 JULY 9 • 2020 | 23

L

arry Lipnik wears a mask 
while he plays softball 
during this summer of 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’
s not comfortable, espe-
cially when you’
re running the 
bases, but it isn’
t a big deal after 
you get used to it,
” said Lipnik, 
who pitches for the Bais Chabad 
Torah Center team in the week-
ly Inter-Congregational Men’
s 
Club Summer Softball League.
“When you’
re learning how 
to play baseball or softball, you 
have to learn how to wear a 
mitt,
” Lipnik said. “When you’
re 
learning to play football, you 
have to learn how to wear a hel-
met. There’
s no difference here.
”
Lipnik, 62, said he takes his 
mask-wearing seriously because 
public health experts say wear-
ing a mask is an effective way 
to stop the spread of the coro-
navirus.
He wears his mask nearly 
the entire time he’
s playing in a 

league game, taking it off only 
for the few seconds it takes to 
get a drink.
Wearing a mask for long 
stretches isn’
t a new experience 
for Lipnik.
He wears one all day in his 
job as an internal medicine 
doctor.
“I tell my patients to wear a 
mask, so I’
m practicing what 
I’
m preaching when I wear one 
during a softball game,
” he said.
While it isn’
t a mask, Lipnik 
wears a face guard while he’
s 
pitching in some league games.
“
A line drive glanced off my 
face during a league game a few 
years ago,
” he said. “I got my 
mitt up and deflected the ball, 
but that was enough to con-
vince me to get the face guard. 
I wear it when we play against 
teams with really good hitters.
”
Wearing a mask isn’
t required 
for players or umpires during 
league games, which are played 

at Drake Sports Park and Keith 
Sports Park in West Bloomfield. 
A few players and at least one 
umpire are wearing a mask.
Social distancing measures 
like keeping a 6-foot distance 
when possible, avoiding tagging 
or sliding, using hand sanitizer, 
and stationing the home plate 
umpire, catcher and batter 
farther apart than normal are 
part of the “new normal” in the 
league’
s 25th season.
Plus, there’
s free substitution. 
A team can loan players to an 
opponent to play in the field 
so there are no forfeits in the 
shortened league season, which 
began June 21, seven weeks 
later than scheduled, because of 
the pandemic.

HELPING THE COMMUNITY
League players raised $390 for 
the Detroit Justice Center in a 
pair of exhibition games June 
14, a week before league play 
began. Each of the 39 players on 
four teams donated $10 to the 
cause.
“I made sure each team had a 
pitcher and I kept family mem-
bers together, then I divvyed 
up the rest of the players,
” said 
Steve Achtman, a league orga-
nizer, about how he put togeth-
er the four teams.
Achtman’
s son Ryan Achtman 
made the recommendation to 
designate the Detroit Justice 
Center as the recipient of the 
fundraiser.

“I have some good friends 
who are involved in the orga-
nization,
” Ryan said. “My dad 
asked me for a recommenda-
tion on where the money raised 
by the exhibition games should 
go because he trusts me when it 
comes to social justice issues.
”
Ryan sent an email to each 
league player after the exhibi-
tion games to explain why the 
DJC is an appropriate fundrais-
er recipient.
In the email, Ryan noted the 
DJC’
s mission statement, which 
describes the organization as 
a “nonprofit law firm working 
alongside communities to cre-
ate economic opportunities, 
transform the justice system, 
and promote equitable and just 
cities.
”
“
As Jews — descendants of 
oppressed peoples — we have a 
duty to stand up against injus-
tice, whenever and whenever 
we see it,
” Ryan wrote in his 
email.
“Today, in America, our focus 
has been directed to the eco-
nomic, educational and political 
systems that have oppressed 
the Black community long 
after slavery. We have a duty 
to ‘
never forget’
 the tragedies 
experienced by our own people 
and use this fire to stand up for 
those now being killed, directly 
or indirectly.
”
Ryan lives in Denver, Colo., 
and is a freelance graphic artist 
and web designer. 

Sports

Larry Lipnik can 
mask his emotions 
while he pitches 
for Bais Chabad 
Torah Center.

Who Is That
Masked
Man?

Bais Chabad pitcher Larry Lipnik says
wearing a mask while playing softball
‘
isn’
t a big deal.’

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

NATALIE LIPNIK

“I tell my patients to wear a 
mask, so I’m practicing what
I’m preaching when I wear
one during a soft
 ball game.”

— LARRY LIPNIK

