Marc Weberman,
Ed Radner, Ken
Radner, Bruce
Weberman and
David Radner love
softball.
Boys Of Summer
The B'nai B'rith League has become
a melting pot for Detroit area
Jewish softball players.
JEFF LESSON
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
111erhaps only a B'nai
B'rith softball league
could be responsible
for such legendary
nicknames as Larry
"Lar-Dan" Silver, Bruce
"Skidley" Weberman,
Robert "Boblo" Shapiro
and Al "Bush" Mudryk.
But such is the nature of
the camaraderie that has
existed at various metro
Detroit ball fields on
Sunday mornings for over
30 years.
Now
playing
in
Farmington Hills, the
league sports 11 teams
and a total of 150 ball
Players. Each team plays a
aouble-header nearly
every Sunday from mid-
May to mid-August, fol-
lowed by playoffs. Most
lodges in B'nai B'rith have
at least one team.
Ed Radner, 56, of
Farmington Hills, played
B'nai B'rith softball in
Detroit. He began playing
when he was 25 years old.
For the last 15 years, he
has been relegated to
coaching duties. Radner
stays involved with B'nai
B'rith softball "because it
is a way to socialize on a
Sunday morning."
The self-proclaimed
"winningest coach in B'nai
B'rith," Radner says he
has won over 300 games in
his coaching career with
Brotherhood Lodge. Both
claims are widely disput-
ed, but perhaps that is just
part of the camaraderie of
B'nai B'rith softball, where
everyone seems to have a
different opinion. Still,
Radner has won a docu-
mented 11 championships
in his coaching career.
Marc Weberman, 40, of
West Bloomfield, helped
move B'nai B'rith softball
to Farmington Hills in the
early 1970s. He remains
an active player with
Bloch Lodge.
Weberman says, "In the
'70s interest was at its
peak and there were 24
teams, many of very high
quality. All the top-notch
Jewish players played
then because there was no
competition from the big
softball complexes that
exist today."
Radner agrees. -"As play-
ers got older, the push for
younger players was not
as strong and there were
also competing family
responsibilities for the
older guys." Says Weber-
man, "Attracting more
youngsters will be critical
to our survival."
The two veterans agree
that the quality of play is
not as high as it once was,
SUMMER page 68
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