Growing up here in Rhode Island, I would visit my mother who worked in nursing homes and assisted living centers around the South County area.  She would bring me into the patient’s rooms and I would chat with them about (what else???) baseball.  From what I can recall, the patients loved the time and the opportunity to talk to me about baseball, when they were a little boy or girl growing up here in Rhode Island or a surrounding state.  Some were knowledgeable about the current state of the game, who was playing for the Yankees or the Red Sox, and what baseball meant to them. Many would tell incredible stories of their youth participation in sports like baseball, or when they went to their first Red Sox game to watch Ted Williams or Yaz. It was enjoyable for them and very educational for me as well.  Sitting down next to those patients, I learned how to be a good listener and the power of a good story.  

My latest community project is called “Tales from the Senior Circuit.” This project involves active older adults who live in or frequent Rhode Island Senior Centers, or are currently living in Assisted Living Centers and/or Nursing Homes. My goal is to to drop off a questionnaire for an interested member at a local senior center to fill out and potentially be interviewed about their baseball experience(s).  The questionnaire would be mostly general questions like:

1. Did you grow up here in Rhode Island?
2. Did you or a family member play organized baseball as a youth?  In High School?  How far up the ranks did you or a family member get?
3. What was your fondest memory of baseball as a youth?
4. Did you go to any professional baseball games as a youth?  If so, where and what do you remember? 
5. Did you serve in the United States Military?  If so, did baseball come into play at all – on a military base, overseas, as a distraction?
6. When was the last time you went to a game – youth baseball, family game, professional game, etc.?
7. Do you have an interesting story about baseball here in Rhode Island or somewhere in your past that you would like to share?
8. Would you be interested in a sit down interview to talk about baseball?

As many of you know, I publish my baseball stories on this website and various social media pages.  I am the sole writer, publisher, editor and I only share stories that are positive and uplifting and engaging to the Rhode Island Baseball Community.  I take content, personal space, and privacy very seriously because my audience includes children to teens to parents to grandparents.  I don’t use foul language and do not allow any content that promotes negativity in any way, shape, or form.  My goal in this project is simply to meet and greet and listen to the baseball stories of the active older adult population.  Then with the storyteller’s permission, write a story about their Rhode Island (or if they grew up in another state/country) Baseball Experience.  

So, I am looking to connect with senior center program and activity directors around Rhode Island and to present them and their members with this baseball questionnaire. If you know an active older adult that might be interested in participating in this baseball project, send me a message and I will mail or email you the questionnaire. Or, if you know a program director that works in a senior center, assisted living center, or nursing home and can connect me, that would be very much appreciated. Rhode Island is a small state, so I can travel to accommodate anyone interested in chatting with me about baseball!!! I plan on publishing these stories over the next few months for all of the Rhode Island Baseball Community to read and enjoy. And depending on the response, putting something together like a library tour or maybe a collection of stories in a book.

You can email me at ribaseballexperience@gmail.com or call me at 401.533.0913 to chat about the Tales From The Senior Circuit Project. Or message me through this contact form:

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