Michigan Mafia, R.I.P.

You have to go back to 1978 to understand the story of the Michigan Mafia. A group of us Midwestern migrants started to feel comfortable enough in our adopted Bay Area to bring a bit of our culture into the local scene. Some journalist colleagues and I issued a challenge to the other media institutions in San Francisco to play us in softball.

Early responders included the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, Mother Jones magazine, Media Alliance, and a number of other local media outlets. In the very first game of what eventually became known as the Bay Area Media Softball League (BAMSL) our team, the Michigan Mafia, beat Media Alliance, 3-2.

Over the next 29 years, many teams came and went, partially due to the ever-changing media landscape here. Wired had a team. Some of the TV stations did also. KQED had a team.

Given my own peripatetic career, I often found myself having to play against my employer's team, because I never betrayed the Michigan Mafia. We were always a competitive team, but never a champion. The closest we came was in 1994, when we advanced to the league championship game, only to lose, 32-5. My only consolation that year was that I was the Mafia's batting champion (one of four times) and in that championship game I went 3 for 3.

But, much more than our winning percentage over the years, what held the Mafia together was a shared sense of community. Relatively few of the long-term members were media people, ultimately, given the changes in our industry. We ended up as a collection of lawyers, legal investigators, and random others, with just a few aging journalists sprinkled into the mix.

Tonight, our venerable coach, Joel Kirshenbaum, announced his retirement, which presumably signals the end of the Michigan Mafia.

"Only the mediocre are always at their best." That was our motto. Some years, however, we came tantalizingly close to being better than mediocre. We played some great games, and had some great parties as well.

Although I feel sad tonight, very sad, at the passing of one of my main social institutions over the years here in San Francisco, I feel like toasting my many colleagues, hundreds of them, who helped make the Mafia if not the best team, certainly the funniest team of our era.

As for me, I played every year during our 29 year run. But last year, in limited at bats, I did not get a single hit. You have to know when it is time to step down, and even if the Mafia had gone forward, I was figuring I should retire. I never did make it to my goal of a career batting average of .600, but I came close enough to feel like my hitting had helped the Mafia win lots of games.

On the other hand, my fielding was suspect, as was my base running, and my (ugh) relief pitching. I never was a pretty player, but I always gave it all I had, as did lots of us, as we played out our version of the American Dream.

Good-bye, Michigan Mafia. R.I.P.

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