Larry Hasenfus just completed his first season as a JV pitcher for Springfield College’s baseball team. What would seem like a relatively mundane accomplishment, however, appears very different after seeing a picture of Larry.
Larry is 58 years old. Forty years after failing out of college due to undiagnosed dyslexia, he’s giving it a second try. He’s not going to make the big leagues, but he is getting his degree, and he held his own competing academically and athletically at the college level. Good for him, and good for his teammates, who get to access the accumulated wisdom of his years.
Teammates, initially skeptical he could handle the physical demands, soon came around and adopted Hasenfus into the fold. After two teammates decided to grow handlebar mustaches, he gave them each grooming kits.
“One came to me later and said his girlfriend wanted him to get rid of it,” Hasenfus recalled. “I told him: ‘Don’t worry about it. There’ll be other mustaches.’ There’ll be other girlfriends, too, but I didn’t say that.”
