Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406100004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He first heard about adult baseball last February from his friend Noodle. "He said, 'Man, why don't you come out for baseball?'"
"What baseball?" Larry Beheler answered.
Noodle explained. Adult baseball, for old guys. It was new. Noodle, Keith Graybill, had played the previous fall in the adult baseball league's trial-run mini-season. It was fun, he said.
It wasn't softball.
Beheler, 42, was hooked.
But Noodle should only get partial credit for Beheler's discovery. The real praise should go to someone Beheler doesn't even know, Randall Holley.
Holley is a computer programmer who grew up in Henry and went to Franklin County High School, where he never played on the baseball team. His baseball days ended in little league, like Beheler's.
Holley seemed an unlikely candidate.
Then last summer, he read an advertisement in the newspaper that piqued his curiosity. The National Adult Baseball Association was looking for people interested in starting a recreational baseball league for adults in Roanoke. Holley had never heard of the National Adult Baseball Association. A San Diego telephone number was listed.
He called. He talked with Michael Micheli, the association's director. Holley wasn't looking to start the league in Roanoke himself. He just wanted information, maybe a chance to play in the league if one was formed.
Micheli liked what he heard in Holley. Holley seemed organized, so Micheli asked Holley to head up the league in Roanoke. "He basically talked me into it," Holley said.
So, with Micheli's backing, he ran his own newspaper ad. The NABA already had two leagues established in Virginia, one in Lynchburg and one in Virginia Beach, and another 120 leagues in other cities across the country. A rival adult baseball association operates about the same number nationally.
Holley was encouraged by the response. Several ready-made teams called, more than 70 players showed up for the tryouts to choose teams, and by September Holley had 15 teams playing a shortened 12-game season as a trial balloon.
For his part, Holley received a small percentage of each team's entry fee as pay, which didn't come close to compensating him for his time. "I think it came to a nickel an hour," he said.
But he isn't complaining. Holley, 29, stayed on to run the league this summer and he plans to continue as the league's director indefinitely. It has become a hobby for him almost, and now he wants to see the league grow. He wants to be a part of it.
"Just for doing it. Just for being involved."
This summer, the upstart league boasts about 200 players. There are two divisions, for players age 18-29, and for players 30-and-older. The cost is $65 per person, not including uniforms or umpire fees. Holley said the cost turns off some people. By comparison, the cost of playing softball is about $20.
For Larry Beheler, money was not a factor.
He had been waiting years for something like this, a chance to play baseball, to pitch again. He has lived with regret for giving up the sport when he was 15, and so he is philosophical about the expense. A round of golf can cost $30. Movies are $5. Bowling, cigarettes, beer, it's a matter of choice, he said.
"If you wanna play ball, you can pay the money."
The past 15 years, Beheler has settled for softball, but only because there was no baseball alternative.
Baseball once was king in Roanoke and across the country, but through the years slowpitch softball took over. Today, nearly 3,500 people play on recreational softball teams in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County.
Why did softball take over?
Simple. "Anybody can hit slowpitch softball," Beheler explained, philosophizing again. "Why would anybody want to come play baseball and strike out four times?"
Still, for many people, like Beheler, baseball always will be America's game, its appeal deeply rooted in tradition and nostalgia and certain childhood rites of passage.
As the NABA's Michael Micheli put it: "We never grew up trading softball cards."
NEXT WEEK: Oh, to be a Mudcat. Meet Larry Beheler's teammates and find out how they came together and why they call themselves Mudcats.
by CNB