Seeking An SOS From Beepball And ABBA

by Kevin Burton

   Eureka I say, eureka! I have my beep baseball problems figured out.

   In athletics they say, father time is undefeated, and that’s true. But all I need is a great idea, and an SOS, from ABBA.

   This is truly exciting!

   You’ve probably heard about ABBA Voyage, a virtual concert residency by the 70s pop group ABBA. In these “concerts,” they are projecting avatars of themselves as they appeared in 1979, playing their original music, at the height of their musical powers.

   Of course, they call these projections “ABBAtars.”

   The Voyage began in May of last year. News of these concerts was met with joy, and scorn in equal measure by fans and non-fans of the iconic Swedish group.

    So by now you’re ahead of me. Why couldn’t I do the same thing on a beep baseball field?  With an avatar, I could run 90s-2000s  Kev out there, charging around the field, picking up balls, swinging the bat with authority and running to base with the almost fast, fairly good speed I used to have.

   My Kevatar could dominate in a way I, sadly, no longer can.

   As soon as I have that technology mastered, from that point forward, Cleveland Scrappers games will never be the same.

   If for some reason this technological solution eludes me, we will have to settle for the much more pedestrian, harsh reality-based Kev, such as the one on display last Saturday and Sunday at the Indy Thunder Beep Baseball Bonanza in Indianapolis.

   It’s like the difference between seeing ABBA from the 70s and ABBA in their 70s.

   I asked onto the Scrappers roster, they didn’t seek me out You could see why that was at Indy.  If last weekend was an indication, my former batting powers are gone altogether. But if you find the right place for me on the field, in a more limited role I can still be a useful defender.

   More regular and energetic practice surely will help. How much remains to be seen. Surely there will come a time when reality-Kev is planted on the bench for good. 

   I had my moments this weekend as did the Scrappers as a whole.  Cleveland went 0-4 and placed eighth out of eight teams in the tournament. But Cleveland hung in with the Indy Thunder, playing them closer than they have in the last ten years or so, according to Cleveland coach Jeff Dell. 

  The team had five good innings against the Philadelphia Fire, and one disastrous inning that made the score lopsided. 

   And Cleveland was just a few plays short in an 8-6 loss to Chicago on Sunday 

   I told the players I coached with the Wichita Sonics that if all they got out of beepball was wins and losses that I totally hadn’t done my job.  With beep baseball, even if you think that’s all you get, there is always more.

   Showing up at Indy last weekend was like pumping life blood into me. I was under no illusion that I could play as well as before. But just being around longtime team mates and people I have played against for years gave me a sense of home and belonging. That hometown feeling has been in short supply, at least for me, for the last three years or so.

    I was hoping to at least play well enough at Indy that the team would want me back for future tournaments. On the defensive side of the ball, I did.

   I had eight putouts for the weekend, including one where I ranged three zones to the left and snared a bouncing ball headed down the first-base line, that was as good as the plays I made in the 90s.

   There may be a country song in there somewhere. I‘ll work on that along with my avatar efforts.

    But for now, I’m just trying to be the best player and best team mate I can be for Cleveland, as we work on climbing the league standings and have a ton of fun doing it.