A Return to Spring : Senior Baseball Lets Players Feel Young

They come to the Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series hoping to turn back the hands of time, but for the hands of the body--as well as the shoulders, back, knees and ankles--time marches on.

Players here are a few steps slower, sometimes a few pounds heavier, and their bodies, age 30 and older, aren’t equipped to handle the punishment of six games in four days--even more games if you make the championship rounds.

The secret to survival? They simply pop Motrins and Advils like sunflower seeds, turning the MSBL World Series into an Ibuprofen Festival.

“I’m in shape to play once a week, but when you play four games in two days, you don’t feel so good anymore,” said Bryan Hoppie, a former Santa Ana High School infielder who played seven years in the minor leagues and helped the Southern California Blue Jays to a second-place finish in last week’s 30-and-over National division. “Seven Advils later, and my arm is still hanging.”

Blue Jay teammate Gary Ledbetter, a 1973 Villa Park graduate who played five years in the San Francisco Giants’ organization, caught 18 innings on Nov. 1.

“I felt like a dead mackerel,” said Ledbetter, who has grown from 220 pounds to 275 since his pro playing days. “It’s going to be a long ride home at the end of the week.”

They could be spending their summer weekends playing less-strenuous sports, such as golf or even slow-pitch softball, but that wouldn’t tame the baseball beast in these guys.

“A lot of us have played pro ball and can’t get it out of our system,” Ledbetter, 37, said. “There’s a beauty to this game that the average fan can’t see. It’s a cross between a great piece of art and a ballet.”

Indeed, the MSBL World Series is part Norman Rockwell, part Nutcracker Suite. It’s grueling. It’s painful. But for so many, it’s a nostalgic return to simpler times.

“This is a chance to recapture my childhood,” said Dan Hodes, a 38-year-old trial lawyer from Corona del Mar. “My fondest memories as a kid were playing baseball and watching baseball at Yankee and Shea stadiums. To recapture that part of my life by doing this is a pretty wonderful thing.”

Sound bites from the MSBL World Series:

* In the dugout: “I got to the big leagues with San Francisco for about 30 seconds.”

“Yeah, he had a cup of coffee, no cream.”

* After the game: “Let’s go have a few beers.”

“You’re buying, right?”

“If I have to run from first to home again, I might buy the farm!”

* From the bleachers: “Hey Mick, that’s Jerry Reuss at first base.”

“He looks great, he lost weight. He doesn’t have that $100 a day meal money.”

* On the field: “Get me another Motrin, damn it!”

It has become a November tradition in the Valley of the Sun. Thousands of men descend upon the Phoenix area to play baseball, to eat, drink and be merry, to bond with other males and to put the stress of daily life behind them.

They come from all over the country, from all walks of life, most hoping to fend off middle age by playing the game that makes them feel--at least emotionally--like kids again. They come in different shapes and sizes and degrees of talent, but a love for the game is their common denominator.

There’s the attorney playing next to the pool cleaner; the politician playing next to the salesman; the out-of-shape, overweight guy playing against the former professional; the guys from Connecticut going against guys from Southern California, Chicago and Oklahoma.

Their accents might differ, but so much of the game--the on-field chatter, dugout banter, players diving for grounders even though their bodies beg them not to--is universal.

There’s no network television coverage, very few fans and no World Series shares--unless, of course, you’re talking about five ballplayers squeezing into one hotel room.

But for many, this is the ultimate athletic high.

“This has been our fantasy since we were kids,” said Jimmy Breslin, a 41-year-old insurance salesman from Villa Park who played for the Southern California Dodgers. “It’s an opportunity to play out a dream I’ve always wanted, to be a pro ballplayer. It’s so close to being authentic because of the uniforms, the great fields and stadiums and the competition. It’s the total baseball experience.”

The MSBL, whose motto is “Don’t Go Soft--Play Hardball,” is the brainchild of Steve Sigler of Jericho, N.Y. The league that began with four teams and 56 players on Long Island in 1986 has grown to some 1,900 teams and 20,000 players today. Paralleling that growth has been the MSBL World Series, which featured 38 teams the first year (1988) and 195 this year.

To accommodate the larger field, Sigler broke the tournament into three classifications: 30-and-over teams, which began Nov. 1 and finished Saturday, and 40-and-over and 50-and-over teams, which began Monday and conclude Saturday.

The 30-and-over and 40-and-over groups are separated into three divisions--the National League allows a maximum of five ex-professional players per team and features the highest-caliber play; the American League allows two ex-pros per team and features many ex-college and high school players, and the Central League for lower-level teams.

