LET’S PLAY 2 ... OR 50 YEARS
These West Hartford kids started a marathon softball game in 1971, and they still come back every year to play
Michael Fichman stepped up to the plate, a cigar in his hand. He placed the cigar in his mouth and promptly deposited the next pitch onto a nearby softball field.
Michael and his brother Brian are what are known as “Second Generationers” at the annual Hall High and Friends marathon softball game at King Phillips Middle School in West Hartford, now in its 50th year (after missing last year due to COVID).
Their father, Mark, played in the original game in 1971, started as a lark to celebrate the end of the high school year.
The game — which they were hoping would go 50 innings Saturday — runs roughly from sunrise to sunset the Saturday of Father’s Day weekend, every year. The originals, except one, are all still there. They come from all over the country — Houston, Florida, California. Their kids grew up coming to the game. Now there are grandchildren toddling around the bases between innings.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think I’m the one who thought of this idiotic idea,” said Scott Dolin, one of the originals who lives the closest to the field in West Hartford. “I remember sitting in the library in Hall High School in 1971 and chit-chatting, here’s the end of our childhood, we were juniors.
“We used to pedal over here on our bikes with our gloves on our handlebars. It was a culmination of our childhood.”
Now, once a year, time stands still. “This game became part of the soundtrack of our life,” said Brian Wice of Houston, who graduated from Hall High in 1972. He came to the second game in ‘72 and kept coming back.
“It defined us. It continues to define us
as much as weddings, bar mitzvahs, births, and every now and again, deaths. This is our attempt of doing what we can to remain young and fight Father Time.”
The original game took place a few days after school let out. They came back after their senior year, then through college and graduations and starting families.
Rich Hotes, who grew up to become the director of anesthesiology at New Britain General Hospital, was one of the originals. He died in early June of 2003 at age 49 of a rare disorder called primary amyloidosis.
“These guys didn’t want to play,” said his son Todd Hotes of Fairfield, who has played in the game for 26 years. “That was the complete opposite of what he would have wanted.”
They played. They left the shortstop spot open in the first inning in honor of Rich, who always played there. They still do.
“We go to the cemetery the day after every year and put a ball on his grave that everybody signs,” Dolin said.
The R. Hotes Scoreboard lists the players on each team, the score and the inning played. At 1:15 p.m., the game was in the 28th inning and one team led, 43-18. The game ended around 6:30 and the final score was 65-50 after 45 innings.
There aren’t set teams. Captains pick them each year. Sometimes there is trading in the middle of the game if one team is too dominant.
“We started out playing 10 on 10, now it’s 15 on 15,” Mark Fichman said. “A lot of outfielders make the innings
go quicker.”
Dolin came last year when everything was shut down due to COVID. He set up a Zoom call at the field and everybody came on and talked about their memories.
“I don’t believe anybody has played all 50 years,” said Dave Palten, one of the originals, from West Hartford. “Many of us have played 47, 48, 49. I’ve played 48.”
At the 40th game, one of the players had seen a story about the Miracle League, a non-profit which gives children with physical and cognitive challenges sports opportunities at accessible facilities. They decided they wanted to raise money during the game for what was then more of an idea than anything in West Hartford. The game raised $50,000, which
served as seed money for the Miracle League of CT to start up and attract other sponsors.
On Friday night, the softball players played in a Miracle League game. They lost 50-1.
“It was great to play the Washington Generals to their Globetrotters,” Wice said.
Some of the Second Generationers have been playing in the game for over two decades. Jay Hyne came from Ridgewood, N.J., Saturday to play in his 27th game.
“Who knows - maybe once we stop, whenever that is, maybe they’ll take over the tradition,” Mark Fichman
said.