I'm the guy who replaced Mike as the primary pitcher on the Diggers, if "replace" is even the word.
Even on a recreational softball team, Mike stood out by belonging to his position in a way that seemed out of the ordinary. The rest of us were always misfits and moving parts; he owned the mound. It's no easy thing taking over for someone who is essential to a position, especially when you fall short in so many ways. This in part explains why we now have no fewer than three pitchers who will rotate into different games at different times.
One anecdote in particular seems to cut straight to the heart of Mike's reputation, both on our team and in our league, and I'd like to share it. The first year I pitched (the year Mike took ill) we played a game against a team very well-known to us, one we had played against in many tight games in the past. I pitched decently, just well enough to win a close game, and after the game, a player from the opposing team passed me on the field and congratulated me. He told me that when he and his teammates saw me warming up before the game, they calculated they stood a much better chance of winning because they "didn't have to face that awesome Asian guy, and will we have to face him next time?"
It's a funny thing to be told by someone you just beat that they're still more afraid of the guy who held the position before you than they are of you, but the big world of New York City softball is small like that. People remember the good guys.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
From Paul G., a Diggers Teammate
Michael was a Digger from the beginning. We both came out to the Yorkville League’s tryouts, and were put together on a team called the Replacements, which was composed of all the new people who wanted to play in the league but didn’t have a team. Our coaches’ name was Ray, and we did ok that year. At the end of the season our pitcher, Purple, asked me if I wanted to be part of a “competitive team” the next year? I said sure. She suggested we get all the best players from the Replacements, find some new folks, and form a new team. As our trusty Short Center Fielder with the reliable bat, Mike was on the list of invitees.
As that winter went by I hadn’t heard from Purple and had to decide if we were going to form this new team, and what to call it. I wanted a name that spoke to both baseball and radical politics. I thought of the Bombers, but that name was taken, and had Yankees’ connotations. Walking along McCarren Park in Williamsburg against a late February wind, I thought of the name Diggers, as a reference both to digging out a ball from the dirt, or running hard around the bases, and to the direct actionists of the 1600s who claimed the common land for the people after the English Revolution. Mike was one of the first people I called to ask if he would like to play for this new team. He said Yes, and became one of our steadiest and most reliable players.
Mike was always there in the early days of the Diggers, a pre-email, pre-cell phone era when fielding a complete team was a sometimes difficult task. Several times we’d come up short on the required number of women players needed. In those instances we’d play the other team anyways, just for fun. Purple would never stick around if the game didn’t count, but Mike always would. He just loved to play.
I was manager for the first few years of the fabled Diggers’ franchise, and towards the end of my tenure, after Purple and her awesome younger cousin had moved on from their pitching duties, Mike approached me and said he could pitch. For the first several years of playing as the Diggers, Mike was our amazing Short Center Fielder. He both embodied and defined the position. Some managers will play four outfielders across the outfield, but Mike made an excellent case for playing three across, with him roving the area behind Second Base. He was very fast, and made more shoe-string catches than I can count, always running hard and coming out of nowhere to make the out. It was truly incredible to watch.
So when Mike, our awesome Short Center Fielder, approached me wanting to pitch, I was skeptical. Being a softball manager, one hears all sorts of things, often about how great a shortstop someone really is, or how they can play Third Base, or should really be hitting Clean Up. Then, in a game situation, one finds out the harsh reality of that players’ need to stay in Right Field, or further down in the order. We were desperate for pitching, and I thought Mike was just being nice to offer. But we started to work him in for a few innings, and it became obvious that he had some ability. In time, Mike would develop into one of the greatest softball pitchers many of us have ever seen.
Those of us who had the fortune to know and play with Mike remember him as both a fierce competitor on the field, and a very gentle, caring person off the field. He always exhibited a genuine concern for his teammates well being and personal lives, while playing every game as if his life depended on it. We will miss Mike, for the rest of our lives. He was a friend and a teammate, and a Digger for life.
As that winter went by I hadn’t heard from Purple and had to decide if we were going to form this new team, and what to call it. I wanted a name that spoke to both baseball and radical politics. I thought of the Bombers, but that name was taken, and had Yankees’ connotations. Walking along McCarren Park in Williamsburg against a late February wind, I thought of the name Diggers, as a reference both to digging out a ball from the dirt, or running hard around the bases, and to the direct actionists of the 1600s who claimed the common land for the people after the English Revolution. Mike was one of the first people I called to ask if he would like to play for this new team. He said Yes, and became one of our steadiest and most reliable players.
