and rightly so.
Moreover, instead of expanding, your League should be contracting, opting for quality over quantity, especially in the 62+ division. The goal should always be to put the best possible product on the field, and that means maintaining high standards in personnel. To be blunt, the League should act to encourage the better players, and gently--or not so gently--discourage the rest. Ideally, every game should be competitively juicy, and the only way to guarantee that is to permit only the most talented, most worthy individuals to play under the aegis of the CDMSBL.
Accordingly, a revamped 62+ Division would comprise no more than three teams. That way, you'd be assured that only the most driven, most grimly fanatical players would have the honor of participating. What you want is a passionate warrior who has so thoroughly internalized winning and losing that a bitter playoff loss could send him into an emotional tailspin for a month, and a losing season could very well land him in a "rest home" over the winter. Typically, such guys will seemingly have nothing going on in life other than baseball (sort of like you, Frankie!). These are your worthy players, the only ones who genuinely merit a place on a next-generation 62+ roster.
A perfect model for a new 62+ Division already exists in the form of your League's Matinee Division. It's what I call "boutique baseball," and I heartily endorse the concept: as I understand it, the Matinee Division is more or less a private division, made up of two teams of established, high-quality players. If it were up to me, the entire League would be organized in this way; every division would be essentially private, which ensures that no interloping, less than worthy teams make their way in.
With just a three-team 62+ Division, competition among prospective players for open slots would naturally be intense. A candidate for selection would be expected both to dominate on the field and "know his place" in the dugout, or he simply wouldn't stand a chance of being tapped. And there's no need for formal tryouts, as the most highly-valued prospects are easily identified and already well-known to everyone, having made a name for themselves over the years in other divisions. Simply put, if you have to ask where the party is, you're not invited.
The three-dozen or so players of a pared-down 62+ Division would constitute what amounts to a retirement-aged royal family, a blue-chip, battle-hardened band of balding and bespectacled, Bud-Light-imbibing ballfield brothers. In such a rarefied, competitive yet congenial atmosphere, discontent among players would be virtually unknown--for these virtuosos have officially made it into baseball heaven, where they are duly afforded the luxury of playing nothing but closely-fought, memorably dramatic games. Lopsided drubbings would thankfully forever be a thing of the past. And what more could any player want? This is senior baseball as it should be.
Of course, just as with any competitive team, there will be turnover. Ideally, as a player ages, he will at some point transition to the role of spare part, getting limited playing time, but sticking with his team nevertheless; this multi-season path to closure allows him ample time to enjoy an extended farewell tour of sorts, an appropriately solemn and ceremonious parting not just from his guys, his beloved teammates, but from his worthy opponents, as well.
For example, I believe you've met my good buddy and teammate Ronnie (Ron Jeel) who, despite a long and illustrious playing career, is now obliged to sit on our bench--and he's happy to do it! Any self-respecting player would be grateful to wind down his career with dignity, like Ronnie, as a white-bearded bench gnome on a championship team. Never mind if he hasn't used his glove in a game since 2022--at least he hasn't compromised his personal standards by taking a step down to play on some lackluster second-division squad.
And have no doubt that Ronnie remains an active, valuable teammate: if he's fully awake, he'll do a commendable job at keeping our scorebook, and I'll gladly attest that no one delivers a lineup card to the opposing team with more panache, more pure joy and amiability than Ronnie; as he makes his way to the other side, he never fails to throw in some jaunty dance moves, followed by a theatrical bow to the home plate ump, which is usually good for some cheap applause. What a gamer! Best of all, Ronnie does an eerily spot-on impression of legendary Yankees shortstop and broadcaster, Phil Rizzuto. "Holy cow!"
Alternatively, a guy in the sunset of his playing career can always opt to submit to "internal exile" within your League's own version of Siberia, the motley (all ages and skill levels welcomed), strikingly realistic simulation of competitive baseball that is the Capital Division. And don't pay any attention to the devilish smart alecks who compare those somewhat juiceless Sunday afternoon pick-up games to the famous Bruce Willis movie from 1999, The Sixth Sense, in that if you're playing in the Capital Division, you're probably already dead, but you just don't know it. (Actually, that's pretty funny!) Chances are that you, Mike and the rest of your Haymaker brethren would be happy ghosts playing there! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) Face it, Frankie, it's either that or hang 'em up. Like the kid in the movie, I see dead people--and they're carrying baseball gloves!
