A story I cannot confirm or deny

Men's Senior Baseball League World Series

My post-game story

 

I was the last of the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers to depart from the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, I was bruised and battered after a long week of play that included four nine-inning games and my finale on Friday afternoon, which was limited to seven innings due to a run rule that left me scurrying away from Fitch Park in Mesa, Arizona.

I checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning and headed for the Cracker Barrel in Mesa to meet up with a high school chum who had shown up to watch me play against the St. Thomas Hurricanes last Thursday at the Salt River Complex in Scottsdale.

My high school classmate, Gregg Kuntz, lives within walking distance of Talking Stick (well, I might be exaggerating, but a short drive, nonetheless) from the spring training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies.

At the age of 77, I again didn't bring home a championship ring at the senior world series. Still, I felt I had accomplished something by just playing in the prestigious event held every October throughout the Phoenix area at all the major league spring training grounds, which included 3,000 players and close to 300 teams from all over the country.

My legs were aching as I waited for Gregg and our 9 AM meeting. I was a little early, so I sat in a rocker (which is very appropriate), and a man on a bicycle showed up, took off his helmet, and found a rocking chair next to mine.

He said, and I'm not exaggerating here, that he had just arrived in Mesa, Arizona, after a 60-day bike ride from Seattle.

I shook my head. He said his name was Ed Hlebak, and he was 57 years old. Then, quickly, I stopped complaining about the pain in my legs after my five grueling games at the senior world series.

As I said in the headline at the top of this story, I cannot confirm or deny the story of the man and his bike. However, I found a photo on the internet of the same bike parked outside a Flagstaff establishment along Route 66.

Mr. Hleback was en route to Florida but needed repairs on his bike and just happened to be at the Cracker Barrel. Now, I have a few skills left as an investigative reporter, even at my advanced age, so I got busy on my laptop and discovered this gentleman had family in Mesa and lived not too far from the Cracker Barrel.

The repairs on the bike were extensive, so my buddy Gregg reached into his billfold and donated a few bucks to the man who had just arrived from Seattle and was heading for Florida -- once the repairs to the bike were in order, that is.

Inside the Cracker Barrel, the two 1963 classmates from Tucson Catalina High School sat down for breakfast and a meeting that lasted nearly two hours as we discussed anything and everything about our lives, hopes and dreams, accomplishments, and failures. It was a pleasant experience and an enjoyable one. And we hope to do it again when he ventures to Tucson, not on a bike, but by car. Gregg, of course, is also 77.

Getting back to Mr. Hlebak for a moment. He said his family ventured to the United States from the Czech Republic and ended up in Youngstown, Ohio. The pleasant gentleman sat back in the Cracker Barrel rocker and said his bike was an Eazy Sports Racer and a recumbent where you just sit back and relax all the way from Seattle.

Hlebak also said he worked on a destroyer in the Navy for 13 years. There was more to the story, but Gregg showed, and we had more important things to discuss. We finally said goodbye to our second waitress two hours later, left the table, and headed through the main entrance. We noticed Mr. Hlebak, who was still sitting in the rocker. We waved our goodbyes. I hope to see Gregg soon, and I'd love to run into Mr. Hlebak one of these days and get the rest of the story.

For now, I'll shake my head, return home and rest up. It's been an enjoyable week.

Photos: 1) A bike parked outside a Flagstaff establishment along Route 66. 2) Mr. Hlebak and his bike outside the Cracker Barrel in Mesa, and 3) Catalina High School classmates Gregg Kuntz and Danny "Pigpen" Price.