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