Mike was always there in the early days of the Diggers, a pre-email, pre-cell phone era when fielding a complete team was a sometimes difficult task. Several times we’d come up short on the required number of women players needed. In those instances we’d play the other team anyways, just for fun. Purple would never stick around if the game didn’t count, but Mike always would. He just loved to play.
I was manager for the first few years of the fabled Diggers’ franchise, and towards the end of my tenure, after Purple and her awesome younger cousin had moved on from their pitching duties, Mike approached me and said he could pitch. For the first several years of playing as the Diggers, Mike was our amazing Short Center Fielder. He both embodied and defined the position. Some managers will play four outfielders across the outfield, but Mike made an excellent case for playing three across, with him roving the area behind Second Base. He was very fast, and made more shoe-string catches than I can count, always running hard and coming out of nowhere to make the out. It was truly incredible to watch.
So when Mike, our awesome Short Center Fielder, approached me wanting to pitch, I was skeptical. Being a softball manager, one hears all sorts of things, often about how great a shortstop someone really is, or how they can play Third Base, or should really be hitting Clean Up. Then, in a game situation, one finds out the harsh reality of that players’ need to stay in Right Field, or further down in the order. We were desperate for pitching, and I thought Mike was just being nice to offer. But we started to work him in for a few innings, and it became obvious that he had some ability. In time, Mike would develop into one of the greatest softball pitchers many of us have ever seen.
Those of us who had the fortune to know and play with Mike remember him as both a fierce competitor on the field, and a very gentle, caring person off the field. He always exhibited a genuine concern for his teammates well being and personal lives, while playing every game as if his life depended on it. We will miss Mike, for the rest of our lives. He was a friend and a teammate, and a Digger for life.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
From Jonathan K., a Diggers Teammate
Farewell to a Man I Admire
For the past 11 years, it has been my proud honor to serve as the lead organizer for what has become a very special group of individuals, in a place where such communities are so vitally important to our emotional and spiritual well-being. As human beings, we feel most alive when we act collectively, together in a common endeavor – especially one in which we cannot succeed without the others we must depend on, and find a common way which must always be greater than the sum of its parts.
Today I look upon my ship and I see a picture it will take me a very long time to get used to: a vessel w/ a missing man. It is my hope that my friends can find solace, however, in the knowledge that Michael was so vitally important in building the kind of strong community that allows us to feel this way about him. We grieve, but we know without ever having to say it that every step we now take together honors our departed friend. Our games, our rituals, and our traditions now take on a far more special meaning for us.
Triumphant Comeback
In the winter 2007, I received a phone call from my star lefty, who’d been in all of our thoughts and prayers, asking me very simply to “save a spot for me, Jon.” Frankly, it was sort of a momentarily uplifting feeling, but one wrought w/ a sense that my friend was being, well, a bit overly optimistic. Boy was I wrong…
That misinterpretation, I came to learn, was the result of my failure to comprehend the character of my friend as well as I thought I did (managers always think they understand their players better than they actually do). Many have written about how true heroism can be seen in our ordinary lives, by people we are privileged to know, and in ways which go unrecognized most of the time. Michael, #42, the elegant lefty from the other side of the world, was such a person.
Beginning in late April, what our merry band of ballplayers witnessed, week after week, was truly amazing. Through this experience of watching our friend play (and playing behind him, as supporting characters), we were all being given one of those extremely rare gifts in life. All of us can fully understand and feel this now, and we remember well. The circle of that experience is now complete, one and one-half years later.
In a way pitchers are sort of like orchestral conductors – it’s an extremely nuanced art -- equal parts craft and skill, all governed by a kind of poise. Our elegant lefty always had a special grace about him, when he took the ball from me before each game.
It seems to me that in those 14 games or so that Spring and Summer of 2007, Michael gave all of us a life lesson about what human beings ultimately are capable of. It was an intimate gift shared by our small community, one none of us will ever be able to forget.
There is a vast, empty space in our world right now, as we grieve the loss of our friend, and our leader. In the Diggers’ world, Michael now belongs to the ages.
Jonathan K.
