Too Old For Anything New

So. Where were we? Oh yeah. So, I've been an active playing member of this local softball team since the late 70s. (That's me - top row, left side, no hat.) Over the years, we've sailed our ship under a number of flags - from 'Gaffers' to 'Elco' to 'Veterans' but, here in the twilight of our careers, I think we've finally settled on that last name for as long as the club wants to remain afloat. No need to change it again because nobody's sponsoring us anymore and heck - we're just getting too old for anything new.

We finally shelled out for a more professional look when we transferred into our latest body armour (jerseys). However, during the past 20 years, I'd been asked to provide design suggestions for at least two of the uniform crests we've worn. In both those cases, my quick sketches seem to have been accepted without any alteration or tweaking. (Shouldn't they at least have a committee meeting on these things?) The first 'Elco' crest was in a simple script lettering style done freehand with the classic underlining tail - fashionably worn here by our second baseman DW.

After a few years of running around calling ourselves 'the Veterans' in the mid-90s, I was asked to submit a small logo design for the top corner of our shirts. We had just lived thru a season wearing a HUGE new full torso script design (not mine) shouting out 'VETS' (you could read it from space) and the general opinion was that it was too big and something smaller was needed. So I gave them this pocket-sized label which lasted until we made the big switch over to our current costumes. The tiny Veterans logo is now a collector's item.


The only other drawing I've done for the ball club, was in the early 90s when I thought it would be a good idea (but wasn't really) to produce an entire series of baseball cards featuring each member of the crew. This was in the days before the modern computer, so I was reduced to using the time-consuming, old fashioned 'Letraset' process to add each player's name onto their picture card. T'was an ordeal, lemme tell ya. I've still got my set of cards from that particular team (there's been many changes in the lineup since then) but looking back, the only thing that satisfied me with those packages (which included flat slabs of gum inside just like real baseball cards) was the cartoon cover wrapping. (Reminds me of a catch I once made.)

Only 4 players remain on the team today from that opening day roster of 30 years previous. (Photo below). The uniforms of 2007 may look more dashing and debonaire, but those old 'yuenies' of '79 seemed to get us up the line to first base alot faster. Or was it just that our legs were younger back then.