Lawyers Softball League

By André M. Toffel, André M. Toffel, P.C.

Play ball! No, not MLB, or any other league. If you do not play in the Lawyers Softball League, you probably do not know there is such a thing. There is, and it’s been great fun for a long time. I’ve been playing, “coaching,” and occasionally serving as the underpaid Commissioner, for over 40 years, so I wanted to spread awareness about the League. Many thanks to my good friends Steve Altmann, Joe Stott, Ferris Ritchey, Michael Guarino, and David McAllister, who have contributed to the article and proofread it. Also, they are all very good softball players.

The Lawyers Softball League has been around since at least the 1970s. I started playing in 1983. In the beginning, there were actually two separate leagues: one consisting of large law firms only, with the goal of promoting firm unity and letting law clerks play, and the other consisting of firms with a more serious softball approach, plus independent teams, such as the Young Lawyers and the Shelby County Bar. The independent teams have always had lawyers in firms that are not large enough to field a complete team, which gives more attorneys a chance to play.

The two leagues ran independently until 2005, when the second league essentially disbanded and some of the remaining teams joined the first league. The only time that the two leagues played against each other was in 1989, when the second league champions, Young Lawyers, won a close game against the first league champ, Maynard Cooper. Other than 2020 and 2021 (because of the pandemic), the Lawyers Softball League has been a mainstay.

What you may not know is that there have been, and still are, some terrific athletes in the Birmingham Bar Association. At the risk of leaving someone out, I want to name some of the ultra-talented softball players in the League over the past 40 years: Mike Blalock, Jim Oros, Brent Tyra, Mike Walls, Paul Glass, John Dana, Bernard Nomberg, Steve Jackson, Freddie Harrington, Andy Harrington, Martin Evans, Dale Stone, Lee Reeves, Don Wright, Jerry Held, Jim Williams, Rusty Dorr, Hobie Presley, Hobie’s son, Ben Presley (who likes to rib me for having played against his Dad!), Michael Lasserre, Craig Shirley, and Zach Mardis. And there have been some really good pitchers, such as Phil McCallum, Mark Friedman, Greg McKay, Ferris Ritchey, Don Wright, Joe

Stott, and Steve Altmann. I would be remiss in not mentioning some excellent Bradley and Carr Allison teams of the last 15 or so years; unfortunately, the names of their players escape me. I also want to mention our friend, the late Nat Bryan, who was a terrific shortstop. Some of the games have been intensely competitive and very well-played.

The best idea we had years ago was to begin using umpires. There was a time that we played without umpires — yes, lawyers playing a competitive sport without umpires was a comical situation! The first umpires we had were State Court Judges. Of course, there were no arguments in those games!

Although the League has played in many different venues through the years, we now play at George Ward Park, with umpires provided by the City of Birmingham. They do a nice job and the City has been very accommodating for the last several years.

Now, for some fun stories. In the 1986 championship game, which saw Rives Peterson (now Christian Small) playing against the Young Lawyers, Joanne Garrett from Rives pitched a shutout to earn them the title. In the 1987 title game of Porterfield v. Young Lawyers, there was another shutout, giving Porterfield the title. In both

1984 and 1988, the Young Lawyers beat Sirote (now Dentons Sirote) in the playoffs in two of the most intense games ever. Young Lawyers continued their domination in the 1990s, interrupted by a Gordon Silberman title in 1995. Then Et Al became the best team for a while, broken up by Legends’ (short for Legends in Our Own Minds) victories in 1998 and 2002. Bradley won in 2008 and 2009, with Carr taking the 2018 and 2019 titles.

I personally recall several absolute moon shots, including Mike Worrell in 1983, Matt Williams in 1998, and Jim Oros in 2016 (walkoff 3-run homer). There have been several players who could regularly hit them out, such as Martin Evans, Freddie Harrington, Ben Presley, Mike Blalock, Jim Oros, Brent Tyra, Craig Shirley, and others.

Several years ago, I was involved in a case in the U.S. District Court in front of the Honorable David Proctor, who played on some of those outstanding Sirote teams of days gone by. The hearing was by telephone, and when I entered my appearance, his first question to me was not about the case, but was, “Andre, are you still playing softball?” I’m glad to know that my softball longevity exceeds any possible legal skills I might have!

To anyone who wants to play in the Lawyers Softball League, I encourage you to join one of the six teams in the League or to start a team of your own. All skill levels are welcome!

I am thankful for all of the friends I have made through the League, from both teammates and opponents through the years. The Lawyers Softball League will give you a chance to meet people in our profession that you might not otherwise meet and/or see them in a completely different setting.

I continue to do this, although I don’t play nearly as much as I used to, because I believe that the League gives all of us an opportunity to keep moving and to encourage civility and fair play in a different arena.

If you don’t want to play, but you want to sit and drink an adult beverage or a soft drink, visit and have fun, that’s fine too! Just come out to the upper fields at George Ward Park on Wednesday nights, starting May 17, from about 6:00 – 8:00 pm. You won’t be disappointed!

Many thanks to those who have played, are playing now and those of you who will play in the future.

For anyone needing information about our League, email me at atoffel@toffelpc. com, or call me on my cell at 205-3822592. See y’all out at the old ballpark!