likes to bat fifth in the order, letting the leadoffs start the game at the No.1 and No. 2 spots, and let the power guys come up third and fourth. “I like to start the whole rotation over again,” he said. “Because I’m not nearly as fast as I used to be, I can’t be considered a leadoff hitter, but the five spot is basically giving me a shot at being another leadoff hitter. It’s also a great slot for me because there’s usually a couple of people left on base, and I move them, so it’s an ideal slot for me.” As the first game of the team’s double header came to a close, the team began to give up several runs and lost momentum as the score came to 6-3 to end the game. “Good pitch, good pitch,” Gleason shouted to the pitcher to try and boost momentum as the opposing team, The Jagerbomers, rallied for several runs. “Good game guys, good game,” he added. As the sun’s waning and the second game began, Gleason’s energy remained high, and his encouragement never ceased. “You’re almost there, Ant,” Gleason said to his teammate Anthony Alaia who was up to bat. “Half a step up in the batter’s box and you could get a better swing at the ball.” As the evening came to a close, several runs in the seventh caused the team to fall behind. “C’mon boys let’s do this,” he shouted. “Let’s shut this off.” After the final out at the top of the seventh was made, the team rallied through the bottom of the seventh to come within one run, but a grounder ended the team’s rally and the game. “I might sound like I’m boasting a lot, but the fact of the matter is, when it comes to softball, it’s a priority in my life. I’m a valued mechanic with what I do for a living, but if I’m playing in a, let’s say fall Monday night league, that will be the only night I’m not on call,” Gleason said. “The biggest cake I get out of it all, besides the adrenaline and competitiveness of it, is that it’s a way of life where you bring people together.” And Gleason said that’s one of the things he’s enjoyed most. “It’s like a micro study in living,” he said. “You take a team that basically doesn’t know each other, by the middle of the season, we’re best friends; we depend on each other for certain things, we know what winning and losing is, and you bring your outside life to a game and talk about it. It’s not just going in there and playing softball. It becomes a part of life. Friendships and meaningful things happen in the dugouts and it’s really, really interesting.” Gleason said he’s taking it one step at a time in terms of how he’s performing and whether or not he thinks he is strong enough to continue playing, but for now, he said he feels better and stronger than he ever has, and will continue to take to the field, get up to bat, and even run the bases. “If I feel like I’m becoming a burden to a team, that’s where I’m going to pack it up and say goodbye. But right now, I feel ridiculously, unnaturally phenomenal. I can do whatever I want to do on the field,” he said. “I tell people all the time, in baseball and in softball, you could take two identical teams talent-wise on paper, and I mean identical,
and the team that’s going to win nine out of 10 times is the team that gets along with each other during the course of the season. It comes down to humanity and compassion...I still have a huge drive—I think it’s a combination of the adrenaline and competitiveness, but now it’s just as much about the camaraderie. It’s just as much about motivating a team, having the young players look at me and say this guy has a good outlook on life, and getting them to play better than they thought they could ever play.”
when his son James, a naturally gifted athlete, started playing softball for Island Slowpitch, and convinced his father to get back out on the field. “He convinced me to come out of retirement,” Gleason said of his son changing his mind on playing the one sport he loves. “I play on three mens teams and a co-ed team now. My son won’t admit it, but I am phenomenal. Until I prove it to him, he thinks at 53 my reflexes aren’t what they used to be.” But they are. Although Gleason is an outfielder, playing left and center field, for the first time in his life, he’s trying out a position in the infield— third base. “I play thi rd consistently now on the coed team, and my son’s wife plays second base. She’s a phenomenal ball player too, and she’s amazed at my reflexes. She tells my son that,
but since me and her are such good friends he thinks she’s just saying that. I love third base, it’s like a transition, and I really love it,” he said. “Outfield has always been my passion, but all kidding aside, with the competitive teams that I’m on, I play right and left center and I still amaze the younger guys. The compassion I have for the game—I have an overwhelming amount of compassion.” Gleason plays on a team called Japanese Muscle with his son James, and on a co-ed team called Bros and Bras. He also takes time on Sunday evenings to play as a fill-in for the manager of his co-ed team, Christopher Schneider. Watching him play third base on Schneider’s men’s team, Aces n’ Eights, Gleason catches a grounder off the hop and makes a play to second for the out. “C’mon boys, let’s do this,” he shouts. On a warm, bright and sunny evening,
Gleason, dressed in black and white with a t-shirt that reads “I know how to score,” encourages his teammates to do better on the field and up at bat, by helping them improve on their technique. “Put down on the swing...drop your shoulders,” he tells one of his teammates up to bat. And although Gleason is statistically a great hitter for average, this game he was not as successful after several pop outs and grounders. But he still remained positive and encouraging. “I like to lead by example. I used to lead teams in slugging percentages and home runs, but I came back realizing my limitations, so I just hit line drives now,” he said. “I can cover the whole field and anywhere I want to put the ball, I put the ball—whether it’s a line drive to left, right, center.” Because he is a high average hitter, he
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