Michigan State University has a great sports tradition. It also has a very well organized and large intramural sports program. The intramural slow pitch softball league had over 20 teams and would run all spring into summer. Some of the graduate students in physiology got together to form an intramural coed softball team. There were lots of students and some faculty interested in playing and we had a meeting to talk about forming a team. The meeting had two goals. The first was to decide whether to form a team or not. We unanimously agreed to do so, and there were more than enough people (both males and females) for a team. The second goal of the gathering was to decide whether we were going to play to win or play to have fun. In previous years some people took the team too seriously and that caused stress in the ranks of those who wanted to play to have fun. So we debated the issue, everyone had his or her say, and we voted. An overwhelming majority opted to play to have fun. We concluded the meeting by electing team captains and scheduling the first practices. The two team captains were Ken Loch and John McRorie. John was a power hitter and Ken was tremendous at defense and a good leader on the field. So they made a good team to lead our team.

At the first practice people were requesting positions and I requested outfield. Ken and John had no problems with me in the outfield, so that is the position I got. I actually made my high school baseball team, but I am not a very good baseball player and had played very little softball. By intramural standards, however, I was pretty good. I could hit consistently, and I could usually handle the fly balls that came my way. I was also in decent physical condition for the running around. All in all, softball was a pleasant diversion. Ann didn’t play, but she made some of the games. She and Ellie would often be on the sidelines watching. Ellie always wanted to chase the balls or be chewing on something. Ann hung out, getting a fantastic tan.

Even though we did not take the games seriously and we all wanted to have fun, we played well together and did in fact have a lot of fun. There was one exceptional player on our team, our captain Ken Loch, and he played second base. And although he agreed with the low-stress, have fun attitude; he still played to win. John McRorie was pitching. I was playing center field against a team from the sports med department (my former colleagues) that was exceptional and it was a very close game, with them in the lead and one out. I wanted to win more than usual because of the former connection I had with the other team. Their batter hit a fly ball with two people on base and it shot up over towards left field. The left fielder scrambled for it and I was running on an angle to back her up. But, when she lost sight of the ball in the sun, I accelerated to try to catch the ball myself. Before I even got to the ball Ken was telling me where to throw it to cut off the runners already heading to home. He had assumed the ball would hit the ground before I got to it. That thought pushed me harder. I dove to catch the ball, keeping my head up to see where the runners were. When I actually did manage to catch it Ken was silent and I saw that the runners were heading back to their bases to tag up. I threw to second for a double play from the outfield to end the inning.

I brushed myself off and Beth, the woman who lost sight of the ball, told me that I was bleeding. I had scraped my right elbow pretty good and it was oozing blood. Not a serious cut, but it looked impressive, making the catch all the more rewarding. Ken was still looking at me as I jogged to our sideline along the third base line. He shook his head and said,

“I would kill to have a chance to make that kind of play.”

That was a high compliment coming from Ken. I smiled and thanked him as Beth, Ken and I arrived at the sideline to a warm welcome from our teammates. Ann cleaned me off a bit and we continued the game. Eventually we lost the game, but we all had fun, which was always our goal. The scrapes on my elbow were like badges of honor.