Golden Seniors Geezer Gazette

Jan. 1, 2014

Geezer Gazette

We are going to have a very historic and happy new year. You may not know how historic you will be.

Florida started senior softball before Sacramento. In 1931, a team of 75+ players created Kids and Cubs. Later, they created two 75+ teams so they could play each other when not traveling. They are like a tournament team. When they travel, as they once did years ago to Sacramento to play our Golden Senior team, they take the best players from their two teams. Jack Jacinto remembers watching that game. There are no other known 75+ weekly leagues in Florida or anywhere.

When we created a 75+ league with FOUR teams, four years ago, that was the first weekly league of four teams for 75+ players in the world. That was historic! Next season, we will have the World’s First and only 80+ Senior Softball Weekly League. That is even more historic! Thank you all for your cooperation in making this possible right here in Sacramento. Now, we have the best incentives to keep in playing condition and having fun together for as long as possible. Age 92 is our current record for active players. Will anyone make it 93? Bill Riehl plans to keep pushing the goal farther.

Tip: Notice that most of the oldest players are both short and thin. We tall geezers can’t change that, but remember the saying, “You see a lot of old men, and you see a lot of fat men, but you don’t see as many old fat men.” It is past time for me to work harder on being “thin” which is within my control. Now is the time for New Year’s resolutions to lose weight. As Nike says, let’s “Just Do It” to give our legs and feet a break.

We will have the opportunity to test several options. Some said it was a big mistake to create a 75+ league; a big mistake to expand to six 75+ teams, and they quit in opposition; a big mistake to create four 80+ teams; a big mistake to test playing any games with 75-70 teams because the 80’s are too weak; a big mistake to test letting the 80+ teams have a center fielder for 12 defenders in the field to help those “weak old bodies,” etc. Thank you for being tolerant and patient while we continue to test several new options in 2014. If the worst fears prove correct, we can make appropriate changes as we have in the past. You may even have some good changes to recommend to make our games more enjoyable. If you liked having a 75+ league and liked having six teams in that league, then please assume that all options we test in the 80+ division are not cast in stone.

Let’s test and make a decision on known facts, not assumptions of how bad it will be without even trying it for a reasonable time.

Have a Happy New Year! It is great to be having fun with all of you as we enjoy retirement beyond our normal life expectancy. We are now in “overtime” so relax and enjoy every day!

Larry Campbell