Wood bat softball has seniors swinging for fences

MERIDIAN, Idaho – When Bill McCabe was a kid, he would pay 25 cents to watch legendary Red Sox left fielder Ted Williams take batting practice at Fenway Park.

Afterward, he’d imitate Williams’ left-handed swing.

“I used to stand in front of the mirror and practice looking like him,” McCabe told the Idaho Statesman.

Forty-six years after Williams ended his career, McCabe is still swinging. Only instead of playing against teens, McCabe, now 81, is aiming for balls pitched by 60- and 70-year-olds every Wednesday night.

It’s all part of Meridian’s wood bat softball league.

Del Drake started the Boise Men’s Softball League in 1998. But as the league grew from 13 players to almost 30 teams, the 67-year-old Drake saw older players getting phased out.

“There were a lot of guys that were getting left out because the Boise league was becoming so competitive,” Drake said.

Last November Drake began working with Kent Harris, Ed Lenhart and Butch Allen to create the new wood bat league. Play began in April, and so far the league has been a success, with five teams so far and a sixth to be added in July. Only wood bats are allowed, partly for safety reasons and partly for their nostalgic value. A draft is held before each season to balance the teams with players of all talent levels and ages. The average player’s age is 67 or 68, Drake said, and each team has at least three players over the age of 70.

This year, every team has won at least one game. Each team is named after a team in the major leagues, and McCabe plays for the Angels with Williams’ No. 9 on his jersey.

“It beats hanging out in my local bar and drinking,” McCabe said after a recent game. “It’s better for you, too.”

So far, McCabe is the only player over 80.

“It makes you want to do more,” McCabe’s teammate Lou DeLago said. “If he can do it, more power to him. I’m looking forward to being in my 80s and playing, I really do.”

DeLago, 73, has had both hips replaced and said he’s happy just to be able to play.

“I thought I’d never play again,” he said.

“We want to win, but we just want to have a good time,” Drake said. “It doesn’t matter how old you are or how fat you are, whether you can run or not, you can play ball here.”