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Sunday, July 5, 1998
Old-Timers Still Brimming With Competitive
Spirit (cont'd) | |||
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"You're never too old to play baseball," said Jack Wilhite, a 69-year-old former minor-leaguer and fighter pilot. "I've played most all my life and I don't want to quit." Biegel, one of Wilhite's teammates on the Denver Bears club, built a memorable baseball career that included a 1952 College World Series appearance while playing at Northern Colorado. Following college, Biegel joined a local team and played against a traveling military club that included Yankees' great Billy Martin in 1956. In his humble manner, Biegel said the coaches in the College World Series and Martin told him he was "the best defensive catcher they had ever seen." "I hit four home runs against Martin's team," Biegel said. "But I was just hot that day. I never was a good hitter. Hitting never interested me. I don't know why, but I loved to catch." He never played in the majors. "I didn't go after it," he said. "You've got to go after it. I don't have any question in my mind I could have been a major league catcher, no problem. But I only have myself to blame." Over-50 baseball provides a venue for Biegel and his contemporaries to play out their passion for baseball, rather than settle for a more subdued game of softball. "The only softball that's available for people my age is slow pitch, and that's not softball as I grew up knowing it," said Dick County, 59, who plays a variety of sports including baseball and senior softball. "It's a totally different game. "The reason I love baseball so much is because you play this game now just like you played it when you were a kid. It's the same thing." Continued Copyright Los Angeles Times | |||
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