There's no getting around it: advancing age brings about dramatic changes in everyone's life. For an aging ball player, change means becoming incrementally less worthy with each passing year. Some veterans, conceding that discretion is the better part of valor, prefer to avoid this manifest decline, its pains and indignities, and so will choose to retire sooner, rather than later. In moving on, they'll have to find glory elsewhere, if they can.
Then there is the growing contingent of never-say-die stalwarts, like you and Mike, who have made their peace with change, and who still feature the raw gumption to step onto the field and give it their all, remarkable as that is. For guys like you, senior baseball is all about carrying on despite the sobering changes that come with age--and even turning back the clock, as it were, recapturing a bit of one's precious, long-lost youth. Baseball allows us to feel like kids again, at least for a few hours a week; as they say, it's all about "big kids" playing a kids' game.
But, then, the CDMSBL's resident comedians would be apt to tell you that many of your League's most talented and respected gray-haired veterans are not, in fact, big kids so much as spoiled brats--ridiculously smug, silly old farts who should be thankful just to finish a game with their bodies still in one piece. Yet I prefer to view these proud, wrinkled all-stars simply as eternally youthful blithe spirits; and yes, these delightfully overzealous alpha-primates are truly my kind of guys. At the risk of sounding like a booster, I'd assert that your League should be saluted for affording these rickety, overgrown ten-year-olds one last chance for glory, courtesy of the 62+ Division--as long as they're still worthy, that is.
Let's go Mets!
Spike
PS. I just want to add that I love reading the CDMSBL bulletin board. Yes, the chronic complainers will surely label several of the older managers as self-infatuated blowhards (just like me!) for posting voluminous, pitch-by-pitch accounts of their games--but that's just envy talking. The dedicated skippers who author these helpful transcriptions of every last detail of their scorebook are doing the important work of writing the history of both their team and the League, memorializing for the ages the heroic exploits of this generation's most gifted players. And if you ask me, I'd say too much is never enough, so bring it on! Indeed, rumor has it that more is on the way, as apparently, these thoughtful, engaging managers will soon be posting minute-by-minute accounts of their team's on-field practices.
-- Edited by Frank Montagano on Friday 16th of May 2025 02:07:55 PM
-- Edited by Frank Montagano on Friday 16th of May 2025 02:09:45 PM
Good one, Timmy! And you're right. He is, himself, one of those "self-infatuated blowhards"--and, as you see, he even cops to it. Thankfully, Spike can laugh at himself, which has always been his saving grace.
-- Edited by Frank Montagano on Friday 16th of May 2025 03:25:37 PM
-- Edited by Frank Montagano on Friday 16th of May 2025 03:40:02 PM
That's harsh to say the least Frank. I was on the board for 10+- years with John and his focus was always to get as many people playing as possible. From what I understand that continued just recently with his move to get Amber Ring a waiver so she could play on a 55 team. Running a league is difficult and complicated and over time the concept of GM's entering a team proved to be the simplest. That way the manager answers to the players and not the league. I'm not involved any more but from what I read Mike didn't even come close to meeting the requirements to enter a new team in the league. The last thing anyone wants is to build a schedule including a team that never comes to fruition which is exactly why the various deadlines/rules are in place.
I'll end it by saying there are a lot of people playing ball right now because of Ron Jeel!
-- Edited by John C on Monday 19th of May 2025 10:28:14 AM
Most people who are playing in this league are doing so happily. But we all know that there will always be some who are disappointed in the experience for one reason or another. However, most are grateful to have the opportunity to still get on a baseball field, play little more hardball, make good new friends, and experience the magic of the game, especially those of us who are older. Yeah, we all wanna win, but were not sharpening our knives to cut each others throats trying to do it.
John - re. your comment that I "didn't come close to meeting the requirements" of bringing a new team into the league, a little history for you.
In the summer and fall of 2024, the current Reds were in the process of putting the newest over 62 team in the division.
The big question then was how many guys would come up from the 55s to help fill out the Reds roster? Would there be enough players for the Reds's roster, and, beyond that, would there be more for perhaps an 8th team?
