What does your resume as a baseball player look like?  Did you play in Little League®, American Legion travel teams, maybe for your local high school baseball team?  Did you try out for a college team or summer league team after high school?  Play a few years hoping to get your big break and get picked up by a professional team?  Then reality set in for you? Graduate from college, then start a career, maybe travel the country or start a family?  Or wait a minute, that just describes my baseball career.  Does it sound like something you experienced?

Now fast forward to when your son or daughter is interested in playing catch and trying out for Tee Ball.  You find your high school glove somewhere in your house or you call your parents to see if it is on a shelf somewhere on display in your childhood home.  Maybe you take a drive to your local sporting goods store and get a new and improved glove, and one for your child of course.  You fit your fingers into that baseball glove and suddenly, magically, you are 10 years old again dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player.  Sorry, that was my memory again. But, it felt amazing.  That first catch with your child is memorable for any kid-at-heart Dad who played baseball and dreamed of one day becoming a professional player.

Let’s jump ahead again and now your son or daughter is playing Little League® and you are going to the games, maybe coaching the games.  You play catch before practices, participate in teaching the fundamentals, hit ground balls, pitch batting practice, show kids how to throw knuckleballs, and whoops, that’s me again.  And you start to think, wow my arm feels pretty good.  My hand eye coordination is still decent, I can hit the baseball with some consistency here.  My fielding range is a bit diminished, but the balls that are hit to me, I can make a play on.  I think, no, I know I can still play competitively with people my own age.  So, is there a baseball league that you can join if you are over 30, over 40, even over 50 to reboot that dream of playing baseball?  The answer is simple – The Rhode Island Men’s Senior Baseball League.

I recently met Frank Ribezzo who shared some insight on the league, the divisions, the player profiles, and how much fun the guys have playing baseball.  The RIMSBL has three divisions – 30+, 40+, and 50+ age groups.  The games are played on some of our RI and MA iconic fields such as Cardines in Newport and Sprague in Narragansett as well as Rhode Island College, Ray Silva Park in West Warwick, and Lischio Field in North Kingstown.  Depending on the division, teams play about 6 to 10 games per month – both during the week and on the weekends.  The RIMSBL is a wooden bat league and safety is one of the highest priorities for the league.  Rules of the league mirror those of Major League baseball, with some league modifications for certain divisions.  The league has a website – RIMSBL – and a Facebook page – Rhode Island Men’s Senior Baseball League – where you can access more information and speak to Frank directly about playing, managing, or just being involved with the league.

I am looking forward to learning more about the Rhode Island Men’s Senior Baseball League first hand.  I plan on trying out as soon as my schedule allows and hope to be playing on a team by the Fall of 2018 or Spring of 2019.  If you love baseball and still have a passion for playing the game and you are age eligible, this RISMBL is where you belong.  I know after speaking with Frank Ribezzo, this is where I belong.

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