But on Pittsburgh’s North Side, in a hilltop neighborhood called Fineview, there is a ball field nestled beneath a steep, vine-covered wall. This was the home field in the 1980s of a softball team, sponsored by a local dive bar, and affectionately known as the Spauldines.
This was no ordinary team. While the starting lineup was not a “murderers’ row” like the 1927 Yankees, the names on the scorecard were well known in academic and civic circles. The lineup on any given game day featured pitchers Moe Coleman and Mike Eichler.
Coleman had served as deputy mayor under Joe Barr, and as interim dean of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work. At other times, he had been a personal consultant to Henry Ford II in Detroit, and president of the Greater Hartford Process, an organization of CEOs in Connecticut.
Eichler, who also played first base, was named a master community organizer by the Pitt School of Social Work, and later became an accomplished playwright while serving as a faculty member at San Diego State University. Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.