For the past 11 years, it has been my proud honor to serve as the lead organizer for what has become a very special group of individuals, in a place where such communities are so vitally important to our emotional and spiritual well-being. As human beings, we feel most alive when we act collectively, together in a common endeavor – especially one in which we cannot succeed without the others we must depend on, and find a common way which must always be greater than the sum of its parts.
Today I look upon my ship and I see a picture it will take me a very long time to get used to: a vessel w/ a missing man. It is my hope that my friends can find solace, however, in the knowledge that Michael was so vitally important in building the kind of strong community that allows us to feel this way about him. We grieve, but we know without ever having to say it that every step we now take together honors our departed friend. Our games, our rituals, and our traditions now take on a far more special meaning for us.
Triumphant Comeback
In the winter 2007, I received a phone call from my star lefty, who’d been in all of our thoughts and prayers, asking me very simply to “save a spot for me, Jon.” Frankly, it was sort of a momentarily uplifting feeling, but one wrought w/ a sense that my friend was being, well, a bit overly optimistic. Boy was I wrong…
That misinterpretation, I came to learn, was the result of my failure to comprehend the character of my friend as well as I thought I did (managers always think they understand their players better than they actually do). Many have written about how true heroism can be seen in our ordinary lives, by people we are privileged to know, and in ways which go unrecognized most of the time. Michael, #42, the elegant lefty from the other side of the world, was such a person.
Beginning in late April, what our merry band of ballplayers witnessed, week after week, was truly amazing. Through this experience of watching our friend play (and playing behind him, as supporting characters), we were all being given one of those extremely rare gifts in life. All of us can fully understand and feel this now, and we remember well. The circle of that experience is now complete, one and one-half years later.
In a way pitchers are sort of like orchestral conductors – it’s an extremely nuanced art -- equal parts craft and skill, all governed by a kind of poise. Our elegant lefty always had a special grace about him, when he took the ball from me before each game.
It seems to me that in those 14 games or so that Spring and Summer of 2007, Michael gave all of us a life lesson about what human beings ultimately are capable of. It was an intimate gift shared by our small community, one none of us will ever be able to forget.
There is a vast, empty space in our world right now, as we grieve the loss of our friend, and our leader. In the Diggers’ world, Michael now belongs to the ages.
Jonathan K.
Monday, February 16, 2009
From Taylor, a Diggers Teammate
Taylor, a Diggers Teammate, put together this terrific slideshow of Mike and his teammates celebrating their championship in 2003.
http://www.taylorumlauf.com/su/suslideshow.html
http://www.taylorumlauf.com/su/suslideshow.html
From Andy, a Diggers Teammate
mike s. - crazy, stingy and filthy in 2007 - one for the ages
by andy l
mike got rocked a bit in his first game back with the diggers in the spring of 2007. we were all amazed and elated that he was back in new york and attending our first spring game. the fact that he actually played and pitched was just totally nuts. we all knew he had very serious treatments going on at the time and figured he knew what he was doing and, of course, he should do whatever he wanted to do. if that meant bat 3rd and play shortstop so be it (i'm sure he would have done a fine job at that too.)
mike did get rocked a bit but, it was understandable. he hadn't pitched in almost 2 years. his stuff looked pretty decent. i was paying close attention, behind him at second base, since i was his relief pitcher. i did relieve mike in the 3rd or 4th and we lost the game. after that, i didn't relieve mike again until september. somehow, between treatments and pain and dizziness and heat and rain and mud and hospital stays and cold wind and darkness, mike pitched the full season. 2007 was an amazing performance by any standards but for mike it was really crazy!
mike usually confused hitters with his stuff. hitting against a lefty is just weird, but mike pitched form so far to the first base side of the pitching rubber that it was just uncomfortable for the hitter. as a righty hitter the ball came right at you. in other words if you didn't hit it (or duck ) it would hit you. modified slow pitch softball isn't about intimidating hitters with pitch speed. the game has a very clear and deliberate set of pitching rules enacted to encourage a 'hitters game' with lots of runs scored and plays in the filed. mike pitched within the letter of these rules but allowed no such 'hitters game', stingy!
i watched mike loop it, wing it, change it up, zip it, lob it low and high, and back spin it.... and that was just for one hitter. at second base, playing up-the-middle against right handed hitters as i do, i had an amazing view of mike's mastery. 2007 was a clinic and a performance and a show and a story and no matter how much i cheered at every opposing hitter's frustrated pop-up and 1,2,3 inning, 5 pitch inning mike responded only with a slow gait to the bench, filthy!
