Curt Brand is the oldest player in the Grip’N’Rip Baseball League, but his swing says otherwise.
“He calls it old man strength,” said teammate Thomas Brand. “He finds it in the zone and he rips it.”
At 58 years old, Curt is living out a dream to play a sport he never truly pursued.
“I ran track in high school (Glendale) and college (Missouri State and Missouri),” Curt said. “Played a little bit of baseball in high school…but, I always really loved baseball and just didn’t get the opportunity to really keep on playing.”
Every year, the big question for Curt is if a team will even pick him.
“I played three years and I actually didn’t make the team two years ago,” Curt said. “Then back again last year and this year.”
This season, he was selected by the Ozark Mountain Ducks, alongside a very special teammate.
“The Ducks was the last team to get called for the draft,” Thomas said, who is also Curt’s son. “So we were waiting for the last team. All the names pop up so we were getting kind of nervous. Then we saw our names back-to-back since we have the same last name and it was like phew.”
Curt will always be called dad, but for Thomas, he has taken on other titles like T-Ball coach, or fan. But never anything quite like this.
“He includes me and we get to do activities together,” Curt said. “But having it be a structured activity like this is pretty special.”
“We’ve been training in the offseason for probably two or three months now,” Thomas said. “Just playing catch in the yard.”
Playing catch is a full-circle moment, even if some things have changed.
“He’s definitely lost some arm strength here and there,” Thomas said. “But his athleticism is still there.”
Proof that age truly is just a number.
