What could be a more perfect Montreal baseball experience than to smack a towering homer right towards the cross on Mount Royal?For decades anybody who feels inclined can grab a glove and head over to Jeanne Mance Park at Park and Mount Royal to join in on a weekend afternoon softball game and maybe crack a drive that challenges the mountain gods.
The vibe is friendly and people from all backgrounds, ages and competences enjoy a brotherhood on the diamond.
But this year the City of Montreal has advised the players that they're probably going to shut down the field, for this year at least.
Renovations of the adjoining tennis courts will require equipment to be stored somewhere and that somewhere likely is on the field of dreams that the boys of spring, summer and fall flock to for their softball fix.
Translator David Smith has been coming to the games since 1987, a time when he had dreadlocks to his knees. He is the most senior of the regular participants.
Others include a newly-arrived Somali stingy with his swings, several athletic-looking Latinos who favour leggings under their shorts, a beefy bartender-turned TV ad salesman and translator David Homel who has been coming since around 1990 and says that the outings are his form of social media.
Smith feels that it would be a shame for the games to be cancelled all summer just because construction equipment needs a place to get planted.
Another adjacent diamond could likely accommodate some of the action but it's often occupied with more official games and doesn't quite have the same magical allure.
So Smith and other players are meeting with authorities to see if some other arrangement can be worked out so that the summertime of softball fun won't be washed out.
"This is a major concern for the wonderful community that has developed over the years at and around the baseball diamond," he told Coolopolis on a sunny good Friday afternoon which saw a trio of games get played on the field.