At the time, John Reel told me that he imagined that there could be a "tsunami" of players coming up. But turns out it was closer to smooth stream: there were enough players to help out just the Reds.
In November, I asked John what was happening with the eighth team and he said that the managers decided to table the issue, that it was a "place setter" for now.
I got to thinking about it, and realized that for three reasons it might be good thing to try to start an eighth team. It would be hard, I knew, but it could also be to my advantage.
I'll explain:
As you all know, scheduling eight teams is a lot easier than scheduling seven. Then, the entire league would benefit with more players, it always does. That goes to John's point about how over the commissioner and the board tried to "get as many people as possible in the league."
Finally, self interest: I had just quit the over-62 Americans after two years of play with them and if I wanted to play ball, I needed, obviously, a team.
Ten years ago, I thought for sure that by now that I might want to retire, but here I am, 77 going on 78 in June, and perhaps as odd as that sounds, I still want to play. And I still think I can play, even after being in adult rec ball, and that's what it is, recreation ball, not the minor leagues, for 30 years, four in Texas and 26 here. I wanted a 31st. My own team would give me that. No team would not.
After our last playoff game, I quit my team, the over-62 Americans essentially over the issue of the supposed A/B batting system in the playoffs.
This is as good a time as any to air this out:
I think A/B anytime is elitist and insulting, especially to players who pay and show up for every game all season, helping their teams in lots of ways, and the league should be ashamed that it allows this embarrassing system to exist.
The board should outlaw it.
For one thing, the system's advertisement is false: some years ago when A/B was first trotted out, it was described as a way to add punch to the offense and dim its weaknesses by sitting its poorer hitters and allowing the top of the order to come to the plate more often.
The presumption being that the top of the order will hit better than the bottom. Baseball often teaches us that assumptions are just that.
My feelings are sharp here because for two playoff games for two years in a row I was an A/B guy. I didn't complain about being A/B in the 2023 playoffs. Though I didn't like it. That year, at 76 I hit .324 for the season and won the only game I was allowed to pitch, the season-ender against my former Peppers. Still, for the playoffs, I was an A-B player? I was?
Then, it happened again in 2024, and I got steamed. Last year, at 77, I slumped mid season and hit about .265 Which is not hard to do if you get up less than three times a game. (Meaning,, if you leave a game 0-for-2, it kills your average. It's .000 for that game. But get one hit, and you leave 1-for-3, suddenly you're a .333 hitter. But if you're at the bottom of the order, the odds are rare that you'll get up a third time.)
The year before last, 2022, I hit .294 with the Peppers, which is another story. We did win the only playoff game against the Americans that the team has won in maybe a dozen years.
Getting back: At some point, A/B morphed from a nonsensical hitting approach to something worse: a system that bans players from the field, too. Say what?
So now, if you're A/B designate, you don't play defense. In my 30 years adult ball, in Texas and here, I've played all nine positions, and, since I was elected to two All-Star games in those years (the only two that were had then; one in Texas, one, at Joe Bruno stadium, here), I think I can argue that I can play at least adequate defense. Anywhere.
I'm not sure that going A/B promoted the Americans' causes: in both 2023 and 2024 the team's scenario was the same: 1-1, beating the Peppers in the first game, losing to the eventual champion Yankees in the second.
As an A/B player in the 2024 playoffs, over two games, I got up three times and got on base three times: HBP, BB (with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning; sending home a run that tied the game at 8; we won 11-10.), and in our loss to the eventual champs, Yankees, in my only at-bat, I singled to right in the fifth against Craig Miller, who pitched a dandy 4-hitter against us, beating us 4-0.
Again, I'm not sure why those of us who are shoehorned into A/B as batters, also have to sit on defense. It doesn't follow that even if you're hitting close to the Mendoza Line, you can't also play a good second base or a good any place.
There are two really hard parts about sitting: first, you get stiff, and not a little bored, and you begin to start thinking about better ways you might be spending your time. Which takes us back to getting and keeping players in the league. Sitting sends players away from the league. Which, of course, undercuts John's line about getting people into the league.
The act of sitting players for long spells also strikes me as cruel, though it is a surefire way to send players on their ways and thin out the roster for the supposed all-stars who are coming up the following year.
