Senior All-Stars Maintain Worldly Approach to Title

Undergoing triple bypass surgery last year hasn’t stopped Irv Lipkin from running out a double. At 70, the only time he walks during a softball game is when he draws a base on balls.

Lipkin is a youngster on a team that’s more difficult to qualify for than Social Security. Players don’t reach home plate unless they’re 70 or older. And even if a player is old enough, he doesn’t make the team unless he can produce on the basepaths.

Lipkin, who lives in Los Angeles, is co-manager of a 15-member all-star team comprising players from the San Fernando Valley and Culver City. The team will represent the L.A. City Dept. of Recreation and Parks in the ninth annual World Senior Softball Tournament on Sept. 17-20 in Las Vegas.

Despite their age, most of the players are not veterans of national softball tournaments.

Sol Brill, 77, of Sherman Oaks is an exception. Brill played for the Oxnard Gulls this summer, a team that won the Senior Softball League championship for players 55 and older. The short, stocky infielder has made the trip to Las Vegas for the double-elimination tournament each of the past five years.

“It’s terrific,” Brill said. “The tournament is very competitive, but I think we have a good chance of making the playoffs and going all the way. If I wasn’t playing, I would go there just to watch.

“Playing ball, I don’t feel my age at all. I go out there and have no aches or pains. But after the game, it hurts.”

Leonard Daly, 69, a white-haired catcher from Woodland Hills, barely met the age provision that requires him to turn 70 before the end of the year. Daly is one of the few players who isn’t worried about the oppressive Las Vegas heat. His team plays five games in the first three days of the tournament.

“I like the heat,” Daly said. “Las Vegas is dry heat and I like that. I’m going to have to get up by five so I’m awake at eight.”

A schedule heavy on morning games will put a crimp in the night life of several players, including Daly.

“I’m single and I like to date a lot,” he said.

Night life won’t be a problem for pitcher Fred Eisman, 70, of Camarillo or Neil Polidori, 72, of North Hollywood. Eisman recently returned from a trip to Laughlin, Nev.

“I got the gambling out of me,” said Eisman, who will be making his eighth trip to the national senior tournament. “Now it’s strictly ball.”

Polidori, who is playing in his first national tournament, feels the same way.

“If I want to go to Vegas I will go some other time,” Polidori said. “This is baseball, that’s what’s important.”