A lifetime of playing softball — 62 years — will be honored in October when Al Kumm of Goleta travels to Arizona to be inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall Of Fame, which boasts only 250 members since it was founded in 1995.

“I am thankful and honored just to be a candidate for the Senior Softball Hall of Fame,” Kumm, who is 72, wrote in his acceptance letter to hall’s administrators. “I’ve been so blessed with a wonderful life, friends and family; my wife Carolyn and three sons and granddaughter,” he wrote.

Al credits his parents, who were avid Cubs fans, for getting him interested in the sport.
“I was successful right off the start; I was able to compete and play pretty well,” he said.

As a kid growing up in Shawano, Wisc., he would spend hours throwing a baseball against chicken wire he’d stretched across a couple of poles in a pasture. He laughs when he says his legs got just as good of a workout as his pitching arm — he had just one baseball, so had to retrieve the ball after every throw.

These days Al plays softball on two teams — the first a team in Placentia made up of men 70 and over called Fairway Ford. This team, which is a majo-plus tournament team, (the highest rating a team can earn,) travels around the U.S. to compete in national tournaments. He also plays ball with Santa Barbara Stars, one of three teams that make up a local recreational league.

The ballplayers, who are an interesting lot, are between 50 and 91 years old, live all around Santa Barbara County and are a mixture of retired engineers, police officers, teachers, doctors and other worthy occupations. At a game I attended last week, I noticed a man wearing an oxygen cannula while doing pre-game exercises. Another wears a foot brace while recuperating from a stroke. These men do not let health challenges stop them from playing ball.

“We all have something in common — just about everyone that plays senior softball are really good friends,” Kumm said.

“These guys are good ball players, considering their age — they’re all out there working hard, and they do their best and everybody is supportive,” he said. “It’s a really good recreation to partake in. And when people get ill or hurt, everyone calls. It’s like a big family.”

Al’s love for softball has encompassed a lot of his life. In 1957, soon after earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he joined a softball team of fellow workers at Delco in Milwaukee. In 1973, Delco transferred him to Santa Barbara, and he began playing softball right away with the Delco team.

Al’s softball accomplishments are numerous. Between 1998 and 2006 he was awarded All American and All World titles 12 times. In 1998, while playing with the Thousand Oaks Panthers, he hit over .700, and was awarded Most Valuable Defensive Player. A year later, while with the Panthers, he was given a medal for Best Defensive Player in the Phoenix Senior Softball World Championships. In 2001 and 2002, as a member of the Fairway Ford team, he earned Most Valuable Player.

But Al considers his participation in the creation of Dos Pueblos Little League in 1974, along with other parents, one of his most notable accomplishments. Without any government assistance, he and other parents built four playing fields with wire fences, grass infields and watering systems.

In appreciation of his efforts, he received the General Motors award for excellence, and the league was given an award for its outstanding contribution to the Goleta community.

At one time, all three of Al’s sons were participating in Little League. Today, the organization continues to benefit kids who love to play baseball. Who knows where it could take them—perhaps they’ll be playing on a senior league someday.

Jeanine Bertuzzi’s column runs monthly. Contact her at localcurrents@verizon.com

Photo by Carolyn Kumm

Caption: Al Kumm started playing softball when he was 10, and 62 years later he’s still going strong.