Friday, February 3, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar
Arlington Today Magazine
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Arlington Today Magazine

Where you can still be a kid

ArlingtonToday Magazine by ArlingtonToday Magazine
April 2, 2018
in Arlington News, Community, People
0 0
0
Where you can still be a kid
0
SHARES
38
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The idea of lounging on a couch sipping green tea after retirement is actually an enticing option following a demanding career doing “You Fill In The Blank.”

Related posts

February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

Then the next day arrives.

Can’t say Dennis Bashore wrestled with this quandary, but after traveling nearly non-stop for Hewitt Packard, he was all set to downshift to neutral.

That was 11 years ago.

Since then he’s been having a heck of a (good) time trying to find his body’s turbo-power switch. Gotta be there somewhere. Extra oomph certainly helps when trying to stretch a base hit into a double or beating out that grounder to short.

Bashore is still quite nimble for a 71-year-old, though what he sees his body doing and what it actually does are often at odds.

Still, Bashore is quite content on a baseball diamond with his peeps, other ballers who also compete in the Metroplex Senior Citizens Softball Association, which now has 31 teams in 16 cities and three divisions – players 55, 55 and up, and 65 and up, including 91-year-old Johnny Williams and an 80-something player who competed with an oxygen tank strapped to his back.

The league grows mainly via word of mouth, says Jim Delmar, 82, MSCSA treasurer and manager of the J. Gilligan’s-sponsored Arlington Angels.

“Sometimes you’ll see someone in the gym who looks relatively healthy and just ask, ‘you play sports?”

They are often enticed by the rules, which center on bodily protection. No sliding, no contact. Extra bases are off to the sides of other bases, giving runners a clear path. Can’t run? A teammate can run for you.

Delmar doesn’t play much any more, not since that 2010 operation that put a pair of titanium rods in his back. “So I just manage and coach,” Delmar says. “Although the guys know what to do. I tell them to do something, and they say; ‘nah, I’ll do it my way.’ We have a good time, though.”

They do. Good-natured one-liners zip around this lively bunch; usually the barbs deal with age (“Ten years ago you would have caught that!” one player heckles another), and often the jokes are a form of self-deprecation. Watching the Angels battle the Grand Prairie Gophers in a pre-season game was a little like sitting in on a Rodney Dangerfield concert.

No one (wink, wink) got respect.

There is something gloriously humbling when you’re all in the same boat. As one Angel player put it, “We’re experts in surgeries – hips, backs, knees, since we’ve all had one or two. Or three.”

Of course, boys will still be boys, so the more “serious” players find such wordy repartee distracting. Delmar says to each his own, but he thinks it is far more fun to play for fun.

That’s the story with Edith Brown, 55 and one of the few women on the roster. Quick with a strong arm, she’s been playing shortstop on traveling teams. Colleges didn’t have much in the way of women’s softball in her day.

“This was my dad’s favorite sport, so he drafted me as a little girl and taught me all I know,” says Brown, who runs a non-profit shelter for abused families. “Being out here with these guys is absolutely wonderful.”

Ken Nelson, 73, hadn’t played the sport in years but returned after retiring from his metal stamping business.

“Man, what fun, and not just because I kinda like this bunch of cranky, grumpy guys on walkers,” he says, laughing.

Bashore likes them, too.

“What you don’t know about retirement is that the moment you leave work the 20 friends you had dissolves,” he says. “Being secretary of the league I’ve made 40 to 50 friends.”

That’s not even the coolest thing.

“I’m 71 years old and still playing a kids game,” he says before taking the field. “Don’t get any better than that.”

Columnist Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today since it debuted. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer.

Related Posts

  • Dental Health

  • Arlington On Tap

    Popular happy hour lecture series returns next month with an eclectic speaker assembly

  • Real Estate Professionals

     

Tags: Arlington TexasretiringWe Know Arlington
Fundentists

Follow Us

  • But first   coffee    The Arlington Dunkin    located at 5801 Office Park Dr  today announced it will help keep the community running with a happy hour celebration offer throughout the remainder of August  Every day beginning now through Monday  August 31  guests can power through the rest of the month and receive a FREE  Medium Hot or Iced Coffee with any purchase from 2-6 PM   On behalf of local Arlington Dunkin    franchisee  Hiren Patel  Dunkin    is proud to keep Arlington running throughout the month of August
  • Nothing soothes the soul like a trip to the Majestic Smoky Mountains  Read all about the Greene family   s    COVID-cation    and travel safety in the link in our bio
  • Read the latest message from UTA   s interim president  Teik C  Lim  by clicking the link in our bio
  • The City of Arlington announces Unity Council  Read all about this positive way for the city in the link in our bio
  • Here   s to the All Stars  Click the link in our bio to find the complete list of Arlington Today   s 2020 All Star businesses in over 160 categories
  • Put DFW Restaurant week on YOUR calendar  Support your favorite Arlington and local DFW restaurants this August 31-September 6 during restaurant week    For more info and participating restaurants  click the link in our bio
  • This Arlington radio station is making movie magic   Read all about Crystal Vasquez and her upcoming documentary about local radio station     The Ticket     by clicking the link in our bio
  • With the school year starting soon  it   s important to know what   s going on  Read all about AISD and MISD   s back to school plans in the link in our bio
  • August is for the All Stars        Click the link in our bio to read our latest edition of Arlington Today and check out your local All  Star businesses
  • 12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • March Scene

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Visionary Who Didn’t Give Up

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boot-scootin’ Boogie

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • In case of emergency: Mansfield Fire Department introduces the ‘Vial of Life’ initiative to keep residents on the ready

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Arlington Today Magazine

Arlington Texas Area News and Events Magazine

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • (no title)
  • (no title)
  • (no title)

Category

  • Arlington News
  • Business and Education
  • Commentary
  • Community
  • Design and Interiors
  • Featured
  • People
  • Scene
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellness

Recent News

February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar

© 2022 Arlington Today - Designed by Advent Trinity Marketing Agency Web Design

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • People
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Arlington Today - Designed by Advent Trinity Marketing Agency Web Design

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add Arlington Today Magazine to your Homescreen!

Add