People have different reasons for playing co-rec softball.
For some, it’s an outlet for competition long after the days of playing in high school and college have passed them by. For others, it may be a way to get some exercise or hang out with friends.
For Rick and Beth Weissman, it was their weekly date night 25 years ago.
The couple, who will celebrate their 33rd year of marriage in October, began playing in the Greenfield Co-Rec Softball League in 1991. Beth stopped playing a few years ago, and now, after 2½ decades playing softball as well as helping to run the league, the 67-year-old Weissman is hanging up his glove.
“The thought behind us playing was that we had a 3-year-old, and a 5½-year-old, and we would buy big pizzas and set up the kids on the side,” Beth Weissman said. “With our team, the kids couldn’t just yell out ‘Mom’ because a bunch of moms would come over. It was a way for us to have a date night, and it just lasted and lasted for years.”
Weissman’s Mesa Verde teammates and wife wanted to surprise him as he bowed out. When he first began playing in the league, the native of Long Island, N.Y., was a first baseman but later moved to pitcher, where he has been ever since. Over the weekend, during the end-of-season tournament, Weissman moved to first base for the final inning of his final game.
“That was fitting because he ended his career where he began,” his wife said.
Sports have always been a part of the Weissmans’ marriage. The two met in Springfield, where Beth was studying at American International College and Rick was at Western New England Law School. As Beth says, “If there is a ball, bat or puck involved, it’s something we’ve watched and discussed during our married life.” So when the couple learned of a relatively new co-ed softball league 25 years ago, they began exploring it.
When the Weissmans’ entered the league, Beth was working for the Green River Cafe, which was open for a half-dozen years and located where the People’s Pint is, so they got the restaurant to sponsor the team. The league had been around for a couple of years, and Beth Weissman went to the league meeting with a friend but quickly realized she did not know what was being discussed. So she asked her husband to go. He has been going every year since.
The team was named Cafe 6 because it consisted of players who not only worked at Green River Cafe, but also some worked for the local cable-access channel in town, Channel 6.
During that time, Tim Bernard was running the league, according to Beth Weissman, and he and Rick hit it off, so much so that Rick began to take a bigger role in the league. During his 25 years, Weissman has helped build the regular-season schedule (something that is now done by using a computer program), as well as serving on the grievance committee, which overhears complaints. Weissman has also been in charge of putting together the annual end-of-season tournament.
“We go away on vacation the first week of August every year and Rick always has his clipboard with him, putting together the tournament brackets,” Beth said.
The league has grown over the years, as has the Weissmans’ team, which Beth said was “awful” for the first few years. The team has been considerably more competitive since those first years, although the most important thing to Weissman has not been winning and losing. While his wife admitted that her husband is a very competitive man who loves to win, he has also always made it a point to make sure that everyone gets an opportunity to play.
“This is a co-rec league, it’s not the major leagues, so it was just important with our team, and to Rick, that the team has a good vibe and that everybody gets along and gets to play,” Beth explained. “We all wait all week long to play, so if you show up, you play.”
Not everyone has always been able to handle that, according to Beth, and some players have left for other teams more dedicated to winning. The players that do stay all appreciate the team’s philosophy, and that includes Brian Winslow, who plays on Mesa Verde with his wife Stephanie, and also coaches the varsity baseball team at Franklin County Technical School.
“He understands what recreational softball is about, but he is also a very competitive person,” Winslow began. “He makes you feel important, makes you feel like you are part of something. He makes it a family environment. At one point, we had 10 toddlers on our sideline. He wants his team to have character.”
Weissman’s final season saw his Mesa Verde team finish fourth in the B Division over the weekend. If you’re curious how he and his wife plan to fill the void next summer, don’t worry. They have another sport in mind.
“I think we are going to golf,” Beth said. “He is going to teach me how to golf. He loves golfing, and all these years he has treated golf as a fall sport because he waits to play it until the softball league is over.”