The second part about sitting is that it's insulting and embarrassing. The one to five guys who sit for five or six innings (sometimes the whole seven) for various games have to face the nine coming in at the end of each inning. Those nine are generally lively, full of spark, chatting amongst themselves about the plays on the field, anxious to hit and then get back out there.
Some of the fielders may chat a bit with the guys on the bench, but most don't. The on-field players ignore the sitters as if they weren't there, as if they really weren't members of the team. And at that moment, they're not.
(Two years ago, I sat for a whole game, keeping score, steaming. We won and at games end, one player who was high-fiving everyone, came to me and realized he couldn't say anything about my play, because there was none. But he gave me a high-five, too, and said, "Way to keep score, Mike." Driving home, I laughed at that and thought, what else could he say? I actually felt grateful to him. He tried to connect.)
The bench sitters also feel they're getting their pockets picked: When all a team's players sign up and pay their fees in the spring, very likely no one says to them: "This is for the regular season. Not sure if you'll play or play much in the playoffs." No manager says that. He takes players' money offering, usually silently, the implicit assumption that the players will get their fee's worth and play a fair amount.
All this insulting behavior (likely unintentional) is driven for one thing: a desire for victories, which means playing your supposed best players and disregarding the play and the feelings of the others who pay and are with you all season.
Getting field time doesn't get any easier as you age, even if you can outrun and out throw more than half the team. You're old. Younger guys are not. The manager is in a fix too. He thinks, how do I tell this 62-year-old he's on the bench for a few innings while I'm playing this guy who's three-quarters of a century old? it's hard, if you're pursuing victories.
The solution is easy. Play everybody. Do it as fair as can be done. When I managed the Peppers for 16 years, I told everybody you'll get four innings in the field at least, probably more, and you'll get to hit about as much as everybody else. Every game. Playoffs included.
Did we win a lot? Nope. But we did win some and everybody played. And everybody knew they would play. Which explains in part why for the last ten years I managed, at least, I never had to call for substitute player. Guys knew they'd play. They showed up.
Getting back to creating an eighth team: I knew that trying to make the Haymakers the eighth team over the winter would be an uphill run. And likely impossible. Still, I thought, some possibility exists, and where any exists, why not give it a try?
It wasn't made any easier by the fact that no one from the league, except Frank Montagano and Adam Zafran, both now out of the game as I am, helped me.
The day in January I decided I'd give it a try, I put notice on the bulletin board asking for league-wide help. I knew that CDMSBL very likely had the entire corner on the over-62 athletes who could play baseball probably within 100 miles of Albany, but still, thought I'd see what was what.
I figured maybe some guy in the over-18s might say, hey, my uncle George is 62. But he once played ball. I'll give him a call; or my neighbor Fred, he's sometimes a crank but he knows the game.. Let's see what he says.
So, for eight weeks I went to Ys and batting cages, and wrote emails and asked women and men, sometimes right out of the blue: Want to play ball? I got seven takers, no women. When you think about it, seven's a decent haul.
The lack of help bothered me not so much for my failure to put the Haymakers on the field, as for what it said about the very issue John talks about: the league's efforts to get as MANY people to play as possible.
The best and maybe the only true way for this league to continue to exist and grow is for each of us, in every division, to take on the mantle of recruiter himself and bring players into the league. In my case, only Frank and Adam did that.
And once the guys (or gals) are here, play them all.
So, yes, John, I "didn't come close to meeting the requirements" for getting an eighth team on the field.
The reasons are above.
Still, good hearing from you. It always is. And playing with you. (We were teammates for a few games on the over-45 Shaskys.) I hope you're able to come back. Pulling for you.
-Mike
-- Edited by mikehart on Tuesday 20th of May 2025 02:55:43 AM
Age old issues Mike and there's no perfect solution. From a league standpoint it would be an absolute nightmare to try and regulate minimum playing time and deal with player complaints so it seems like the current process of GM's entering a team is the most effective way to do it. Players can discuss their role and sign on where there is a mutual fit and then if they're not happy move on the following year. Some players are happy just being on the field and others want to play competitive ball and win and the current system allows that to happen and the unbalanced schedules limit the number of blowouts somewhat. I don't think there is a better solution
As for me I'm most likely done with baseball .... I broke my leg skiing, had surgery and then eight plus weeks with no weight on it and I can't run full speed any more and don't want to tear an ACL or something so I'm biking and then perfectly happy spending my weekends on Lake Champlain fishing for 30+ inch lake trout. Who knows maybe I'll venture out to a Capital Division game someday.
