[greymule]

"The coed league no longer exists."

I lived in central Jersey for more than 50 years. As enormously popular as softball was for decades, "that league no longer exists" applies to most of the leagues in that area today. Some leagues that had flourished for my entire life declined and folded over very short spans of time, such as from 12 competitive teams in 2005 to oblivion by 2007.

But I remember when there were softball fields seemingly everywhere, when township and business leagues had two or even three divisions of play, and when you could put your team in a competitive tournament every weekend from April through October.

Regarding Freaks and Mayhems: in 1978, my team finished third in the strongest SP county league in the state. Many of the players in that league also played on Trenton's professional team. We went 21-9 averaging under 6 runs a game. Our pitcher threw six shutouts that season.

This is not to imply that SP is dying everywhere. Clearly, it's not. But it may be that New Jersey has become so expensive that SP's natural base of blue-collar ballplayers has simply shrunk too much.