In it for the game

Suzie Harrison

Batter up, it’s time to get going around the bases for some summer

fun and camaraderie on the baseball field. The smell of fresh cut

grass and the feeling of being a youth again is a mitt away for any

interested male 65 and older who wants to play in a league in Newport

Beach.

Paul Gerst, 76, of Newport Beach, the organizer and commissioner,

is looking for some men who want to get in on the fun of playing

senior softball.

“The players range in age from 65 to 80,” Gerst said. “Right now,

we have about 45 guys signed up, and 33 guys showed up this morning.

We’re hoping to get four teams of 12 or 13 guys.”

He said he wants about 60 players who will show up despite having

grandchildren that show up to play.

Some of the players have been playing most of their lives.

Gerst told a story about player Matt Smith rounding the bases.

“He runs like a streak,” Gerst said. “The reason he wears

suspenders is that once while playing in a tournament, he got a hit

and his pants fell down between first and second base. Now he wears

them all the time.”

Tauno Koivisto, 71, said he’s played in another league for 15

years. It’s good fun and camaraderie, he said.

“A lot of guys are very good players,” Gerst said. “Some on the

Old Timers team play in tournaments in Las Vegas and other places.”

Fundamentally, he said they are guys who love baseball. He said

the teams will be put together fairly because they want everyone to

play -- and they don’t want to load up just one team with all the

superstars.

“It’s 12-inch softball slow-pitch,” Gerst said. “Senior softball

has different rules because there can’t be any physical contact

presumably.”

Gerst started playing five or six years ago in a league in Anaheim

because that was the closest place to play.

“I was sitting on the docks by my boat, and a guy complained he

wrecked his knee playing ball,” Gerst said.

That’s how he got involved to start -- when the opportunity to

play in his own back yard came, he jumped at the chance, as did a

bunch of the other players.

Playing in Newport is superior, with nice grass and brick dust by

the plates, he said -- other towns have fields of dust.

“This is like playing in heaven,” Gerst said.

The games are at 10 a.m. every Monday at Bonita Park in Newport

Beach, which is at the intersection of University and La Vida. Gerst

said just show up to join. The cost is $10 to join a team with the

season lasting 16 games with nine innings to a game. June 16 will be

the third game.

“A friend of mine told me about it -- it’s my first game out

here,” Noel Hackworth, 69, said. “It’s interesting that everyone

comes from different backgrounds and would never have had the

opportunity to meet otherwise. The bad thing is that we’re only as

good as our last at-bat.”

Gerst said that there aren’t a lot of things an old guy can do

besides swing dance and taking pictures with their grandchildren --

except play senior softball.

“This is our personal field of dreams,” Gerst said.