Summer League
Time was — just a three or four years ago — when French baseball closed down for July and August. All the diamonds stood empty; all the players supposedly on vacation at the very best time of year for baseball.
No more. The Paris Summer Baseball League is here, and it's the closest thing to pure baseball that exists. Just Sunday afternoon pick-up games welcoming all, females and males, regular team players and drop-ins. Bring your own gear and join in. The only regulation is "you want to play baseball." The only goal is "a good time."
FAlthough most of the players who show up for the 12:30 warm-up time are French, there is a generous sprinkling of other nationalities, too. A few Americans straggle in, like Tyler, a warehouse systems analyst. Most of his clients are in America, but the woman he loves is in Paris, so he does a constant juggling of time zones.
Without too much trouble, he could probably work 24 hours a day, something he definitely does not want. "I want to keep my life-work balance in order," he said, "so I play baseball."
At about 1:30 p.m. Jonathan Dinon, who runs the Paris Summer League, counts heads. If there are enough for two teams, there is a game. If not, well, play a little more catch, hit some extra fungoes, chase down a few more fly balls and call it a day. There's always next Sunday.
The Summer League got its start a few years ago when Paris University Club player Gaetan Alibert started it. It limped along at first but than it began taking off, reflecting, perhaps, the growing interest in the sport and the increasing globalization of the French economy. The old days when Paris could practically hang out a sign saying "Closed for August" have passed. No more do you walk down streets and see every apartment building totally shuttered and shop windows papered over. No more do you hear people saying, "I wouldn't be caught dead in Paris in August." Few factories now totally shut down for a month, more and more shops stay open so neighborhoods that once looked deserted in the summer, now are busy.
And so it is with baseball. The Paris Summer League now has its own Facebook page and even draws some spectators, friends and families of players, usually armed with picnics and snacks. And chairs. Like the players themselves, the spectators have to bring their own gear.
There is no "food court" and no bleachers. Also no toilets nearby, unless you count the woods around the field.
Nonetheless, scruffy Mortemart, the second-class diamond in the Bois de Vincennes, comes roaring to life Sunday afternoons.
Who cares that the infield is rutted and gravely? What difference if the outfield seems to have been chewed down rather than mowed? It's summer, the sun is shining and there's baseball. Is life perfect or what?!!
