When I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, the War Resisters League would have their National Committee meetings hosted by a different local group every summer. Always a WRL local affiliate, it meant that we got to go somewhere else around the country. As a kid, these meetings ended up feeling like vacations. These trips often had some good upside for us kids (side trips to a local pool or waterpark, some backroom at the meeting site with a TV and some movies). As a grownup, I fondly look back on all the towns where I got to play in WRL's annual Anarchist-Socialist Softball game.
Spectators Mandy Carter and Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer at his first Anarchist-Socialist softball game in 1983 in Easton, PA. Photo by Joanne Sheehan
The first WRL anarchist-socialist softball game was played 50 years ago this month, on Saturday, August 31, 1974, at the WRL national conference held at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. (That just happens to be the first WRL conference my parents went to… see the picture of my dad at bat!)
Rick Gaumer at bat in 1974 at the first WRL softball game. Photo by Grace Hedemann
After that, it was an annual tradition each summer as a culmination of the National Committee meeting. No one seems to know how the idea germinated, although early WRL conferences, as far back as 1930, included birdwatching as a recreational activity. I imagine someone decided they needed a break from decision-making that involved lots of, you guessed it, both Anarchists and Socialists.
However it started, it did help me as a young person figure out some of my politics. While there were always more Anarchists than Socialists, the Anarchists never cared whose team they played on anyways, so a number would join their friends across the diamond. I'm pretty sure my earliest memory of the game is seeing Sam Diener run to 3rd base after hitting the ball and declaring rules as barriers to joy. As a young baseball fan, this perplexed me until I saw that YES, he was pretty damned joyful running what I thought was 'the wrong way.' This kind of example is probably how I ended up on the Anarchist side of things more than any debate about anarcho-syndicalism.
Us folks on the Far Left are pretty good at picking away at each other. Finding little disagreements that spread to an inability to work together. The Anarchist-Socialist Softball game was a fun way of reminding ourselves that our differences are not barriers. It even spread! By 1977, folks out at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, CA started their own tradition with an annual July 4th Anarchist-Socialist Softball Game that they played for decades. They even made awesome t-shirts.
When working to end war, the work can often feel heavy and burdensome. Games like these helped bring up together and not take ourselves too seriously. Whether Anarcho-Pacifist or Democratic-Socialist, those differences didn't matter. There wasn't a winner or a loser, just a lot of fun. Especially since the Anarchists never kept score.
by Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer
Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer grew up in WRL, his parents Joanne Sheehan and Rick Gaumer co-founded WRL New England when he was three. He co-founded YouthPeace in 1998 when he was in high school. He presently coaches his daughter Madeline's softball team and enjoys the Ralph DiGia Mets games.
Murray Rosenblith catching, Carol Patti at bat, David McReynolds among the spectators at the 1976 conference in Brandywine, PA. Photo by Grace Hedemann
Peter Klotz-Chamberlin (far left) with the cheerleading squad. Donna Warnock and Dorie Wilsnack with pom-poms at the 1981 conference in Occidental, CA. Photo by Grace Hedemann
Brad Lyttle catching as Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer bats in the 2003 game in Colorado Springs. Photo by Joanne Sheehan
T-shirt made by the Resource Center on Nonviolence, Santa Cruz, for one of their annual games. Photo by Peter Klotz-Chamberlin