i wonder now whether he knew that without his shut down stuff, game after game, the 2007 diggers would likely have been experiencing a first-ever losing season. considering we were only scoring 2 or 3 runs per game, mike single-(left)handedly built a winning record. did he know what kind of year he was having? maybe in the back of his mind he knew that diggers hitters and relief pitchers being what they were that year, he had to just about pitch a complete game shutout every time out. the numbers bear this out... in this hitters-league the league era is around 8. mike's career era is a cool 5.43. in 2007 however, mike's era was 3.84, a run and a half lower than his already low career era. 2007 was one for the ages.
i don't like to pitch but i do it. i guess i'll be doing a bit more of it now. i only hope one day or one inning or one at bat, to have opposing hitters find my stuff either crazy, stingy or filthy.
here are a few more mike stats to chew on
mike's actual career pitching
starts 42
wins 33
losses 7
ties 2
wining percentage .786
earned run average 5.43 (league era 8.00ish)
mikes projected career pitching - pro rated as a 15 year mlb career
starts 630
wins 495
losses 105
earned run average 2.93 (2008 mlb average era 4.32)
mike's actual career hitting
at bats 214
hits 128
batting average .598
on-base percentage .623
walks 21
slugging percentage .827
total bases 177
mike's projected hitting - pro rated as a mlb season (550 ab)
hits 329
doubles 38
triples 13
home runs 20
runs batted in 213
walks 54
runs scored 272
total bases 455
mike's projected hitting - pro rated as a mlb season (550 ab), 15 year mlb career
hits 4935
doubles 570
triples 195
home runs 300
runs batted in 3195
walks 810
runs scored 4080
total bases 6825
by andy l
mike got rocked a bit in his first game back with the diggers in the spring of 2007. we were all amazed and elated that he was back in new york and attending our first spring game. the fact that he actually played and pitched was just totally nuts. we all knew he had very serious treatments going on at the time and figured he knew what he was doing and, of course, he should do whatever he wanted to do. if that meant bat 3rd and play shortstop so be it (i'm sure he would have done a fine job at that too.)
mike did get rocked a bit but, it was understandable. he hadn't pitched in almost 2 years. his stuff looked pretty decent. i was paying close attention, behind him at second base, since i was his relief pitcher. i did relieve mike in the 3rd or 4th and we lost the game. after that, i didn't relieve mike again until september. somehow, between treatments and pain and dizziness and heat and rain and mud and hospital stays and cold wind and darkness, mike pitched the full season. 2007 was an amazing performance by any standards but for mike it was really crazy!
mike usually confused hitters with his stuff. hitting against a lefty is just weird, but mike pitched form so far to the first base side of the pitching rubber that it was just uncomfortable for the hitter. as a righty hitter the ball came right at you. in other words if you didn't hit it (or duck ) it would hit you. modified slow pitch softball isn't about intimidating hitters with pitch speed. the game has a very clear and deliberate set of pitching rules enacted to encourage a 'hitters game' with lots of runs scored and plays in the filed. mike pitched within the letter of these rules but allowed no such 'hitters game', stingy!
i watched mike loop it, wing it, change it up, zip it, lob it low and high, and back spin it.... and that was just for one hitter. at second base, playing up-the-middle against right handed hitters as i do, i had an amazing view of mike's mastery. 2007 was a clinic and a performance and a show and a story and no matter how much i cheered at every opposing hitter's frustrated pop-up and 1,2,3 inning, 5 pitch inning mike responded only with a slow gait to the bench, filthy!
i wonder now whether he knew that without his shut down stuff, game after game, the 2007 diggers would likely have been experiencing a first-ever losing season. considering we were only scoring 2 or 3 runs per game, mike single-(left)handedly built a winning record. did he know what kind of year he was having? maybe in the back of his mind he knew that diggers hitters and relief pitchers being what they were that year, he had to just about pitch a complete game shutout every time out. the numbers bear this out... in this hitters-league the league era is around 8. mike's career era is a cool 5.43. in 2007 however, mike's era was 3.84, a run and a half lower than his already low career era. 2007 was one for the ages.
i don't like to pitch but i do it. i guess i'll be doing a bit more of it now. i only hope one day or one inning or one at bat, to have opposing hitters find my stuff either crazy, stingy or filthy.
