Titans Baseball Club - Philippines

The 2nd World Men's Softball Championships came to Marikina in 1968 and immortalized softball on Philippine soil, while sending off a ripple that reached its baseball cousin. The latter had already been prevalent in the country ever since the early 20th century.

Ricefields were cultivated into diamonds; squares as some would come to know it. Carton boxes were fashioned into fielding gloves. I knew next to nothing in making gloves so I made do with my bare hands. I still remember that pop fly to rightfield and the great catch I made using my chest as a pocket. It was a story that echoed to anyone who cared to listen and one that made me want to be a ballplayer.

Two years later, I made the school team for Little League. Although the uniform I wore was a hand-me-down from the previous year's team, I sported my own school letter.

Soon it was on to Pony League and a few years of softball.

There would be more baseball in college. The University Athletics Association of the Philippines carried the tradition and was the best collegiate league to date. And I was a part of it.

Meanwhile, at the adult level, baseball begun to flounder, and with it the demise of the prestigious Manila Bay Baseball League.

Other than generations of baseball's storied past in the country, there was little of it once you reached the ranks of employment. You had to accept that baseball no longer existed after college.

As I was not good enough to be invited to play in whatever Senior Leagues that rose from the ashes, when word of a pick-up game sounds off, learning to adjust your schedules became an art. Death was not an excuse.

Today, 20 years after last playing competitive baseball, I came across this group with their crazy idea of adult baseball that welcomed anybody who wanted to play.

Great, I don't have to prove myself. All I need to do is show up and I get a chance to play. Now that's more like it; recreational baseball at the adult level.

But looking around, one can't help but recognize the talent. Yes, there are rookies and novices alike, but there are also players who had made a name for themselves in the UAAP, other leagues, and organizations, a good number of whom have played at the grassroots level. Among them are all-Filipino caliber talent, national team players, varsity players, etc. so one still has to work hard to get decent playing time rather than token time.

Nobody pushes you though. If you want to learn, all you need to do is ask. If you just want to sweat a bit, then that's fine too; whatever floats your boat. Everyone is guaranteed to play.

The one thing great about this experience is the vision embodied by the group in developing adult baseball thru the efforts of the private sector.

Now I can play again!