How can softball not be fun?

The company I temp for has a softball team in the New York Engineers and Architects Softball League, so I signed up for the team when the season began in the beginning of May.

That first game, in the far west side of Midtown at Clinton-DeWitt Park, felt really strange because I was by far the youngest guy there. There were some guys in their late 20s or early 30s on my team who I had never even seen before (perhaps they were from another branch?), and the opposing team had a lot of older gentlemen. That first game never got to be played, though. The league, with proper permits and all, somehow booked us to play on a field that had already been reserved far in advance. It didn’t seem like a good omen for the season to come.

Now, I love playing softball/baseball, and I fancy myself an OK hitter and an above average second baseman. I did play for 10 years with baseball summer camp and all the fixings, although I’ll admit it has been 10 years since I’ve played regularly in an organized league. What bothers me about this team and this league is how ridiculously competitive all the players are. This is just a recreational summer softball league, but all these players take the game so seriously. And it ends up taking most of the fun out of it for me, since I’m just...not of that mindset, especially when it comes to softball.

Instead of playing second base at our game this past Monday, the manager penciled me in to right-center (we play with 4 outfielders). I don’t want to make up excuses for my play, but I played the infield my whole “career” and I’m a tad rusty at reading fly balls off the hitter’s bat. OK, really rusty. I misplayed two line drives hit in my direction in the first inning and I thought the rest of the team was going to stone me when I got back to the bench. One ended up going over my head when I thought for sure it was going to drop way in front of me. It was hit directly at me and I couldn’t read it to save my life.

After the inning was over the manager came over and gave me a speech about keeping the ball in front of me (as if I didn’t know that already) and then the left-center fielder, who fancied himself to be quite the knowledgeable ball player, came over and gave me a long-winded, patronizing lecture as if I had never played ball before. I just nodded, said yes, and apologized, but what I really wanted to do was scream at the rest of the team and tell them to chill out, relax, and to stop worrying so much about other people. I didn’t like being bossed around like that, especially by a bunch of people that don’t know me from a whole in the wall.

I guess that’s the problem- I’m the temp, the new guy on the team, and they, in fact, don’t know anything about me, or whether or not I actually know how to play. They stick me in the very bottom of the lineup, put me on the bench for the first half of the game if we have more than 10 players, and proceed to over coach me if I make the slightest mistake. So I messed up in the outfield and misplayed a few balls. And for that I deserve a sneer, a condescending shake of the head, and a cold shoulder from my teammates?! Grow up, fellas; it’s a softball game, and nobody’s life or career depends on the outcome.

Maybe it’s just the engineer/scientist mentality they all share, but my entire team is entirely too competitive. I don't have that killer instinct/take no prisoners attitiude. If the umpire makes a close call, a bunch of them will start screaming, get red in the face, and run up to the ump and argue the call. I’ve seen it happen a few times now, and none of these incidents involved jocular play-arguing, either. Maybe that’s fun for them, but I see that happen and I feel like picking up my glove and leaving.

Sometimes seeing other players’ competitive zeal can be humorous, too: out-of-shape men in cleats, kneepads, and tight baseball pants, the pitchers, who are almost always the overweight guys who can’t play a position in the field, and anyone attempting an ill-fated slide.

So for right now, even though we won this week’s game, I’m not too popular with the rest of the team, and I have a feeling this crew has a long memory. Until I wheel out a triple or make some dazzling outfield catch, I’m in the dog house. I couldn’t even make eye contact with one of my teammates when I passed him in the hall this morning.