The 5th Baseman

This article was originally published on October 26, 2001, in The Herman Sports print edition


The Fifth Baseman, by Lyman L Solo.

If you have a copy of the APBA Access Encyclopedia, go ahead and take a minute to see the numbers Brad and Eddie, two Hall of Famers, put up in 1987.

Did you find it?  No? There's a reason those players have a gap there, and the reason is called Softball 1000.  This game was supposed to be the next great craze.  Brad and Eddie each poured their life savings into the game, as did several other investors. 

The game featured 1000 players on each side.  Many of these players were DH types who could hit the ball a mile but not run or field.  Incredibly complex rules made outs almost impossible, as multiple players on the defensive team had to touch the ball before a batter could be put out.  Innings could literally last for years.  (like the legendary 6th inning, 1993-97).   Fly balls were not automatically outs.  It all proved incomprehensible to the fans, as they saw a bunch of beer leaguers jogging around the bases, seemingly separate from the team in the field throwing the ball around to each other in strange patterns.  The players outnumbered the fans almost 100 to 1.

Eddie and Brad left the game after a year to return to MicroLeague.  Most of the players who started the game (There was only one game, it lasted from April 2, 1987 to August 4, 2001) were not the same as those who finished it.  In several cases, players on the finishing team were ancestors of the players who started it. 

One player who was there for all 9 innings was Joe McAllister.  Joe was drafted by the Denver Rabbits in 1986, but held out for more money.  Without a contract, He joined Softball 1000 and became the game's greatest 5th baseman, hitting 337 homeruns and driving in 1873 runs during the game.  He was a true athlete, at 6'4 and 225 pounds, he could run like Vince Henderson and throw like Brad.  Joe had power to all fields.  In the later innings, he would be scouted by APBA teams, but most concluded that he would be a misfit in our game, as fifth base is not part of the defensive spectrum.

Fifth base was believed to be located somewhere in shallow right field.  It was one of the optional bases.  Players were safe there, but they didn't have to go to it.  There were two main reasons a player might go to fifth base:

1) During a run down between first and second, he might run to fifth base to avoid a tag.

2) He's trying to set up the 5 run homer.

The Softball 1000 game allowed frequent substitutions.  For the players who stayed in the game, many would set up tents in the outfield, where they would sleep in shifts.  Joe stayed by 5th base through it all.  Sometimes he'd fall asleep there, and seemed to wake up just in time to make a play.  Once, he made a tag after jumping up from the outfield toilet, pants still around his ankles.  All told, Joe was responsible for 3 outs in the 14 year game.  No other player recorded more than one.

Joe is now 39 years old, and with no Softball 1000 games planned for the future, out of a job.  He hopes to someday coach in APBA.

(2019 note:  Joe never did catch on as a coach in APBA or OOTP.  Now 57 years old, he lives a quiet life on his farm in South Dakota.)