On the Way Out series
Vol. 3
Part 9
One man's journey through baseball...a passion that lives on.
To say Joe is the only one I know that has a passion for baseball would be like saying Rodney Dangerfield has finally run out of jokes. Of course, that would never happen -- if the stand-up comedian was alive today.
Dangerfield passed away, at the age of 82, back in 2004. My goodness, that was 17 years ago.
His favorite one liner: "I don't get no respect!"
Getting back to my buddy, Joe. I respect the old fella. Who am I calling old? Joe is just shy of his 80th birthday and I'm the youngster at 76!
Joe is one of 4,000 players, in different age groups, that will be there for opening day next weekend at the 34th annual Men's Senior Baseball League World Series in Phoenix. He'll play for a couple of teams and get an early start on me. I'll join him on the week of the 25th of October with the 73-and-over New England Red Sox.
Yesterday, Joe arrived in Tucson, all the way from New Jersey and showed up for a Tucson Aces' game, a team I'm on... and this is hard for me to say, but I'm the oldest player on that roster. Most of the Aces, are members of our 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers, but they are all youngsters -- between the ages of 60 to 70.
Now Joe and I have been playing at the MSBL World Series for 14 years. We have been through just about everything you can think of at the prestigious event -- on and off the field with injuries and our share of calamities. Granted, Joe may have been involved in the most freakish of accidents, away from the field.
And this is no joke, folks! Even Dangerfield couldn't have made this up. This occurred ten years ago:
We left the hotel early one morning, a few hours before our World Series' game. I had left just one half hour ahead of Joe with some other teammates. The cafe was called the Iowa Cafe, even though we were over 1,500 miles from Iowa.
Joe was running late, made a left turn, pulled into the parking lot and parked close to the business next door -- a golf cart business.
He rushed in and placed his order and sat down. Moments later, the sound of a crash outside echoed through out the cafe. There was a small executive airport nearby and our first thought: an airplane crash. Nope! An elderly lady had lost control of her car and sent Joe' car to join the field of golf carts next door -- Joe's car completely demolished.
I think we won our game that day. That was the good news!
Note: Just as a quick add-on -- Joe drove during the night on Tuesday in order to save a little time. Somewhere near the border of Arizona and New Mexico, Joe came into contact with a coyote -- leaving a nice little hole on the bumper of his car. Bottom line: Joe will be in Phoenix on Saturday ready to play.
New England Red Sox -- 2021 73-and-over MSBL World Series final roster and jersey numbers: The most famous player on our roster: Bill "Spaceman" Lee, #37, who won 119 games in the pros with the Boston Red Sox (1969-78) and the Montreal Expos (1979-82).
| 1 | BOB DELIEGE |
| 2 | JOEL WEINSTEIN |
| 4 | JOE JIMENEZ |
| 7 | DICK SCULLARY |
| 8 | RENE SMITH |
| 12 | SIMON BEJARANO |
| 16 | JACK MCGROARTY |
| 20 | DANNY PRICE |
| 23 | DAVE BYARS |
| 24 | PETE FUNT |
| 27 | MIKE BARRAZA |
| 28 | PETE PETERS |
| 37 | BILL LEE |
| 41 | JOE BANNER |
| 43 | OZZIE ESPINOZA |
| 45 | PHIL GRAJEDA |
| 61 | MIKE MORALES |
Photos above: 1) My buddy Joe#22 and a long-time teammate from Tucson, Mike Morales. 2) Bill "Spaceman" Lee. 3). Me
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