Update 5-23-2025
We called it "choosing up."
Choosing Up, Will and Gene
Lost: “Pickup Games” and “Choosing up”
We talked about pickup games this week at the coffee shop and how much fun playground baseball can be.
At White Oak Grade School, we called it “choosing up.” The two guys everyone seemed to think were the best players chose their teammates one at a time for the 30-minute lunch-hour game.
Eating in ten minutes required some concentration, decision-making, and some creative carryout as we left the lunchroom, but the time constraint of a lunch recess required skill and sacrifice.
We could have a leisurely lunch in January, but in September and May, we would just have to find a creative way to eat pinto beans in a hurry. The baseball game drove all meal decisions.
Choosing up was eventually abandoned in favor of semi-permanent teams. The choosing process was taking too much time. If we hurried, we would have almost 30 minutes in those 45-minute lunch/recesses. We started the game when four or five players reached the ball field (girls were welcome). Mr. Wood arrived to umpire about 15 minutes in, and sometimes we played only one eventful, error-filled inning. We loved those games!
Choosing up is a lost art. Do any kids even play pickup games anymore? Is there a field in your town where kids can go on Saturday and play a game without uniforms, umpires, and a bag full of personal gear?
No rings were awarded to the playground champions. It is just for FUN!
All this brings up the question: If you could choose a team from every player in Major League Baseball today, who would be your first pick? You are going to play for an entire school year. You are not concerned about their age, salary, or popularity, and yes, Ohtani will have to play in the field. If you would like to share your choice, please use the comment button below or email me at backroadsballplayers@gmail.com.
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I wrote about the Arkansas Razorbacks’ Will McEntire. In these days of NIL and transfer portal, there are still players who play for the “love of the game.” Will McEntire is one. Also, this week…Gene Paulette’s lost story…
If you missed his story in this week’s Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly, here is your second chance.
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Here are Peter, Paul, and Mary one more time to set the pickup game mood.
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Whenever I picked teams I went for the guy who was good but not necessarily the best. That all-around guy who pumped up the team. Still, I could not pass on Bobby Witt, Jr. The guy is the poster child for what I would want on my team. As much as I’d like to get Brendan Donovan. Maybe he’d still be available for my second pick!
Bobby Witt. Freeman. Judge. Ohtani is on the bench for half the game.