2025 Jazz Upend Defending Champion Dragons for 65+ Legends Title in Redwood Empire Baseball League
Redwood Empire Baseball League, 65+ Legends Division
Jazz 9, Dragons 0 (Game three in best-of-three championship series)
Editor’s Note: Rick Cantor is the long-standing League president of the also long-standing Redwood Empire Baseball League, located in Sonoma County, California. Rick’s father-in-law, David Charp, is my newly anointed hero. David is 81 years old and recently achieved a pitching feat that people half his age couldn’t possibly pull off. Let’s let Rick outline the details for you below.
By Rick Cantor, Redwood Empire League President
I wanted to pass along the amazing story of my father-in-law, David Charp, and his team’s unlikely championship run two weeks ago in our 65+ division. His Jazz team, which finished the regular season tied for second place at 8-8 in the 65+ Legends League’s five-team division, was matched against the #1 seed Dragons, managed by Allan Green.
The Dragons dominated the division, finishing undefeated at 16-0, while scoring 164 runs (10.3 runs per game) and allowing just 59 (3.7 runs per game). They then swept their semifinal series in two games, upping their undefeated season record to 18-0. They then won game one of the championship series against the Jazz on Saturday, beating them 6-0.
Game two was scheduled for the following day on Sunday, with a potential game three to follow as a DHer. The Jazz really have just two pitchers, Frank Milian and my father-in-law, David. Frank pitched a complete game in Saturday’s loss, so game two was David’s turn. If they happened to win game two to force a decisive third game, they’d see which of the two was the least tired and sore.
David pitched well against the Dragons in game two, with the two teams tied at seven runs apiece going into the bottom of the ninth. David had a bend-but-don’t-break performance, as he allowed 22 hits and one walk to the Dragons, but allowed just six earned runs. He made the pitches when he needed them, but the pitch count was pretty high.
The Jazz would walk off that game in the ninth inning (despite being outhit 22-8), evening the series at one game apiece, finally blemishing the Dragons’ record, and forcing the decisive game three, set to start in about an hour after the end of game two.
Both teams looked pretty worn out during that one-hour break between the games, as this was the 65+ division. Most guys were relaxing in the dugout or lounging on chairs in the shade, having a bite to eat and taking it easy to save their energy for another nine innings of baseball. But there was the 81-year-old David Charp, the oldest player on the field that day, running on the warning track from the right field pole to the left field pole.
Imagine sitting in the Dragons’ dugout during the break and seeing the oldest player on the field, having just beaten you in a complete game win, where you stranded 20+ baserunners, running foul poles before starting game two?
The Dragons would start a fresh arm in game three, but the Jazz were going to keep riding the arm of David on a short leash, and if he got into trouble, Frank would pitch in relief. That trouble never came. David twirled a seven-hit shutout of the Dragons to beat the previously undefeated, defending 4-time champions twice in one day!
The 9-0 win brought the 65+ Legends League championship back to the Jazz, who won the first three titles of the division before the Dragons took the next four. The Jazz were as jubilant as their bodies would allow after 18 innings of baseball, but their oldest player, who had just pitched 18 innings that day, was jumping around and hugging his teammates like a 10-year-old. Just unbelievable.