Reuss, the former Dodger pitcher who played 22 years in the major leagues, is about the biggest name in this year’s tournament. Former Angel pitcher Tom Murphy is playing this year, as are dozens of ex-minor leaguers.

There was a rumor that Corbin Bernsen, who plays divorce attorney Arnie Becker on “L.A. Law,” and Michael Richards, who plays Kramer on “Seinfeld,” were playing for the Hollywood Stars.

A check of the Stars didn’t turn up any stars, television or otherwise. This is a team that described itself in the World Series program as “mediocre.” But there were at least two celebrities--Tom Hayden, the former Vietnam War protester who is now a state senator from Santa Monica, and Mel Levine, who lost to Barbara Boxer in the 1992 Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat.

“Sigler is amazing--he had an idea, and everyone came,” said Hayden, who began playing when he was 40 and is now 53. “Our guys only quit when they’re completely destroyed, when they have major surgery or something. We’ll be playing until we’re 65. We’ll be the first guys who die playing baseball instead of golf.”

For many MSBL players, Arizona in November is baseball heaven. The weather is perfect--warm, sunny days, cool but comfortable evenings. By the time the tournament is over, some 630 games will be played at 18 Phoenix-area sites, including the spring training stadiums of seven major league teams. Each team is guaranteed six games, with at least one in a stadium.

A $155 player registration fee includes a T-shirt, barbecue, entrance to a trade show and an end-of-the-tournament banquet, which will feature Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda. Visitors are expected to pump $2.4 million into the local economy.

“It has become an event, not just a bunch of baseball games,” Sigler said. “Most of the guys are married and have families and responsibilities, but this is like being in school with your friends. You don’t have to worry about what you have to do tomorrow. I enjoy seeing guys hang by the pool, in the sports bars. It’s like a frat party.”

Added Larry Dematteo, a 32-year-old Los Alamitos resident who played with the Southern California Angels: “It’s baseball for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week. You get away from the regular routine, and you get to play on real nice fields, compared to home. It’s a bit of a fantasy.”

*

The MSBL World Series has different meanings for different people.

For Craig and Kim Hoxie of Huntington Beach, it’s a honeymoon. Seriously. The two met eight months ago and were married Oct. 30 in Las Vegas. Craig, a pitcher on the Southern California Dodgers, already had this trip planned, and they’re saving to buy a house, and they couldn’t afford an expensive honeymoon, so . . .

“I know if someone read this they’d probably think we were pretty weird,” Kim Hoxie said. “But it’s not as bad as it sounds. I don’t get a vacation until next March, and canceling this was out of the question.”

For Al Hanssler of the Long Island Yankees, it’s a trip down memory lane. Hanssler brought his wife and two kids to the 1992 MSBL World Series and extended the vacation with a few days in the Grand Canyon.

It was there that his 30-year-old wife, Jennifer, who was undergoing chemotherapy treatments, suffered a brain hemorrhage and died. Hanssler said returning to places he and his wife had visited turned this year’s Series into a sentimental journey. He also returned to the Grand Canyon Monday, exactly a year after her death.

“I wanted to be there on the anniversary of her death,” said Hanssler, a 34-year-old who runs a meat-processing plant in New York. “I figure I’ll go the Grand Canyon (Monday) just to cry.”

For V.J. Lovero, a 34-year-old sports photographer from North Tustin, it was a chance to be on the other side of the lens. Lovero, who shot the World Series--the real one, between the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies--for Sports Illustrated, got to pitch Wednesday in Phoenix Municipal Stadium, spring training home of the Oakland Athletics.

Men’s Senior Baseball League

FACTS AND FIGURES

* Number of states: 42

* Territories: St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico

* Other countries: Holland, Canada

* Age requirements: Players must be 30 years and older. Former professional players must not have played pro ball for at least three years.

* Rules: Standard baseball rules. Exceptions include 10-man minimum batting order, courtesy runners for injured players, free and unlimited defensive substitutions.

* Ex-major leaguers: Jim Barr, Jose Cardenal, Rudy Law, Jim Willoughby, Bob Oliver, Lowell Palmer, Ron LeFlore, Jerry Reuss.

GROWTH CHART

YEAR 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Teams 4 200 208 500 700 1,000 1,400 1,900 Players 56 2,800 3,000 7,000 10,000 14,000 18,000 20,000 Series Teams -- -- 38 69 97 124 151 195

Source: Men’s Senior Baseball League