here are a few more mike stats to chew on
mike's actual career pitching
starts 42
wins 33
losses 7
ties 2
wining percentage .786
earned run average 5.43 (league era 8.00ish)
mikes projected career pitching - pro rated as a 15 year mlb career
starts 630
wins 495
losses 105
earned run average 2.93 (2008 mlb average era 4.32)
mike's actual career hitting
at bats 214
hits 128
batting average .598
on-base percentage .623
walks 21
slugging percentage .827
total bases 177
mike's projected hitting - pro rated as a mlb season (550 ab)
hits 329
doubles 38
triples 13
home runs 20
runs batted in 213
walks 54
runs scored 272
total bases 455
mike's projected hitting - pro rated as a mlb season (550 ab), 15 year mlb career
hits 4935
doubles 570
triples 195
home runs 300
runs batted in 3195
walks 810
runs scored 4080
total bases 6825
Friday, February 13, 2009
Mementos
Some of these are cuttings from the plant Michael had in his office. I took them before he left to go to HSBC. More stalks have grown on their own.
This is the toy car that Mike had on his desk at APF. Now I have it on the computer stand.
The two lighter green ones are the newest. They started growing a few days before Michael passed. I definitely feel like he is around all the time! Don't they look happy?!
from Jane
Thursday, February 12, 2009
More from Karl
There are a few things that really stick out when I think about Michael. Not in any particular order
Love of cars – racing autocross, bmws, “the countach”
Sports –fan and athlete
Competitive nature
Music – the 80s/ karaoke
Food – The bachelor pad refrigerator, Mcdonalds, Ollies, La Caridad
Race
I will touch on some of these categories over the next few posts. Some will be shorter, and some longer but hopefully you all will get to know Mike the way I did.
Let’s talk sports:
Mike grew up in southern California which explains the cars and his love for all the LA based teams. One would naturally think that just meant the Lakers and the Dodgers but when Anaheim was in the World Series, Mike tried to convince me that it was okay to be a Dodger fan and an Anaheim Angel fan because that was also the home team for him. I didn’t buy it then and I still don’t but like most people in southern California, they leave in the 7th inning to beat the traffic and hop on any bandwagon that comes along.
As for the Lakers, Mike loved the championship years with Shaq and Kobe and I can’t really fault him for that. He also loved the leaner years with Eddie Jones, Ced Ceballos and Elden Campbell. Of course the man running that show was Nick Van Exel and Mike used to wear his #9 Laker jersey when we went out to the playground to shoot some hoops. I thought that Mike was pretty cool for wearing that jersey but if I remember correctly, he got it for cheap just after they traded him. Still respect him for it though. Like Van Exel, Mike liked to take it to the hole or shoot the three and not much of a mid-range shot in between. To his credit, he could do both and Mike was quick so he was pretty formidable on the court.
I remember a specific time during grad school when we played at the school gym. There were three guys already shooting around and one other guy who was just lacing up. Mike and I went up to the guy and asked him if we want to play 3 on 3 with the other guys. He agreed and plopped himself down to stretch before we got started. He asked us “don’t you guys stretch?” We both looked at him as if he were crazy and Mike said “stretch? we don’t stretch.” From then on, every time we played ball, it started with Mike saying “stretch” and me answering “we don’t stretch.”
We played a lot of basketball throughout the years and Mike certainly was a much flashier basketball player than me. He loved to shoot the three and show off his range but even more so, he loved to drive to the basket and do a behind the back layup. He would’ve dunked it if he could. Defense was often an afterthought and he was of the “a good offense is the best defense” school of thought. If you ever played basketball with Mike, one of the things he liked to do most is quote from the movie white men can’t jump. Mike’s basketball style was Wesley Snipes to my Woody Harrelson. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great movie as Mike will tell you. When we were teammates, occasionally we would lose and Mike would say to me “but you said we wuz going to sizzler!” - watch the movie –trust me it is funny.
I digress but Mike also loved Steven Seagal movies – I think it was the fact that Mike had a strong sense of justice and fairness and he liked the way Seagal dispensed justice. We were never really ones to exchange gifts but I remember when we were working together one year, it was his birthday and I happened to be in a video store and saw some Seagal movies. I figured he would like them so I bought him – Above the Law and Out for Justice (both three word titles). I think he was pleasantly surprised that I remembered his favorite action hero. While we’re talking movies – Mike also liked Top Gun, the Waterboy, Rush Hour and There’s Something about Mary. He also is one of the only people on the planet to never watch a star wars movie. This may have changed in the past few years but he never had much interest in sci-fi.
