Retro Oceanfront Softball Team Home Run

Oceanfront Softball Team circa 1980
Photo/Chip Irish via Facebook

As we continue to mourn the loss of the baseball season, among other athletics, due to COVID-19, thoughts, and a memory scroll on Facebook bring us back to the days of another kind of ballgame camaraderie — the softball league of the past.

Back in 1980, there was such a team in the Rumson-Fair Haven area that had as one of its esteemed members, the, at the time, future mayor of Rumson, John Ekdahl. It was dubbed the Oceanfront team.

The team not only included the now former mayor, but also had as its members many longtime family members from the area and RFH grads. Most of these team members are still friends.

Ekdahl recently had the photo, posted by fellow Rumsonite Chip Irish, show up as one of his Facebook memories. It prompted a rehash of old times. New comments on the photo have been popping up in Facebook feeds since the memory reared itself in late March.

One team member said it all.

“Great team in a great time of life,” Edward Hennessy said.

So, here’s to a home run for good times past and hopes for future ballgames with shoulder-to-shoulder team time bonding.

Remember the Oceanfront Softball Team? Recognize these guys? Where’s the former Rumson mayor?