I captain a men’s softball team whose origin goes back to the summer of 2000. We were formed soon after the completion of the sale of the communications IC division of Advanced Micro Devices to a private equity firm. The new company, Legerity Inc., paid the league fee, and the Legerity Legends was born. We were a horrendous team: a collection of guys mostly in our thirties with modest-to-poor athletic “talent” and little understanding of how to compete in amateur slow-pitch softball at any level.
I didn’t organize the team and I wasn’t the manager that first season. That honor goes to Osie. He played on other teams and decided to start a company team. I remember showing up for our first game and feeling like I was seeing an adult version of the Bad News Bears. What a collection of players! We had guys in jeans, button-up shirts, Keds, boat shoes and I swear I recall one guy wearing sandals. Obviously, a bunch of these engineers thought this was a company social that happened to include a game of “pick-up” softball.
Reality set in rather quickly.
Like the Bad News Bears, that first game and most everyone thereafter that season was comedic. Unfortunately, it was bad comedy. Rarely did we threaten our opponents. They were experienced teams that knew how to score and limit their defensive mistakes to keep us from pushing many runs across the plate.
After perhaps four games, it became abundantly clear that even at the lowest level of city league softball, there were some pretty good athletes on the other teams in our league. They competed hard and wanted to win. And win they did when they played us. Handily. Oftentimes, it was a slaughter.
It was a bit chaotic that first season. We were a team lacking organization and a core of quality players. As we closed in on an 0-8 record, Osie and I talked about me assuming leadership of the team. It wasn’t much of a discussion, I volunteered and Osie gladly handed me the reins.
Eleven years later, we are now known as The UnNaturals. Three of us remain from the original roster and that includes Osie. We’ve played 333 games in 48 seasons. During that span, many faces have come and gone. The team gradually improved as better athletes with baseball and softball experience joined. We started having winning seasons and finally earned the title of champions in the fall of 2004. That was a glorious feeling and we celebrated with a team happy hour.
Looking back, probably the most important contributions I’ve made to the team as captain are communication, organization and establishing an identity. Today’s rendition of the team has a special camaraderie. As Geno, the other original member of the team likes to say, “Thursday nights* are pretty much the highlight of my week.” That sums it up rather nicely for me and it’s what has me looking forward to a twelfth year.
*The softball team has played on Thursday night every season except maybe one or two in the early years.
No comments:
Post a Comment