And of the win-win.

On Wednesday, I was part of a win-win-lose.

The Jamestown Old Timers Baseball Team played a charity game against the Jamestown Police Department Baseball Team.

As part of the Old Timers, I get to continue playing the kid’s game I love. Wednesday’s game was added to our regular schedule. That’s a win.

The charity event — with an admission fee of $5 per person, concessions, and a raffle — raised $1,727 for the Tim Hortons Camp Day Foundation. That’s another clear win.

That only leaves a lose.

Going into the game, I didn’t know what to expect.

We have a group of guys who play hardball on a weekly basis. I’m out there practicing — fielding, taking batting practice, trying to run a little bit – every Wednesday (except this week).

But, that group of guys is limited. The league we play in has age requirements — players must turn 47 in the calendar year to be on the team and turn 50 in the calendar year to pitch. Basically, we’re old.

The Jamestown Police Department didn’t have a baseball team before Wednesday, that I’m aware of. I asked one of the guys and was told they only had one player who played baseball on any kind of regular basis.

But, these are a bunch of young, in-shape, athletic people — many of whom played baseball at some point in their pasts and many of whom play softball with at least some regularity.

We knew they would be faster than our typical opponents.

We figured they would be able to field.

We didn’t know if they would be able to hit — although we figured the ones they did hit were likely to go far.

And we weren’t sure if they would even field a pitcher – throwing hard a lot without at least weeks of getting ready is a good way to end up hurt. The JOT were ready to provide pitching for the JPD.

That was not necessary. The two guys they put on the hill pretty well dominated us. I don’t think we had a hit until the sixth inning.

Their fielding was solid. I hit three balls that I would normally expect to get at least one hit out of. I was retired on all three.

And their hitting was far too good for my taste. I don’t remember the score line exactly. I’m hoping I didn’t give up more than four runs in my one inning of work.

The final score was 12-to-1.

Losing stinks. Losing 12-to-1 is worse. So, that goes pretty solidly in the lose category.

But, playing a bonus game of a sport that for 30 years I thought was forever gone to me — at Diethrick Park, no less — and raising money for a good cause, easily outweigh losing that game.

Besides, I met and spent some time with some good people.

Thank you, Jamestown Police Department. It was fun.

I’m looking forward to this event becoming an annual one. And, maybe I’m looking for a little revenge.