“A baseball card collection come to life.” Those are the words of contributor Dave Ivey, as written in his piece on the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association from 1989-90 that can be found starting on page 48. The SPBA was a vehicle for former major leaguers to squeeze every last ounce of talent from their aging bodies, while also pocketing a little extra cash.
And the Senior League did seem like a good idea . . . at first. But after just one full season and part of a second, the concept of watching yesterday’s stars on fields in sunny Florida never really caught on. Few paying customers. Payrolls that were becoming burdensome. Maybe the world was fine with a senior golf tour but didn’t need to watch seniors on the diamond where the smell of Icy Hot mixed with suntan lotion wafted through the stands.