Published: September 06, 2008 11:58 pm            

Seals golden in more ways than one

For the players of the San Francisco Seals softball team, the love for the game never fades.

Nearly every weekend, the Seals play in softball tournaments in California and travel at least once a month to various cities across the country.

On Saturday, the Seals were more than 2,400 miles away from home at Heritage Point Park in Dalton, defending their men’s national championship title in the Softball Players Association’s 70-plus age group in the Major-Plus division (the highest skill level over Major, AAA and AA).

This weekend, along with the next two weekends, the SPA will host tournaments at Heritage Point, with age groups starting with 50-year-olds — whom SPA executive director Ridge Hooks refers to as “the kids” — all the way up to 80-year-olds.

The Seals, who knocked off the Pompano (Fla.) Beach Bums 10-7 to win the tournament for the second straight year, are led by manager Don Farber, 74, of Napa, Calif. who created the team in 2001.

They had a three-year hiatus due to a lack of players but reunited last year.

Because of health conditions, Farber — who played professional baseball in the New York Yankees’ organization for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League in the 1950s — can no longer compete.

But Farber doesn’t allow his circumstances to keep him away from the game.

“I’ve had knee replacement surgery, breast cancer and everything else that comes with being 74 years old,” Farber said.

“All of it has taken a lot out of me, but it hasn’t taken my heart.”

After the Seals won Saturday’s tournament, Farber was named SPA Manager of the Year for the second consecutive year. His team travels to get the chance to play East Coast competition.

“One reason we come here is all the 70-plus, Major Plus teams are in Georgia, Florida and Alabama and they don’t come out west,” Farber said. “So we come out here to see how good we are.”

Seals outfielder Tom Palma, 72, of San Francisco, was pleased with the level of competition of Saturday’s tournament and its results.

“It was nice,” he said. “Usually, there are only a few Major-Plus teams at these things, but today there was five, so it was great to not have to play the same team over and over.”

Palma has played baseball all of his life and was on the 1957 University of California College World Series-winning team and played with Gaylord Perry on the St. Cloud Rox, a San Francisco Giants minor league affiliate in the Northern League in the 1960s.

He still plays today because it’s a fun way to travel and stay active.

“Physically, it’s great,” Palma said. “We’re all running around instead of sitting and watching TV, and we travel quite a bit. We’ll be in Phoenix, Ariz., next month and in Las Vegas later.”

The Seals’ traveling team doesn’t only include the players. A lot of the players’ wives go along for the trips as well.

Carol Partin of Modesto, wife of Seals’ third basemen Charlie Partin, said the husbands and wives have great camaraderie.

“We’re just like a family,” Partin said. “We share cars, have dinner together and meet all kinds of people. We probably go to 20-25 tournaments a year.”

SPA executive director Ridge Hooks, based out of Mustang, Okla., retired a decade ago and bought the organization after 25 years at M&Ms of Mars, Inc. He takes the same approach with SPA as he did Mars and on Saturday, he was on hand to make sure teams like the Seals get the most out of their experience.

“This is no different to me than selling Snickers or M&Ms,” Hooks said. “You’ve got to have a good product, be friendly and listen to the customer. These games are for the players. We make sure all the games have two umpires and a scorer, and we give the winners award packages and individual awards.

“When the players come here, they know who the staff is and who the directors are and that’s the kind of stuff they love. They know they’re appreciated.”

        

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