The Pecan Park Eagle

July 1, 2012: 62-year-old Bob Blair takes the mound at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas as the starting pitcher for “The Tribe” in their senior league championship game against the Houston A’s.

A couple of days ago, I wrote a story about 62-year old Bob Blair, who recently pitched in a senior league championship baseball game at Constellation Field on 7/01/2012, even earlier than 50-year old Roger Clemens made his nationally publicized appearance for the Sugar Land Skeeters on 8/25/2012.

Those story bones deserved more meat and gravy, folks, so here comes the ladle, with the help of further info from the subject himself at my request. It is deserving of a fuller understanding above the knowledge that he did it at an age when most humans have long since retired from playing sports like baseball.

Well, upon further review, it turns out that Robert “Bob” Blair is for real after all – as are the other older men who play the game with and against him on a field of competition that normally yields way only to the supple fluidity of youth’s wooden bow.

First all, and beyond the fact that he is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, Bob Blair is a baseball player with a passionate love for the game that he embraces as though it were the breath of life itself. As long as his creaky bones are strong enough to support the weight of his body, and rotate as they are supposed to move through the connecting joints of his arms and legs, hands and feet, he will keep rising from the splintering benches of Houston dugouts to pitch his heart out for whomever he represents in the field of competition.

Bob Blair hurling for the Houston Babies in 2009.

I know Bob Blair from his involvement with our Houston Babies 1860’s vintage base ball team. At age 74, my body will not allow me to any longer to play the game, but I do pass myself off as the General Manager of the Babies because it’s as close as I can still get to actually being out there on the field these days. In our five-year history, Bob Blair has been one of our most successful Houston Babies pitchers in the game of vintage ball. At the same time, Bob has been active as a traditional pitcher in the Houston Men’s Senior Adult Baseball League.

Bob Blair and another Houston Babies regular, Robert Pina, both 62, also played for The Tribe this year. The players on that senior league team ranged in age from 42 to their oldest member, 65-year old Jan Brunn.

Bob Brunn started the July 1st championship game for The Tribe, yielding 3 runs over 5 1/3 innings before giving way to 52-year-old Dale Hines, who gave up 2 more runs in the team’s 5-2 loss to the Houston A’s. Bob Blair took the loss, of course, but how many losing pitchers do you know who have enough gas left in the tank to then catch the last three innings of the game? That’s what Blair did. What an iron man!

Robert Pina and Jan Brunn each drove in the two runs scored in the Tribe’s 5-2 loss to the A’s. The winning pitcher for the A’s was 51-year old Lester Baird.

Now, did/does a guy like Bob Blair, or Robert Pina, or any of the other seniors play the game for the big bucks? They would all probably answer that one with a resounding, “not only NO, but HAIL NO” echo of sentiment.

I asked Robert Blair to talk about why he still plays the game at age 62. What he said, I cannot improve upon. What he said speaks for itself. What Bob Blair said here is the reason for this column:

“I have heard many fans and non fans of baseball say that Roger Clemens only wanted to pitch for the Skeeters based on purely egotistic reasons. I understand where they are coming from, only because those fans never really played the game for the love of it.

They never:

• Went to bed the night before thinking about how they did not want to let the team down by having a bad day on the mound.
• Got up the morning of the game to put on their uniform and look in mirror to make sure that one of their back pockets were not turned inside out or that they missed a belt loop in their pants.
• Arrived at the field and took in the scents and sights of the ball park.
• Sat on the bench to acknowledge pep talks with their teammates.
• Made sure that they had their supply of seeds and gum handy.
• Occasionally took a peek up over the dugout to see if all of your friends and family had arrived yet (almost hoping they would not, in case you just did not have that great stuff you told them about from your last game)
• Looked across the field where you swear everyone is 20 years younger and in shape
• Strolled out to the mound to survey the 60’- 6” of landscape to home plate.
• Stood on the chalk line while the Nation Anthem played.
• Never stepped over the line to enter another world where all sights and sounds are centered on one thing……….the catcher’s glove.
• Never walked back to the dugout after a well pitched inning, not knowing if they should acknowledge their friends and families cheers with a tip of the hat or a smile.
• Never walked back to the dugout after being relieved for a not so well pitched inning, but again not knowing if they should acknowledge their friends and families cheers with a tip of the hat or a smile.
• Walked across the field at the completion of the game to shake the hands of friends who were just minutes before the enemy.

 I believe that the famous Roger Clemens pitched at Constellation Field for one reason, and that it was the same reason that led over-age humble me to that exact same spot. It’s simply known to all of us who have it by the same familiar phrase. … The Love of The Game.”

– Bob Blair

Thank you, Robert Blair, for loving the game, and for giving this column the same deep caring you give your pitching efforts every time you take the mound. This one’s for the love of the game too.