All-star softball in the park

The Friends of the Public Garden celebrated its 40th anniversary last night (i.e., Tuesday) with an "all star" game of its own in the Boston Common. This was a fund-raising softball game with representatives -- several of the over-the-hill variety -- from local corporations and some elected officials as well. Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollak and Friends President Henry Lee managed the teams.

Regular readers know that soccer, not football, is my game. I'm just not used to using my hands. Nonetheless, I subbed in as the pitcher for the blue team at the top of the third inning, confident of holding our 5-3 lead. By the end of the inning, we were behind 12-5. I issued the following statement to my teammates in this morning's follow-up email:

I hereby issue an apology for my playing: The good news, speaking as the pitcher, was that several of the runs scored during my pitching stint were unearned. The bad news was that at least three of them were attributable to my own fielding errors! (Two or three others were earned, but only because the shortstop couldn't bend down fast enough to nab some ground balls.)