A very special season

It's late afternoon in summer at the ball park, warm sun casting long redwood and sycamore tree shadows on the infield. The crack of bat against ball, thwack of ball into mitt, voices calling out “Nice hit!” “Go, go, go!” and “Come on home!” And sweetest of all to a former “four eyed", ball-wary kid, "Nice try!"

Some years back, a very eccentric lady used to play a wooden flute to discombobulate the opposing team. When up at bat, players braced themselves for Crazy Jane’s serenade. Today, strains of Bob Marley stream across the field, played on someone’s car stereo.

Once again, Big Sur "Socko" Softball is in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The park celebrates its 75th birthday on Saturday August 23. "Socko" a close relation of softball, was introduced in Monterey in the 50's. It's been played in the Big Sur State Park since 1976. In the rogue's gallery of winning team photos you can identify retired players, and see the fathers of some current ones. The fashions have changed, but the collective glee of the winners is consistent down the years.

Is Life a drama or a game? With sports, there’s drama within the game, but the objectives are always clear, hit the ball, make the run, score the point. The opportunity to make a memorable play, the one your friends talk about after the game, is always out there. And then there's the audience of neighbors, families, and friends. Hanging out and watching the game is a favorite pastime too.

With 16 games canceled due to the huge Basin Complex wildfire that threatened the park last month, league players are happier than ever to play ball. Pitchers pitch to their own team members, so the batters get the pitches they like. To offset this advantage they get only two strikes, not three. So there's lots of hits and lots of runs in this game, making them much more interesting than pro games, with their stolid pace and intense competition.

On this field, players can make mistakes! There's a preponderance of fly balls. Team members encourage each other through the good and bad plays and loudly dispute the bad calls. Joshing each other as only small town intimates can, they gossip behind home plate, steal bases, suffer minor (and sometimes major) injuries. Above all, they laugh, a lot. Umpires mimic big league banter to everyone's amusement. Where else but on a locals' playing field can a 50-year old sport the imprint of baseball stitches on his forehead with pride?

It feels like real play.

Players are waitresses, bartenders, chefs, gardeners, business owners, salespeople, health center, hotel and construction workers who double as artists, surfers, renegades and all-around bohemians. In yet another strange twist of fate, this past Sunday the Cielo restaurant at Ventana Inn burned down in a fire that began in the kitchen. This afternoon Ventana's team is out on the field, playing Fernwood's Dogs for a bit of "normalcy."

Socko Commissioner Chris Counts says, "Big Sur Socko is the Wild, Wild West of Softball. We have 8 teams and over a 100 players in a town of less than a 1000 year-round residents. Just about anything can happen out on the field, and much of it is very funny. We might look serious out there from time to time, but for the most part, this is a very lighthearted league."

Big Sur Socko has a couple of interesting rules, unique to the park's habitat: the "Tree Ball", meaning if your batted ball hits the sycamore tree encroaching on left field, or the redwoods on the edge of right field, you're entitled to sashay over to first base.

Counts' favorite rule is the "In Play" vegetation rule: All balls that reach vegetation between the left field line and the embankment (known colloquially as the dyke) in right-center field are "in play." "In every other league, they would call balls that go into the vegetation 'dead,'" he says, "meaning that a player gets one base and has to stop. By making those balls 'live,' defenders confront an interesting dilemma ... is it worth getting poison oak to stop a runner from scoring?"

In addition to the pleasure of whooping and hollering for your friends, the softball scene is a special treat: sitting on the benches outside the diamond, fans look up to see the formerly green, now charred, slopes of Mt. Manuel. The lines are the same, the peaceful face of the mountain looking down onto the ball field, inspiring faith in a world made safe again, at least for a while.


Rosie Kenworthy, grown up tomboy, has been playing ball with the boys in her neighborhood since she was 9 years old. Before batting, she paws the dirt with the ball of her left foot, does a quick little hip shimmy, then, crack! She's off to first base. Real Big Sur ball players carry their mitts in their cars, artfully dodge the multiple squirrel burrows that pock-mark the field, and are always up for a little celebration post-game. Despite rivalries that sometimes arise even in this bucolic setting, at each game's end opposing team members high five each other, and say, "Good game."

"Field of Trees" photo by Chris Counts
Hayden Will with Dad's mitt
Dale Diesel comes home
Slopes of Mt. Manuel
Rosie at bat
"Good game"
(photos by Linda Sonrisa)