20 July 25 • 2019
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Diamond Dandies
Pickup softball game has been going strong for 40 years.

T

he venues have changed, players 
have come and gone, and new 
players have joined in the fun.
For 40 years, a pickup softball game 
started by friends Barry Leder and Cliff 
Walkon has been played each Sunday 
morning from May through September 
when the weather is good.
About 50 current and former play-
ers gathered for a 40-year reunion 
July 14 at Drake Sports Park in West 
Bloomfield.
After a nearly 90-minute game, 
which was decided in the final inning, 
former players were introduced and 
everyone enjoyed snacks including 
Cracker Jack and beverages.
The pickup game was first played 
at Kennedy School — now Kennedy 
Learning Center — in Southfield, a few 
blocks from where Leder and Walkon 
lived.
It moved to several locations includ-
ing West Bloomfield High School 
before landing at Drake Park a few 
years ago.
“The rules were simple when we 
started,
” said Leder, 68. “You pretty 
much had to just show up. We didn’
t 
care how you played; we just wanted to 
be the boys of summer again. Have a 
game where our kids could watch us.
“We never thought the game would 
go on for 40 years, and we would still 
have as many as 28 to 30 players play-
ing each week. It’
s like the TV show, 
Cheers. I know a lot of guys by their 
first name, but I don’
t know their last 
name.
”
One aspect of the game hasn’
t 
changed through the years.
“We’
ve had our share of excellent 
players and many who weren’
t so great,
” 
said Walkon, 67. “We’
ve had a 90-year-
old who could place the ball anywhere 
and always got on base and a player 
who never wore shoes. It’
s a weekly 
pickup game, so it doesn’
t matter who 

wins or loses.
”
Forty-year player Ron Finegood 
agrees.
“We’
ve had players of all skill levels 
and players who were more competitive 
than others,
” he said. “But we’
re all out 
there to have a good time.
”
About 50 players ages 19-78 are in 
the current group, said weekly game 
and reunion organizer Don Rudick, 73, 
who did the introductions of the for-

mer players at the reunion as they lined 
up along the third-base line.
Rudick has been umpiring the week-
ly game this year after injuring his knee 
in the first week. He’
s been a part of the 
group for about 15 years.
“My knee is fine. I could play. But 
I’
m having so much fun umpiring,
” said 
Rudick, who has been a softball umpire 
for 40 years and a softball player since 
1966.
Finegood, 68, couldn’
t make it to 
the reunion, but his dedication to the 
weekly game through the years has 
been amazing.
He’
s been driving 2½ hours, 140 
miles to the diamond from his home 
in Stanton, a small town in Montcalm 
County, since 2008. His return trip 
makes it five hours on the road and 280 
miles traveled each week.
Finegood has lived in mid-Michigan 
since 1998, so his long-distance Sunday 
drives to play softball have been going 
on for more than 20 years.
“I’
m on the road by 6:30 in the 
morning each Sunday so I can get to 
the field by 9,
” he said. “When do I get 
back home? Anytime between 4 and 9.
”
The time of Finegood’
s arrival at 
home depends upon what he does right 
after the game. He showers at his son’
s 
home, visits with his father and often 
takes him to lunch, makes a stop at a 
bakery for onion rolls and hamantash-
en, and catches up with family and 
friends.
“I’
ve been playing sports all my life,
” 
Finegood said. “I’
m still that little boy 
who hits the ball off a tee, runs around 
the bases and slides into home plate.
”
That enthusiasm carries over into the 
hockey rink. Finegood plays hockey 
once or twice a week.
Finegood said he became involved 
in the weekly softball game through his 
friendship with Leder, whom he met in 
junior high school in Detroit. ■

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TOP TO BOTTOM: Current and former players 

gather for a pickup softball game 40-year 

reunion; Ron Finegood warms up his pitching 

arm; Barry Leder and Cliff Walkon started 

a pickup softball game that has become a 

four-decade tradition.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DON RUDICK & BARRY LEDER 

Neo-Nazi Flyers 
Posted at Local 
Jewish Cemetery

The morning of July 4, Executive Director 
of Clover Hill Park Cemetery Kimberly 
Raznik couldn’
t believe what she saw hang-
ing on a pillar near the cemetery’
s front 
entrance.
It was a flyer from a neo-Nazi group 
called Atomwaffen Division, encouraging 
people to “Join your local Nazis!”
Raznik immediately took it down and 
reported the incident to the Birmingham 
Police. “It’
s just so disappointing to think 
that there is so much ignorance in the 
world,
” she said.
Birmingham Police Chief Mark 
Clemence is investigating the incident. 
“We reported it to the state and federal 
authorities,
” Clemence said. “They reached 
out to us and told us that the Atomwaffen 
Division is not an active group in our area.
”
Despite these findings, there are now 
four reports of the flyers in Birmingham. 
“They are a hate group, plain and sim-
ple,
” Clemence said. “We have no intelli-
gence thus far that there is going to be a 
future problem.
”
An additional report was given to the 
Royal Oak Police Department regarding a 
flyer found in the 14 Mile and Hampton 
area, across the street from Clover Hill.
“It wasn’
t targeted toward anyone,
” Royal 
Oak Lt. Keith Spencer said. “It was found 
on a light pole and we were called. The 
person had already removed it from the 
light pole and had given it to us.
”
Royal Oak Police have documented the 
incident and are sharing the information 
with law enforcement partners. 
“We will continue to monitor that area,
” 
Spencer said. “We want to keep an eye 
out on further reports of these incidents. 
However, there is no indication at this 
point that there is any imminent threat of 
violence based upon these flyers.
” ■

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF KIMBERLY RAZNIK

The flyer found in Clover Hill Park Cemetery

