The ballplayer proudly put on his uniform, and then headed to chemotherapy. Al Williams was 78, battling one of the seven different cancers he has had. But he wouldn’t — couldn’t — skip softball, so he wore his uniform to chemo and made it to the park in time for first pitch.
“I never missed a game,” he said proudly.
Asked her reaction to Dad playing softball while undergoing chemo, Diana (Williams) Warren said, “In all honesty, I would have been stunned if he didn’t play.”
Williams is now 83, but he’s not a codger — he’s a Codger, as in the Aurora Codgers, whose jerseys feature the team name horizontally in cursive, like the Dodgers. He’s one of the dozens of Denverites who live for softball. They play in a 70-and-older league, which features players full of life and a dugout full of stories.
“I’m 79 years old now, and I just think it’s incredible that I can be out here,” said Clarence Yarbrough, wearing pads on his weathered knees while seated in the Codgers’ dugout. “I’ve always looked forward to do this. I think over the years, I’ve probably missed just 1-2 games — and one of those, I went to the wrong field.”
Down the bench, a teammate chimed in: “One of those senior moments, huh, Clarence?”
The Codgers play in one of numerous senior leagues across Denver in the Colorado Senior Softball Association, which has more than 50 teams of players 50 and older — and 13 teams with players 70 and older. (Some guys play on both a 50s team and 70s team, to which Neil Kvern explained, “To be honest, I couldn’t wait to turn 70.”)
On this day at Ray Ross Park, there’s something magical in the mundane. The smile after a single. The pitcher grimacing with grit as he pitches through his final inning. The hustle of a 70-something chugging down the line to — maybe, just maybe! — beat out a weak grounder.
There’s something beautiful about their love for this game, which they fell for when they were young — a game that, today, helps keeps them young.
On a sauna-hot morning last week in Lakewood, the Codgers played the Scrap Iron Red 70’s. Those grandpas got game. Undefeated this season. The thing about this senior league is that some of the folks in their 70s still hit like it is the ’70s. Though in one instance, a septuagenarian seared a line drive over the shortstop’s head, while the third baseman deadpanned, “He used to be taller.”
Many of the Codgers have been playing some form of ball for generations, but, as Dick Lloyd explained, “We think we can still do it like we used to — it just doesn’t always happen.”
Lloyd, 81, was born two months before the stock market crashed in 1929. Two summers ago, he underwent triple-bypass heart surgery. He now plays with a pacemaker.
“I kept telling them: ‘The softball tournament is Aug. 1. I got to be back playing,’ ” he said. “They kept telling me, ‘No way, that’s only 90 days.’ But I was back.”
Softball keeps these guys going, a prescribed medicine to be taken once a week. And the camaraderie is contagious. It’s just fun. And joke possibilities are tossed up like, well, softballs.
“I’m Hank Miranda,” the 74-year-old Codger said when introducing himself. “I have the right to remain silent.”
Said a teammate, “Wish that was true.”
There are rules to avoid injuries — instead of touching home, there’s a line that the runner simply has to cross — but still, there are some close calls. On this day, a scrappy Scrap Iron Red 70’s player rounded second and suddenly dropped to the infield dirt. Everyone held their breath. But then he hopped up and jogged back to second base, as if to say, “What were you so worried about?”
Williams and Lloyd are the only two octogenarians who routinely play for the Codgers, and Burley Young, 84, will occasionally suit up. Each season, a couple of new players finally crack 70 and are able to join the team, while health issues keep others on the bench. For instance, teammate Arlo Sorheim suffered a heart attack this summer — and had five-way bypass surgery. He survived and soon after visited the Codgers at a game.
“I was just hoping he wouldn’t pick up a bat,” Yarbrough said. “He was anxious to pick it up.”
One of the more athletic Codgers isn’t a guy. Rose Kvern, 72, grew up with nine ball-playing brothers and has dominated her husband over the years in all kinds of sports, from golf to pingpong. On this day, it was a house divided — Neil Kvern played for the Scrap Iron Red 70’s. Rose played the “rover” position, which had her in shallow center field. Twice — in the same inning — Neil was a pinch runner at first. And twice a ball was hit to Rose — and she threw out her hubby at second.
“Rose!” a teammate shouted from the dugout. “You better find another ride home!”
Rose has been playing competitively for decades, twice winning a tournament with an all-women team of players in their 60s. The name of the team? The Colorado Hot Flashes.
She looks forward to these Monday Codgers games the way younger folks look forward to Fridays. She loves playing the sport now, the way she did back in the front yard, all those years ago.
“I guess,” she said, “I’ll never grow up.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
