“Forty-nine years ago was my first game. It’s still the same game,” said Carl Bernstein, the journalist best known for his reporting with Bob Woodward on Watergate, who spent last Saturday afternoon coaching first base at Herrick Park during the 78th annual Artists and Writers Charity Softball Game. “It’s a kind of wonderful tradition. It’s a real legacy for the community.”
That legacy brought some big names to the softball diamond and a nice crowd to the stands on a beautifully sunny day to watch the Writers hold off the Artists 8-6 for their second straight win.
The score, however, was almost beside the point. What started, by one telling, as a casual whiffle ball game in a Springs backyard has grown into one of the South Fork’s longest-running summer traditions — and Saturday’s game was as much a reunion and a fundraiser as it was a ballgame.
“This started very grassroots in the backyard in Springs, where artists and writers who lived there just gathered for probably a whiffle ball game, and it just kept morphing,” said Juliet Papa, an award-winning reporter for 1010 WINS radio and a founding board member of the event. “We’ve really tried to keep it very grassroots, very live and local, and keep it here in the heart of East Hampton.”
Bernstein has been coming since the 1970s. “The only difference is 35 or 40 years ago, we knew each other better, on both the opposing team and our own, because a lot of us played together on Saturdays,” he said. “But it’s still the same great game.”
The afternoon opened with a stunning rendition of the national anthem from Faith Mullaly, a rising sophomore at East Hampton High School, who is a regular performer at varsity games and one of the school’s theater program’s rising stars. Katie Couric, the first solo female anchor of an evening newscast and former “Today” co-anchor, later commented on Instagram that Mullaly blew her away, remarking on the purity of her voice.
Christie Brinkley followed with the ceremonial first pitch, a toss complicated by two shoulder injuries. “One needs a rotator cuff, the other needs a total replacement. I don’t want to do either,” she said, before breaking into song: “I haven’t got time for the pain.”
Jerry Larsen, the mayor of East Hampton Village, umpired, fielding only a handful of complaints from the sidelines. “Last year, I got to throw Mike Lupica out of the game,” he said, laughing. “It’s just such a community event and we love doing it. No A.B.S. challenges in this game! Today I am right all the time!”
The Writers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never trailed, though the Artists chipped away with 2 runs apiece in the sixth and eighth to pull within 2, but they couldn’t get anything going in the ninth.
“In the 1920s, Jacob Ruppert owned the Yankees and they asked him what his idea of a perfect day at the ballpark was. He said, ‘When we score 8 runs in the first inning and then slowly pull away.’ That’s what I’m hoping for,” said Mike Lupica, the longtime New York Daily News sports columnist and assistant manager for the Writers. His team didn’t get quite that far ahead — but the final score came close enough.
Managing the Artists’ lineup was no easy task for Ronnette Riley, an architect who had to whittle a 30-person turnout down to 10 roster spots. “I’m trying to get everyone in the game and keep a woman in the lineup and batting at all times,” she said. “I’m hurting some feelings, but if I hurt everybody’s feelings, it’s good, right?”
In the Writers’ dugout, Couric showed off the results of her recent strength training work, flexing her biceps and pointing to the diamond. “Which way to the softball game?” she asked with a bright smile, before admitting the sport isn’t quite her game. “I suck. If it were a pickle ball game, I’d be out there crushing it. Softball isn’t really my jam. But I am here to represent and support. Ken Auletta harassed me endlessly and I finally said I will be there. Honestly, I think it’s such a great event. The proceeds go to so many great causes. I love being part of this community.”
Auletta, an author and writer who managed the Writers, wasn’t about to let her off easy. “I had to shame her. I said, ‘Hit a home run or you’re off the team!’ ”
The game, always the third Saturday in August, raises money for the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, Phoenix House Academy, the Retreat, and East End Hospice — causes organizers say matter more than who wins.
“My role is to promote the game and the charities,” said William Quigley, an artist who was sidelined from playing this year with an Achilles injury. He spent the afternoon pumping up his teammates and the staff. “I think this is so important. I think every player should go thank the guys cooking hamburgers and the guys who put this field together every year.”
Which, in the end, is the real story of the Artists and Writers Game: the decades of East Hampton residents — famous and otherwise — showing up for each other, one whiffle-ball-turned-softball season at a time.
