Adult baseball: Continuing their love of the game
The Knights’ Aaron Wiegel slides into second base ahead of the tag of Orioles shortstop Jody Wilkerson Sunday during a Washington-Greene Adult Baseball League game.
Knights pitcher Mitch McClay delivers Sunday during a Washington-Greene Adult Baseball League game against the Orioles at McDowell Field in Canonsburg.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter The Oriole’s Drew Guarino gets ready alongside his team for the start of their first game of the day.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter A bag of baseballs sits outside the dugout during the Orioles vs the Knights baseball game on Sunday, July 12.
Canonsburg’s Brian Watson gives Aaron Caldwell a pat on the head at third base Sunday.
Adam Madar, right, sits with teammates in the dugout Sunday during a Washington-Greene Adult Baseball League.
The uniforms don’t fit the way the used to when they played in high school.
The belts are in need of extra tugs to get into the proper position. The run to first base seems about five feet longer than normal.
But maybe the most lasting realization that the baseball one once played is not the same as now is the morning following the game, when your muscles scream, “What in the world do you think you’re doing.”
For one thing, the players who take the field on this Sunday afternoon are continuing to play the game they love.
It’s the foundation and motivating force of the Washington-Greene Adult Baseball League.
“The chance to play ball is what attracted me,” said John Greenlee, who at age 68 is one of the oldest players in the 35-over league.
“The opportunity to play ball at this age is very limited. I’ll travel to play ball. I traveled to Latrobe to play in one of the leagues. We had one guy who traveled here from Latrobe. Some of the younger teams whip our butts but the main objective of senior baseball is to get people on the field playing ball. This league gives us an opportunity to do that.”
So when the Terence Mann character played by James Earl Jones in the movie “Field of Dreams” tells the Ray Kinsella character played by Kevin Costner that “the one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past …” it describes how many of these players feel.
It might not be near a corn field in Iowa, but the game on Forbes Field in Canonsburg on this Sunday morning stokes the same emotional response.
“First, I enjoy the game. Second, I enjoy the camaraderie of the guys. I’ve known a lot of them for 10, 12 years,” said Jeff Kurcaba, the 52-year-old financial secretary of the league who also plays outfield, first base and pitches for the Orioles. “I don’t think a lot of people know about it. For a lot of people, when you say you play baseball, they try to correct you and say, ‘You mean softball.’ I say baseball and they say they didn’t know there were any leagues for older guys.”
The Washington-Greene Adult Baseball League has three age groups: 25-over (4 teams), 35-over (3 teams) and – new this season – 45-over (4 teams). This independent league is run by 55-year-old Tony Brnusak, who is the president and umpire liasion.
“They play because they love baseball,” Brnusak said. “We have police officers, medical people, bankers, all walks of life. They come here because they love to play the game. And we do it the right way.”
Players pay a fee to join a team and that money is used to pay the umpires, purchase trophies for the winners and provide a cash payout to the top two teams. No alcohol is allowed on the field during games and no cursing is permitted. Umpires are PIAA certified. The schedule runs from May to mid-August, when the playoffs conclude, weather permitting.
Games for the four teams are played at Forbes Field, Madison Field in Monongahela, Jefferson-Morgan High School and Ringgold High School. The league has a facilites contract and liability insurance for each field.
The longest tenured player in the league is Gary Rankin, a 55-year-old who played on a team that won a gold medal at the World Masters Games in Australia in 2002.
“I go to Florida every fall to play in the Roy Hobbs World Series,” said Rankin, a graduate of Bentworth High School. “I’ve been doing that for 15 years now. … I got hooked up with Chris Haney and through him and the Roy Hobbs organization, Chris took a team to Australia to play in the Masters Olympics Games. That was the highlight of my baseball career.”
Aaron “Buck” Caldwell is in his fifth season. This season, the Canon-McMillan High School graduate is playing for the Knights. He works as a videographer at Carnegie Mellon University and also does the video work for the wrestling and football teams at Canon-McMillan.
“I always loved baseball,” the 28-year-old Caldwell said. “For a couple years, it was hard to find a team in those transition years from high school to adult league. I always wanted to play. At 24, I was eligible and it was fun to do.”
One of Caldwell’s teammates, Brandon Dittmar, still plays the game because he loves the sport, welcomes the social interaction, and finds it works nicely into the hectic life he has as a 28-year-old electrician.
“It’s once a week, so it fits my schedule,” said Dittmar, who also coaches baseball at Canon-McMillan. “(When I was) coaching baseball, it was tough to get to some of the other leagues I played in. I get to play with a lot of my friends. I played with these guys and these are some of my good friends. That’s a major draw for me. My body is starting to fall apart.”