The Cardiac Kids : Over 55? Want to Play Ball? The Orange Coast Cards Might Want You, but There’s This One Condition. . .

When the Orange Coast Cards utter their slogan, “We Survived the Cut,” they’re not kidding.

Most of the players on this 55-years-and-older softball team share more than just a love of the nation’s favorite pastime. They’ve undergone open-heart surgery.

Other players have suffered heart attacks. When they’re short-handed, as they were Sunday at Columbus Park in Tustin, they’ll allow a couple of “ringers” to join them so they can field a team.

The Cards--the name is derived from team sponsor Orange Coast Cardiovascular Thoracic Medical Group--average 59 in age, and look like anything but recent heart patients. In Sunday’s senior tournament, they began by belting out a 13-5 victory over the Fullerton Spirits.

Hot Start, Cool Finish

Later, however, the Cards stumbled and made an early exit, losing by wide margins in their next two games. But earlier, things were really clicking for the Cards.

There was bypass veteran and outfielder Pete Michelle, running like a rabbit to snag a looping fly ball. Later, Michelle, 60, hit a hard grounder past the second baseman and then tore all the way around the diamond to score when two outfielders let the ball roll past them.

“It’s how you feel,” Michelle said. “If you feel that you’re tired and you’re always out of wind, you probably shouldn’t play. I feel fine.” He said he was walking four to five miles just one week after his operation.

There was Dr. Vic Greco, 60, (a heart doctor and one of the “ringers”) who lined a single through the middle to score two runs. At third base, Roger Oxenford, 59, leaned right to stab a drive down the line for an out in the top of the sixth.

John Batok, pitching a tough game, stepped up to bat in the seventh and lofted a three-run homer over the left fielder’s head.

Playing may be therapeutic, but winning is even better. “After this game, I’m going to sign all you guys up, extend your contracts,” manager Ted Koziatek, 59, yelled from the dugout.

Triple Bypass Operation

The win in the early game was especially satisfying for Batok, 61, who organized the Cards earlier this year after undergoing a triple heart bypass operation Jan. 15.

“When I got out, there were a lot of myths and mysteries and fantasies about what happens to you. I think there is a general misconception that if you’ve had a heart attack, you got one foot in the grave,” Batok said. He expressed anger as he recalled the notice that his life insurance premium would be raised by $900 a year.

“I just said ‘to hell with it. This is a bunch of crap.’ And when something obsesses me like this, I want to get something done. I’m different, I don’t do the normal things that normal people do. I’d never heard of a softball team composed of all heart patients so I got to working on it.”

Batok called about 60 cardiovascular doctors in Orange County, explaining his goal and obtaining numbers of their patients. For the most part, the doctors were enthusiastic, he said.

The Orange Coast Cardiovascular Thoracic Medical Group thought it was such a good idea that they offered to sponsor the team. So far, they’ve provided $1,500, which has paid for uniforms, equipment and pizza parties after the games. No player has to kick in any money, Batok said.

The Cards kicked off the franchise in September in a Huntington Beach league and promptly lost their first five games, ending the season 2-7-1. The tie was the hardest to swallow.

“It was a stupid umpire’s decision,” Batok said. “We were walking off the field and the ump said our guy hadn’t touched second base. That one was tough to take.”

They took some kidding, too. Batok recalled one opponent yelling “coffee break” when an ambulance drove by the field.

Now the Cards’ reputation is spreading and opponents who gathered Sunday in Tustin stopped by the dugout to say hello. George Abraham, who organizes softball leagues and tournaments in Southern California full time, expressed the reaction that Batok said is common.

“I thought it was great that these guys are even alive, much less able to play softball,” Abraham said.

A couple of doctors, who are themselves heart patients, Greco and internist Dr. Stanley Doll, 60, are players.

Doll, who has had two bypass operations, said he believes the exercise is beneficial and the enthusiastic play is therapeutic. The camaraderie and fun is important, he said, stressing that he turned down tickets to Sunday’s Rams game to play for the Cards.

Health Concerns

Doll admitted he was hesitant at first and kept an eye on each Card to be sure they weren’t exhibiting telltale trouble signs such as excessive sweating.

“I thought at first, I should bring an oxygen tank and keep it in my car. But nobody’s had any problems,” he said.

Oxenford said that each would-be Card has to decide for himself whether he can play. He suffered a mild heart attack while watching the 1976 Olympics on TV and had open-heart surgery in August, 1978. He said all heart surgery patients feel weak at first and gradually regain strength after surgery.

Oxenford and Batok are members of Mended Hearts Inc., a support group of people who provide counseling for heart surgery patients.

“We give them the confidence that this thing does work and we’re living proof of that,” Oxenford said.

Although the Cards enjoyed their early win Sunday, by the end of the day the big losses had taken their toll and there was little enthusiasm for the usual post-game pizza.

“I’m not just out to be a happy loser,” Batok said, “I want to be a happy winner.”