Seasons in the Sun

When we were younger, we played softball in the summer and in the fall. Fall ball stopped several years ago. The picture below illustrates the reason better than any words I could write.
It was cold. It was very, very cold. In fact, it was freezing. Literally freezing. We played an entire fall season with temperatures at night in the 30's and below. A few times, it was snowing while we played. Many times, both teams and the ump stayed in their vehicles until game time, just to stay warm.
We wore our winter gear while sitting on the bench when we were batting. While on defense we wore winter gloves on our non-throwing hands.
After the next summer season, we apparently still had vivid memories of that fall season, because nobody was interested in fielding a fall team. Of course, that year, we had a very mild fall and people did start to get the itch. However, one blustery day in October brought everyone back to reality and the idea of a fall league pretty much was put to rest forever.

Billy Frigelis (bundled and still freezing) in Park Ridge, IL-early 00's.

Seasons in the Sun

Last week, I featured my first softball team photo. This week, I fast forwarded about 15 years to feature my Dogs of War softball team.
After several seasons on the field and several cutbacks in the office, it became too much of a challenge to field a team at Lerner Newspapers. Fortunately around the same time, Louie's team was suffering from attrition, too. I was occasionally asked to be a sub (when they were really desperate). Aside from being in a men's league, this team was definitely a step-up competitively from the Lerner teams.
The picture below is one of my favorite shots. It just screams 'softball'. I love the sun, mismatched shirts, 16 inch ball...all of it.
I also like the grit shown by Jim G. (standing far right). Jim hit a hard shot and had thoughts of going for 2nd base. The poorly manicured field of Park Ridge didn't fully cooperate, but Jim was not to be denied. A shirtful of dirt, sore shoulder and a great effort later, Jim was safe with another of his key hits.

The Dogs in Park Ridge, IL-mid 2000's.