League’s players have aged, but they’re hardly old-timers

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By S.A. Thornbloom | Tuesday, October 10, 2006 6:52 AM CDT | () comments

Photo by Nick Loomis/QUAD-CITY TIMES Members of the Quad-City Blasters, a 48-and-over baseball team that calls Northwest Park in Davenport its home, show off the wood bats they use when they play Men’s Senior Baseball League/Men’s Adult Baseball League games.

Three times a week from May through September, a team holds practice on one of the baseball diamonds at Northwest Park in Davenport. The practice has all the sights, sounds and smells of an old-timers game.

There’s an odor of Ben-Gay, the creaking of joints and slow runs to first base after a hit to an outfield gap. But there also is a youthful exuberance with each smack of the glove, crack of the bat and zip of the ball.

The Quad-City Blasters can be found on these Davenport fields of dreams, shagging flies, grabbing grounders and hitting liners. They hustle, chatter and play the game they have loved for 20, 30, 40 and, yes, even 50 years. They also are continuing a passion they have had for just as long — playing baseball.

Since 1986, there has been a Men’s Senior Baseball League with divisions located throughout America. Today, it has more than 3,200 teams and 45,000 members across the country. In the Quad-Cities, there are six league members.

The Quad-City Blasters have been in the league since 1989. It gives players like 55-year-old Mike “Hutch” Hutcheson a chance to keep playing the game that he has loved since he was a high school baseball player at Davenport Assumption in 1967.

“This isn’t a softball beer league, and it isn’t college baseball or even the major leagues. But it is real baseball with wood bats, and we take it very serious,” said Hutcheson, a retired UPS driver from Davenport who has been a member of the league since teams first were formed in the Quad-Cities in ’89.

Hutcheson, the Blasters player/manager, said the league started as an over-30 league. Over the years, it has dropped to an 18-and-older league. It is similar to the local semi-pro league but geared more toward older players.

“It fluctuates from year to year,” said Hutcheson, who has 19 players on his roster. “Over the years, younger players have been allowed to join the league. So we can have or play against high school or college players. It makes it interesting, but we have found that we can compete with them. We’re just not as fast, and hits to the gap are usually just singles, and there isn’t a lot of stretching into doubles.”

Because of the allowance of younger players the league now is called the Men’s Senior Baseball League (MSBL)/Men’s Adult Baseball League (MABL).

The players’ careers range from doctors to lawyers to construction workers to CPAs — and everything in between. Most are former high school or college players. There are even a few members who have played professionally. Former players such as Jose Cardenal, Bert Campaneris and Luis Tiant have been members. Jerry Reuss, Ron LeFlore, Steve Kemp, Bill “The Spaceman” Lee, Mike Marshall and Mel Hall also have played in the MSBL/MABL. Today, Jose Canseco and Bret Saberhagen are league members playing in California.

There’s even a world series each year in Phoenix. More than 300 teams play in the series, broken into several age divisions. The Blasters have played in the 38-and-over division but last year switched to the 48-and-over wood-bat division.

Teams are guaranteed six games, and the squads with the best records move on to a single-elimination round similar to the Little League World Series. Right now the Blasters are practicing and getting ready to travel to Phoenix for the series Oct. 22-Nov. 4.

“We play on several of the major league spring training sites down there,” Hutcheson said. “It’s really neat to see and be able to play on the same fields where the pros play, like Ho Ho Kam Park, home of the Cubs.”

Last year, the Blasters finished 4-2 in the 48-and-over pool play but lost their first game in the single-elimination round. In 2002 they finished second in the 38-and-over division. The team also plays in other tournaments during the summer. This year they won their second straight Windy City Blowout in Chicago.

Funding for the team and league all comes out of the players’ pockets. There is a membership fee of $25 to the league and $130 goes to the team each year for umpires and other game expenses. Travel expenses also are out of pocket.

“We do this because we still love to play the game,” said Don Moorhead, 57, of Davenport, a Certified Public Accountant who has been with the team for more than 10 years.

“I keep going because of the guys on the team, the competing and the camaraderie. I look forward to it each summer after looking at tax returns all winter, knowing I’ll be able to come back out here with these guys. It keeps me young.”

Like Hutcheson and most of the Blasters, Moorhead played high school and college ball. He was on Davenport Central’s team in the 60s and played at Augustana College in the early ’70s.

“I hope to keep playing for quite a few more years,” he said.

It’s a sentiment all the Blasters share — to keep playing 20, 30 or even 40 more years.

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.

ABOUT MSBL/MABL

For more information on the MSBL/MABL log onto their website at http://www.msblnational.com. For more local information or to find out how to join, contact the Quad-City president Tony Schlimmer at (563) 210-2800 or Mike Hutcheson of the Blaster at (563) 324-3441.

WHAT DO YOU PLAY?

“The Way We Play,” which runs in Tuesday’s editions of the Quad-City Times, profiles Quad-Citians of all ages and the

various participation and recreation sports they play.

If you have a story idea for “The Way We Play,” submit it to sports@qctimes.com or call (563) 383-2285.