you read that right.

the red hot chili peppers, the adult baseball team, not the rock band, are in the process of
making a comeback in the 55+ division for 2013.

55+ president john reel has given me the green light to begin organizing. i'll need to
get a roster together, submit a $500 deposit by late fall and win a thumbs up vote
from the other managers.

i'm eager to try to do that. there will be one key difference between this team and
the earlier, 35+ squad that existed from 2000-2007. that club was an entry team,
one that welcomed virtually everybody, with the goals of playing everyone,
improving as the season went on, and having a good time. we didn't win many games,
but we met our other goals, including bringing about 80 guys into the league, some
of whom went on to play for contenders, and we even had some surprising playoff wins.
i'm proud of those teams and have a lot of affection for them.

this team will be different in one respect: it will aim to contend from the start.
i hope to keep the roster fairly small (14-16 guys, tops), give everyone as much
playing time as possible in every game, and, above all, be in each game. no manager in
his right mind can guarantee wins, but he can say his team will strive to play winning
baseball, and we'll make that effort.

i could recruit conventionally, calling on guys i know. but i've gotten only one
player that way, brett conlin, a fine pitcher and shortstop on the 45 dodgers.

for the rest, i don't know who's available from the 45+ squads, and finding out
could take a long time. also, i'd rather not cherry pick players from the 55+ clubs.
the ideal players would have, in addition to good baseball skills, patience and a sense of humor.

all the 55+ players became free agents after the season ended last week and they'll
remain so until feb. 1, 2013, when they'll need their managers' permission
to leave their teams. rosters will be frozen around july 1.

so rather than call guys, i'm posting this notice, asking players who are interested and turn 55 by
dec. 31 of 2013 to drop me an email at mhart44@me.com.

please don't reply here. i'll keep all correspondence private and will reply to each email.

i hope to get guys together by mid- to late-september so we can have some fall workouts
and perhaps even play some fall ball games. i'll also try to set up some winter workouts. that way,
we won't be getting together as a team for the first time next april.

-mike

p.s. for the record, the peppers were never named after the rock band, though i can appreciate
their work. i'm a jazz fan, and one the first new orleans' jazz band to hit it "big" was jelly roll morton's
red hot peppers, around 1920. you can still get their music. it still holds up. -m.