Play Ball in 2024?
Updated: Dec 22, 2024
I'm already dreaming of spring. Not exactly surprising considering that the ground is blanketed with snow and shrouded in a wintery fog.
My evening/early morning work schedule is not exactly conducive to participating in an organized sports league or club unless I can play on a night off from work. There is no ice hockey or inline roller hockey facility within a reasonable driving distance (I am not inclined to regularly make the drive to the Quad Cities, Dubuque, or Rockford), so hockey is pretty much out for me at this time. The only men's league/semipro baseball team in town that I have seen mentioned played on weekends and I am not even sure if the team still exists. But I have an urge to get back into playing or practicing a team sport.
That leaves me with a few options. One, I can do as I did when I first arrived here in rural Northern Illinois and practice on my own. I used to go to the baseball and softball fields and hit off the tee in the batting cage and throw into the mesh netting. Two, I could try to round up a few people to get together one afternoon or evening to practice baseball or another sport. I did this in the Triangle in addition to playing in a couple different organized baseball leagues. Three, I could try to organize a league or a club. Obviously, that option is the most demanding option and if I hope to be more than a league/club president, I would need to schedule games and practices on nights that I am available to play. And that may not be an option if a youth league or school team needs the necessary field.
In addition to my baseball equipment, I also have a Whiffleball bat and ball. Both games can be a lot of fun to play and to practice. During my first year at East Carolina University, my dormmates and I used to practice baseball on the nearby intramural fields and we organized a handful of large Wiffleball games played on some nearby tennis courts where the nets had been removed. I picked up some corkball equipment and tried it out last year by throwing the tiny corkballs and tossing them up and hitting them fungo-style into the field. It was fun, but I think that it would be more fun (and likely frustrating too at times) to try hitting the tiny corkballs off of a live pitcher. I have even considered trying my hand at playing vintage base ball according to the rules in the 19th century. But vintage base ball teams typically have to travel to play other teams and they tend to play on weekends as a result.
Corkball originated in St. Louis and is an institution there, although the game has migrated to other parts of the country. The game doesn't require batters to run after hitting and you don't need nine players per side to play an "official" game. I could probably find and convince a few people to give it a try. If there are enough interested players, perhaps a club or league could be formed. Or perhaps just a regularly scheduled game. But it needs to be on nights that I am available to play. š
We shall see whether or not this "boy of summer" gets back into the game this year.
Below is a link to an article on corkball by Charles P. Pierce for Esquire Magazine.
"The Sport That Time Forgot"
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