Fall 2025 Paul Smeton Classic Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out to the John Carroll baseball field for the Paul Smeton (Over 60) Fall Classic on Saturday, October 11. Paul Houston kicked off the event with a great rendition of the National Anthem, and then the players enthusiastically took the field for two competitive games. Despite the overcast skies, many family members cheered from the sidelines. At our lunch break between games, we talked about the amazing work that the Baltimore Urban Baseball Association (BUBA) does for Baltimore’s youth to have a place to train and learn life skills through their Life After Baseball classroom sessions. Tony Lee had a fluke bounce chip a tooth but didn’t let that mishap stop him from participating all day. Paul Smeton wasn't able to join in the action; he's doing well, but he was in Florida.

Game Results

• Game 1 saw A and B Squad defeat their opponents by a score of 9-3.
• Game 2 delivered even more offense, as A and C Squad pulled off a close 11-10 win.
• With two wins on the day, Squad A emerged as the overall winner!!!

When asked about his motivation to come out and play, Tony Lee said "My age." He added, "I want the young boys to know: It doesn’t matter how old you are.” Unfortunately, during the first hour of the game, Lee went to receive a foul ball that was heading his way. Unfortunately, his lips received it instead of his hands. “I had no idea it was going to knock me out,” he recalls. What he thought was going to be a nice hop instead did a spin and went directly for his lip. However, this didn’t stop Lee from getting right back onto the artificial turf. Downplaying his injury, Lee said, “I'll be fine. That’s why I’m here for three games. Two with the adults and one with the kids.”  

Carl Roy has long been a great mentor and strong supporter of Baseball 4 Causes. “I’m hooked on baseball, number one. So, anything that involves baseball, I want to get involved with,” he says. In fact, his prime motivation for playing baseball and getting involved with coaching is to stay in shape.  

Regarding health, Roy also emphasizes the importance of AED awareness. “At my age, I could probably end up using one of those one day. The thought of it happening and the thought of nothing being around to help you is a big thing.” He believes more than anything that there should be training programs on how to use an AED. “People that will look at one and go, ‘What is it?’ ‘What do I do with it?’  You need somebody to step up.” Roy establishes that this training is necessary so that people “recognize the situation, recognize that there is something available to use, and then use it correctly.” 

Having played baseball since he was 8, George Mullin declares this tournament as his last. He reminisces how the sport has been installed internally in the team since they were young: “For most of these guys here, when we were growing up, baseball was the main sport. We had baseball, basketball, and football, but baseball you could play almost all year round.” He calls the team a brotherhood: comparing it to the 1993 film, The Sandlot. Coming out and playing this sport at their age is what he describes as a “love affair with the game.” It’s a joy for them: “We’re playing against each other, but we’re having fun with each other. We want to win, but it’s not the endgame.”

Greg Smith grew up playing baseball until his late twenties, when he stopped. That wasn’t the end of baseball for him though: after participating in an Orioles dream week in 2016, he felt motivated to start playing again at age 55. When asked about the injuries that occurred on the turf, Smith implies that they don’t stop the team from playing: “We’re all injured in some way or another. It just matters how bad your injuries are,” he says. The love for baseball keeps Smith and others coming out to enjoy game after game.

Derrick Wilhite, also known as Speedy, didn’t get his name for no reason. Sure, he might be slower now, but the opposite was true when he was younger. He recalls that there used to be no such thing as a base hit for him: he would just make a homerun. The same was true for whenever he played softball: “I was so fast,” he recalls, “There was no need for me to stop. Left fielders used to move over and let me play second field,” he says, “because I was that fast.” Wilhite may have lost some of that speed over the years, but his enthusiasm is as strong as ever.