Mike loved to play and was passionate about it so much that I was almost shocked to find out that basketball was not his true love. Playing softball was his true passion. So much so that when I told him to move back to LA so we could hang out, he told me that he couldn’t leave his beloved diggers. I think secretly he was waiting to retire from the diggers (maybe in his 50s) before heading back west. I'll let others talk more about softball.
The next post will be about Mike’s competitive nature. Stay tuned.
Love of cars – racing autocross, bmws, “the countach”
Sports –fan and athlete
Competitive nature
Music – the 80s/ karaoke
Food – The bachelor pad refrigerator, Mcdonalds, Ollies, La Caridad
Race
I will touch on some of these categories over the next few posts. Some will be shorter, and some longer but hopefully you all will get to know Mike the way I did.
Let’s talk sports:
Mike grew up in southern California which explains the cars and his love for all the LA based teams. One would naturally think that just meant the Lakers and the Dodgers but when Anaheim was in the World Series, Mike tried to convince me that it was okay to be a Dodger fan and an Anaheim Angel fan because that was also the home team for him. I didn’t buy it then and I still don’t but like most people in southern California, they leave in the 7th inning to beat the traffic and hop on any bandwagon that comes along.
As for the Lakers, Mike loved the championship years with Shaq and Kobe and I can’t really fault him for that. He also loved the leaner years with Eddie Jones, Ced Ceballos and Elden Campbell. Of course the man running that show was Nick Van Exel and Mike used to wear his #9 Laker jersey when we went out to the playground to shoot some hoops. I thought that Mike was pretty cool for wearing that jersey but if I remember correctly, he got it for cheap just after they traded him. Still respect him for it though. Like Van Exel, Mike liked to take it to the hole or shoot the three and not much of a mid-range shot in between. To his credit, he could do both and Mike was quick so he was pretty formidable on the court.
I remember a specific time during grad school when we played at the school gym. There were three guys already shooting around and one other guy who was just lacing up. Mike and I went up to the guy and asked him if we want to play 3 on 3 with the other guys. He agreed and plopped himself down to stretch before we got started. He asked us “don’t you guys stretch?” We both looked at him as if he were crazy and Mike said “stretch? we don’t stretch.” From then on, every time we played ball, it started with Mike saying “stretch” and me answering “we don’t stretch.”
We played a lot of basketball throughout the years and Mike certainly was a much flashier basketball player than me. He loved to shoot the three and show off his range but even more so, he loved to drive to the basket and do a behind the back layup. He would’ve dunked it if he could. Defense was often an afterthought and he was of the “a good offense is the best defense” school of thought. If you ever played basketball with Mike, one of the things he liked to do most is quote from the movie white men can’t jump. Mike’s basketball style was Wesley Snipes to my Woody Harrelson. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great movie as Mike will tell you. When we were teammates, occasionally we would lose and Mike would say to me “but you said we wuz going to sizzler!” - watch the movie –trust me it is funny.
I digress but Mike also loved Steven Seagal movies – I think it was the fact that Mike had a strong sense of justice and fairness and he liked the way Seagal dispensed justice. We were never really ones to exchange gifts but I remember when we were working together one year, it was his birthday and I happened to be in a video store and saw some Seagal movies. I figured he would like them so I bought him – Above the Law and Out for Justice (both three word titles). I think he was pleasantly surprised that I remembered his favorite action hero. While we’re talking movies – Mike also liked Top Gun, the Waterboy, Rush Hour and There’s Something about Mary. He also is one of the only people on the planet to never watch a star wars movie. This may have changed in the past few years but he never had much interest in sci-fi.
Mike loved to play and was passionate about it so much that I was almost shocked to find out that basketball was not his true love. Playing softball was his true passion. So much so that when I told him to move back to LA so we could hang out, he told me that he couldn’t leave his beloved diggers. I think secretly he was waiting to retire from the diggers (maybe in his 50s) before heading back west. I'll let others talk more about softball.
The next post will be about Mike’s competitive nature. Stay tuned.
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