THE BOYS OF SUNDAY : Amateur, Over-30 Baseball Players Get a Chance to Get Dirty, Sweaty and ‘Grab a Piece of Their Youth’

A half hour before game time last Sunday, only eight players from the Cubs, a baseball team for men over 30, were at El Dorado High in Placentia. With cigarettes dangling from their lips, several played catch under the simmering sun in tank tops or no shirts at all.

Manager Tony McCullough, a giant of a man with a handshake to match, seemed unconcerned about late arrivals, but was upset over three new batting helmets he had in a canvas bag.

“Green,” he said of their color. “All I could get.”

The Cubs’ uniforms--white, blue and red--are modeled after the Chicago Cubs of the National League.

In many cases, the Men’s Senior Baseball League of Southern California Inc. serves as a throwback for these men, or, at least, fills a void in their lives.

“This league gives these guys a chance to grab a piece of their youth,” league President Dennis Swartout said.

There are 24 teams in the Southern California league, an affiliate of the Men’s Senior Baseball League, which was founded six years ago in Jericho, N.Y. The league has grown to include 15,000 players and 100 leagues nationwide.

The Southern California league, begun in 1988 with six teams, includes teams from San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties. The league expects to add at least two more teams--probably from the South Bay--in 1992.

Swartout is also hopeful of placing several teams in the Long Beach/Southeast area. In previous years, the long-running city-sponsored Sunday league in Long Beach has made it difficult to build a following there.

The Cubs, from Carson, are also looking at a move next season, because securing a home field has been difficult. The league moved the team’s game with the Indians to Placentia Sunday to save $150 a day on rental costs at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The league budget for balls, umpires and fields is $54,000 a year. Players, who pay a minimum of $220 each, must supply equipment, uniforms and transportation, which more than double the cost of the 18-game regular season, plus playoffs. Games are played on Sundays from April through August.

A nine-man volunteer board of directors runs the local league, which plays host to an all-star game in October at Cerritos College. Nationally, a 120-team world series is scheduled in several Arizona cities in November.

Major League Baseball rules apply, although teams may bat 10 men and designated baserunners are allowed.

Warren Yeager, 31, a TV cameraman who recently moved to Santa Monica from Washington, where he pitched in a senior league, said the quality of players in Southern California is far greater than he imagined.

“People here hit (your) mistakes,” said Yeager, a left-hander for the Cubs. “Back there you could get away with them.”

Pitching is still the league’s weak spot, according to Ralph Lewis, a right-hander from Rancho Palos Verdes. Lewis, who wears a bushy, gray mustache, admitted only that his age was “38 on a good day.” But unlike many players in the league, his stomach does not hang over his belt.

“This is definitely a hitter’s league,” he said. “Some of these guys can sure swing a bat, but they may not be able to run or field.”

Said Swartout: “Each year we have noticed that the quality of play has gone up.”

Field conditions are not always good. Only the junior varsity field at El Dorado was available. No bases were available, either. Instead, three white rubber plates, more common in youth softball games, were used. The field was not lined with chalk and the dirt was so dry that puffs of brown dust rose from the batters box with every swing.

However, Swartout said that by moving the Cubs the league will have enough money to rent a portable restroom for the two fields.

Clearly, it is the opportunity to play ball that brings out the players.

“I love baseball,” said Bill DeJesus, 34, a burly truck driver from Long Beach who played third base. “I like this team. I’ve found a home.”

McCullough, 31, said he has made new friends.

“You meet a lot of nice people here,” said the 6-foot-6, 295-pound manager of a restaurant and nightclub in Cerritos. He was a football player at Leuzinger High in Gardena and began playing amateur baseball 10 years ago.

Swartout said the league provides an alternative to playing slow-pitch softball.

“They come out here, smell the grass, get dirty and bruised and then they can go home and rant and rave,” he said. “They go to work the next day and tell everyone how well they did.”

Said Lewis, a research analyst: “The players here play for fun, but they play for blood and guts as well.”

Janie DeMatteo, who wore a Cub shirt and hat as she stood behind the third base dugout, makes the games a family affair. Her husband, Larry, 30, is the Cub catcher.

“We have three kids, and coming here is nice for the whole family,” she said. “All of us can enjoy it. It’s not just for him.”

Designated hitter Rick Ahr, 37, a Burbank teacher, rubbed sunscreen on the face of his 9-year-old before the game began. He explained that playing baseball is one way that many people can deal with the inevitable.

“I’m going to my old age fighting and screaming,” he said.

Players from the Indians straggle onto the field through an opening in the left field fence as the Cubs take infield practice. Two more Cub players arrive, although the starting shortstop--and umpires--fail to show by the 1 p.m. starting time. Lewis, using an aluminum bat, hits another spirited round of the infield.

Yeager takes the mound--the game starts 18 minutes late when two umpires arrive--and gives up a leadoff triple, a wild pitch, a double and two runs. The Indian rally ends on a double play.

“Not bad for a bunch of old men,” said leadoff hitter Vince Oliver as he jogged in from shortstop.

Oliver gets on base, reaches third and with two out, McCullough bounces a single over the head of the Indian’s pot-bellied pitcher, who grunts loudly with each pitch. Oliver scores, but the Indians score four more times in the second. Accustomed to playing in Carson’s cooler sea breezes, the Cubs tire early.

Lewis, the Cubs’ lone reliever, enters the game in the third inning and, despite stiffness in his shoulder, equals the longest outing of his senior career--seven innings. He allows five hits and three earned runs, but the Cubs play some sloppy defense and cannot rally. Three hours and 20 minutes after it began, the Cubs lose, 14-3, their 11th loss in 16 games.

DeMatteo, who complains about the smog, enters the dugout wiping dirt-stained sweat from his brow.

“At least we didn’t get shut out, and, well, we had a good time,” he said.

McCullough tells the team that they will discuss the day over beer at a nearby bar.

“Playing this game gives the working man something to look forward to on Sunday,” he said.