The Fort Myers DTG Classics cope with the death of a teammate on the field

They looked at one another in the dugout and told themselves, "Bobby would want us to keep playing." Yet they couldn't keep playing.

They had a 3-0 lead in the third inning of the championship game of the Roy Hobbs Baseball World Series in Fort Myers, Fla., and, after four second-place finishes, this was their moment to win a title. But as suddenly as Bobby Woods dropped and died from a heart attack, right there in the dirt at shortstop, the Fort Myers DTG Classics wanted no part of the title or of baseball.

"I was exhausted, physically and mentally," said Dave Decker, 68. "I spent 15 minutes giving mouth-to-mouth. We did chest compressions, everything. We were going to win that game, but I couldn't go on after all that. We looked in each other's eyes and we were deflated."

The Western Silver Foxes could not go on, either. They were the opposing team, and they threw a life preserver to The Classics when they said it would be OK with them to declare co-champions. The teams packed up and went home with heads bowed.

That was in November 2005. A year later, the Classics were back on the field without Woods, their left fielder, and they were a little less of a team. They lost three of four games in the 2006 Roy Hobbs Baseball World Series, the AAA division of the 60-and-over age group.

They were scared that day Woods died, but not scared enough to give up the game. The core of the Classics are players that also play as the Florida Legends, one of the most successful senior softball teams in the nation. Ball playing isn't just what they do in retirement, it is who they are in retirement, competitors. "That's why Bobby would have wanted us to keep playing," Decker said. "He was a competitor, he loved it. All of us love it."

It is real hardball in the Roy Hobbs ballgames. The only thing not allowed is stealing home because, at some point, 68-year-old men, competitors or not, have to draw the line. "Sure, if we could steal home and there were no rules, a runner would try and go through the catcher," Decker said. "But we have rules and if there is a play at the plate, we give in."

The Classics and other teams involved in Roy Hobbs Baseball do not give in to very much. The pitchers throw curveballs and the games our spirited. Roy Hobbs Baseball, which has grown to 500 teams and 750 players, includes teams and leagues in Canada, Russia, Latin America, among other countries, and is open to players, male and female. It maintains ties with Little Baseball Inc.'s Challenger Division for disabled children and includes leagues for 65-and-older and even something called The Family Affair Division, where mother, son, father and daughter can play alongside each other.

Roy Hobbs Baseball started in 1988 and was given its name by founder Ron Monks, whose inspiration came from the mythica l cha racter in the movie "The Natural," played by Robert Redford. The idea of the league -- and its ideal -- came from the film, which suggested a generation was rediscovering its youth and competitiveness. Decker and the Classics certainly embody the spirit of Roy Hobbs, a young phenom who missed his prime, only to be reborn with youthful enthusiasm long after most men had quit the game.

A day after they finished fourth in the 2006 Roy Hobbs Baseball World Series in November, the Classics were back on the ball fields playing softball. They played a game in the morning and came back again and played in the evening.

Most of the players on the Classics make up the Legends team, who have been together 15 years and have won more than 50 national titles in senior softball in various tournaments. "We seem to get better and better," Decker said.

These men see themselves in their prime, not their twilight. They had time for more championships, which is why losing Woods was so difficult. He was a friend and the fun was only beginning.

"I talk to Bobby every day," said Decker, a retired engineer from Long Island, N.Y. "It would have been great to win that championship. We had the team to do it; he was a very big part of it. I think he's probably more mad and up there shaking his fist that he died on the Red Sox spring training field. He was a big Yankees fan, you know."