John Thank you for being the adult in the room. I know in a year you will be back finding the gap and contributing to some team who will gratefully put you in their lineup,probably A/B..
Respectfully,Mike Frank, Throw away your calendars!
If you can play, you will play.
When the Cubbies went to Roy Hobbs and I was lucky enough to join them, I was jumping up and down with joy if I were A/B in the lineup. Its about the good of the team and where you fit in..
Work out, go to cages, do sprints, stay in shape.. Talking (and age) does not matter, at all..
Hey John and Ralph: you both raise interesting ideas and questions. Thank you.
I'd imagine that readers here have heard quite enough for me for now. So, I really will try to be brief in my replies to each guy:
John: I'm glad you've made the transition out of baseball, even though yours was a painful exit, the time now seems better.
Our departures from the game are not easy for any of us. Especially for those of us (which easily includes you) who've invested a lot of time in the game. It's always hard to say goodbye to anyone or anything you love. So, while I'm not pleased to hear your broken leg was the transition agent, I am glad to read that you've recovered well enough to bike and fish, and to read here, that you seem upbeat about both.
One thought for you (and for anyone who's had injuries and surgeries), if your leg still bothers you, or seems iffy at times, let me suggest water jogging for you? I suspect you may have done some water exercises during your rehab.
In water jogging, you wear what's called an "aquajogger" vest (aquajogger.com). You strap it around your chest, and it lets you float, walk, run or swim in the water. The great thing about the jogging is that the exercise acts as both resistance and massage to your legs. All the Y's in the area have the vests so you don't have to buy one if you use the Ys; Or, you can get one online (aquajogger.com) for about $25. If you're at the lake fishing, imagine: after you pull in that 30+-inch trout, you throw yourself in the water to cool off and run, with your vest on.
I go on about the vest because 2002 to 2018, I had nine surgeries, eight of them baseball-related (both shoulders, both knees, right one twice, right elbow, hip, spine), and aqua jogging, as much as anything, brought me back. I still do it. If you've not done it, hope you do. Luck to you.
As for you my friend Ralph, thanks for your upbeat comments. I always enjoy talking with you. And I know you mean well (meaning well is how you are), but here, we part.
I would suggest that playing ball as I did at 76 and 77 is an indication that I have already thrown out the calendar, and I don't know anyone (especially among septuagenarians, but at any age) who can play this game without exercising.
So, yes, I exercise. I sprint, run, lift, bike, do nordic track, swim, go to a nearby field and hit and throw into my portable screen. So I do something, about five days a week and I often cool off (here I go again, John) water jogging.
But, and this takes us back to the beginning, we part ways Ralph in our attitudes toward A/B. I find it insulting. It's probably unintentional, but it's there, it hurts, which tells me it's wrong.
How does it insult? From one angle the manager is sending a public message that he doesn't think much of you or your skills, that he doesn't trust you to help the team when the pressure is on, even though in a sense the pressure had been on all season and during that time, you never once wore the public A/B cap. How can you feel like a true member of the team when the manager sends messages like that? It's essentially a "you're not good enough" message, one I've resisted all my life.
And A/B is senseless, too: since when did the manager's attitude about your hitting morph to fielding? It doesn't follow that because the manager thinks you're a poor hitter you can't also field.
You talk about taking on the notion that your A/B spot is "for the good of the team."
I'd say a more fitting notion would by way of the three musketeers: "One for all and all for one." Sure, each player owes something to the team ( and each gives it, in money, effort, and companionship), but the team also owes something to each player, and that something should not be an insult. A/B from my spot is an insult (see my last note above.)
What's not an insult is that the team - the PLAYING team - belongs to all of us and to each of us.
To get back to my old hobbyhorse: If you play everybody all the time, then A/B is not an issue.
I said I was going to write short and, from my angle, I did.
Again, John and Ralph, thank you for responding. I've played a fair number of games with each of you, and they were always, and easily, fine times.
-Mike
-- Edited by mikehart on Wednesday 21st of May 2025 05:08:28 AM
Who knows maybe I'll venture out to a Capital Division game someday. 
