Local players chase baseball glory in senior leagues

It's the Fourth of July, that day of the year when we think about all things American, from fireworks to family to hot dogs on the grill to apple pie to baseball played by old guys.

Wait, don't you mean softball, where folks of any age can hit the slow moving big balls and jog around the bases?

Nope, we're talking real baseball with pitchers on the mound firing fastballs and runners stealing bases with players ranging in age from 25 to 62.

It's the Utah-MSBL, part of the National Men's Senior Baseball League that features some 750 men's adult and senior leagues all over the United States.

Who knew grown men were still playing the same game they did as little leaguers? There are hundreds playing here in Utah with a variety of players, some who played in college and the minor leagues to some who haven't played since little league.

"When I tell people I play baseball, they say, 'Oh, you mean softball,' " says Todd Fuller, the player-manager for the Cubs.

Fuller is 55, but he plays a game every week all summer — two games some weeks — and plays third base, just like he did for Highland High School 37 years earlier. While his throws to first may barely get there at times, he can still handle sharp grounders and pop flies and connects on fastballs by pitchers 20 years younger.

The Cubs, who wear uniforms just like the major league team, play every Saturday during the spring and early summer and later this month will start playing two games a week when more baseball diamonds become available in the valley. While the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers are also in the league, it features teams with such names as the Evil Empire, Diamond Jaxx, Utah Rockies, Zephyrs and Dirt Bags.

Gary Bowman is the commissioner of the league, a job he's held for seven years, from nearly the time he discovered the league by chance.

The 43-year-old Bowman had played high school baseball for Bountiful High, played at Salt Lake Community College and even had a brief stint with the Salt Lake Trappers. He kept his competitive itch going by playing fast-pitch softball for several years and also some slow-pitch softball, which he found "boring."

Then one day in 2003 he was driving by a diamond in Kearns. At first he thought must be an American Legion game, but as he got out of his car and walked closer, he noticed it was a baseball game with a bunch of guys around his age.