Adult league baseball season has begun in the area.

LITTLE ROCK — This much I know is true: Playing baseball is as fun - if not more fun - as an adult as it was as a child. It's the crack of the bat, the smell of leather gloves, red-dirt stained jerseys and the gentle heckling of opposing players that creates a wave of nostalgia and reminds a soul of the pure enjoyment of the sport. It's that collection of recovered memories, a need to exercise the competitive spirit and a three-hour window of camaraderie with fellow baseball devotees that fuels the wood bat Central Arkansas Men's Senior Baseball League.

With six teams in the league - Braves, Cardinals, Marlins, Pirates, Red Sox and Yankees - the league is open to men over the age of 25 (28 to pitch). The league's 20-game season kicked off in mid-May and continues through July with games on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with each team playing at least twice a week.

The national Men's Senior Baseball League was developed in 1987 by Steve Sigler and first arrived in the Little Rock area in 1989. The league originally played at Lamar Porter Athletic Field - and would love to return to playing there - but have since moved on to a scattering of high school baseball fields at Pulaski Academy, Mills High School and the occasional game at Kanis Park. The skill levels of players range from ex-high schoolers up to guys who toiled in the minor leagues with the occasional ex-major league player making an appearance.

"On any given day we can look like major leaguers or Little Leaguers," league commissioner Randall Guard said. "We got all levels of play. It's highly competitive."

The cost to play is around $200 a season per player with uniforms and wood bats costing extra. Players are welcomed at any point in the season to join, and so on a recent Tuesday evening I found myself batting 10th in the order, splitting time with a fellow member of the Pirates and roaming right field for three innings late in their game against the Braves.

My one-off teammates are a collection of individuals ranging in age from their late 20s to their 50s, with day jobs as plumbers, air-conditioning repairmen and correction officials. The one uniting factor is the love of the game.

"We live to play baseball," Guard said.

Back in the outfield

While I've played softball here and there, it's been more than 10 years since I swung at a baseball in a competitive game. Actually picking up the ball, it seems slightly smaller than I remember.

There's good-natured trash talking from the opposing team - "Those balls are going kind of slow," said the Braves third base coach in response to Pirates pitcher Jim Scott's delivery to the plate. "You might have to one Mississippi before you swing." - and high fives, congratulations, slight rebukes and encouragement among Pirates players.

While the best of the best pitchers in the league can still sling the ball toward the plate in the low 80s, most pitchers throw fastballs in the highs 60s or low 70s. And while the ball appears to creep toward the plate from the dugout, the Braves pitcher still has enough magic in his arm to strike me out swinging on a full count.

It's true what Guard said: At times the players in the field resemble Little Leaguers in grown-up uniforms and other times - after an impressive diving catch or solid line-drive double to the outfield fence - players for a brief few, shining seconds resemble major leaguers.

A league of their own

At its height, the local league boasted 12 teams. And while the local league's combined team still competes in the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series each fall, the league has shrunk to the six remaining teams. (The Central Arkansas Men's Adult Baseball League, a separate entity for men 18 and over, has eight teams). But to draw more players, the Central Arkansas Men's Senior Baseball League is starting a free fall season to encourage new players to sign up and showcase their talent with plans to add two new teams for the 2010 season.

"A lot of the problem is people don't know about the league," Guard said. "Our game plan is to aggressively grow the league.

"You'll never play softball again if you play baseball. You'll be hooked."

A final note

This story would be much better if the post-game, off-the-record conversation over pitcher after pitcher of beer at Joubert's Tavern would have been on the record. But the beer gets poured, the mind loosens up, secrets pour out and wow-filled stories get passed so conversations go off the record. (And become harder to remember with each passing beer.)

Sidebar: For more information about the Central Arkansas Men's Senior Baseball League go to www.eteamz.com/caball/ or call their hotline at (501) 405-6725.