NORTH ANDOVER — A group of friends has been brought home for the past 40 years by an annual softball game that is more about the camaraderie and friendships than the final score.
The Merrimack River Carp team started in a North Andover adult recreational league in 1972. The men who formed the team had known each other for years, some going as far back as first grade in 1955.
Since 1986, the friends have gathered every year for a softball game, with 13 from the original team slated to be back in town for the 40th reunion game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Drummond Playground.
The “home” game has become a tradition and way to bring the North Andover natives back to North Andover at least once a year as they have shared memories and laughs and remembered the past. Chatter at the games are filled with tales from their school days and the games played over the past four decades.
Joe Faro, 76, of North Andover, is one of the few players from the team who still lives in town. Most live across New England, but some come from places such as New York City, Florida and Los Angeles each year to meet up with their old friends.
“I’m hoping we can still do this in our 80s,” Faro said.
The original team was made up of mostly friends who attended grammar and high school together. It disbanded in 1984 when people began having families and it became more difficult to get everyone together to play, Faro said. But then one teammate years later, Jim Mistretta, was an integral force in bringing everyone back for an annual softball game. He would send out flyers and the team would assemble.
The players all wait for Mistretta’s reunion flyer to arrive and see what he has hand drawn each time.
“It takes that one person to really galvanize people around it and build up to a tradition,” Faro said.
They haven’t missed a year in 40 years. It’s become a family affair with children, their spouses and some friends even making it into the lineup now and lots of family cheering the team on.
The games have shortened over time though. The team’s average age is 76.
The men used to play a doubleheader and now they take the field for seven innings.
Some players from town have been brought in as the years progressed, but Faro estimated about 60% from the original team will be there this Saturday.
The Carp has also lost teammates along the way, with its surviving members recognizing how special the annual game is to still play.
“You keep thinking everybody’s going to last until they’re 90, but it doesn’t happen,” Faro said. “We try to tell everybody, ‘You don’t know how much longer we can do this, so make it to the game.’”
Game weekends have the team celebrating over a barbecue, post-game eats, friendly debates “about how bad they played” and the occasional slideshow of old photos back at Faro’s house to see how much hair they all used to have, Faro said with a laugh.
The old friends catch up about the characters in their elementary school and “some of the funny situations,” Faro said.
There are five of them who have known each other since they attended the Bradstreet School in the 1950s, including Faro. Some of the players on the team went to the Thomson school and were old baseball foes.
“Sixty years later, we are still playing softball,” he said. “We used to play ball together when we were 7 and 9 years old.”
Faro said seeing his grade-school friends lets him hold onto a piece of the past and the friendships built during their time together in North Andover.
It’s a homecoming for the out-of-state teammates who make it a point to drive by their childhood homes and see family still living in the area.
But most importantly, the game is keeping the group’s friendships and hometown connection alive.
“It’s really not about softball,” Faro said.
“We’re hoping to have many more years left of friendships and memories.”