- November 4, 2024
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Fourscore and four years ago, Pete LoPrete began playing baseball, and at 90 years old, pitching in the Wadsworth Park Senior Softball League, he still enjoys the game with childlike enthusiasm.
The softball league threw LoPrete a birthday party on opening day, which was Friday Jan. 9. Many of his friends and family came out and celebrated with him.
“We all admire Pete and look up to him as an icon,” said Bob Seelig, the league’s treasurer. “It’s encouraging that he still comes out here with that big smile on his face and plays as hard as he does. There aren’t many 90-year-olds playing softball right now.”
“I started very young, and now it’s just automatic that I come out and play” LoPrete added. “I never think about age. Softball is a game I fell in love with and have kept playing.”
LoPrete was born on Dec. 24, 1924, in New Jersey, where he still plays softball in the summer league. His favorite softball memory came when he got his team’s first hit on the King and his court-- a famous four-man softball entertainment team--while playing in the military in the Philippines during World War 2.
That was fun,” he said. “I really enjoyed that. It’s been a good life for me, traveling around the world playing softball. I’ve met some good players, guys and gals.”
LoPrete has won many softball championships, but he placed second at the 2003 US National Senior Olympic Softball Championship in the +70 division with his New Jersey team.
On the league’s opening day, LoPrete, among other stats, recorded a strikeout and an RBI, facing two outs.
When asked how long he wants to continue to play, LoPrete responded, “As long as these guys want to put up with me. They’re amazing. We come out here and kid around and laugh at each other; I just hope we can keep it up. It’s still fun.”
