Bonnie Goodhart sat up in her chair, put her elbows on the picnic table, rested her chin in her cupped hands, and stared deep into the darkened woods some 20-30 yards away.

It was early evening and, except for an occasional bzzz-and-bite from mosquitoes, an engaging one with close friends seated around the table. She listened carefully as everyone talked. For some strange reason, though, she didn't have much to add to the conversations, which ranged from politics to the price of gas and seemed to have covered everything in between.

But when the topic of discussion turned to cancer, Bonnie Goodhart dropped her arms to the table in front of her and sat back in her chair ... innocently commanding everyone's attention.

Bonnie Goodhart, in an often painful day-to-day battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia for five years now, finally had something to say.

Everyone listened, too.

"I just wish there was a way we could help others (with cancer)," she said, a tinge of frustration in her voice. "I just wish there was some way, even if in a very small way it helps people who have to deal with this (cancer)."

Bonnie Goodhart, who has gone well beyond the call of duty in helping raise money for Pottstown's Relay For Life through her own Looking Up relay team, wanted to put her personal touch to something, though.

"And it has to be fun for everyone involved," she added.

In a matter of minutes, Bonnie Goodhart - with some help from her husband Jim, a former baseball standout at Pottstown and longtime American Legion and AAU coach - came up with a game plan.

Actually a game.

A softball game, Baseball For Life, as she's called it.

"We want everyone to help us hit a home run against cancer," her husband said.

The all-day, one-pitch tournament - which costs just $25 to be part of - will be held morning, noon and night Saturday, Oct. 11 at Ringing Rocks Park.

And, as Bonnie Goodhart reminds anyone willing to listen, it is a day for everyone.

So, forget about your age, you're invited. If you're able to stroll to the plate, you're invited. If you're strong enough to swing a bat, you're invited. If you're capable of walking, strutting, jogging or running to first base, you're invited.

If you're willing to keep your pride under wraps after every hit and willing to smile or even laugh after every miss, you're invited.

And invited with open arms.

Yes, teams are invited, and individuals wanting to play will be placed on teams. Everyone will be guaranteed at least two games and, yes, some hardware will be presented to the winning (or luckiest) team.

This won't be a day defined by hits, runs and errors, though.

Sure, you can bring your own bat and glove, if you wish. You are encouraged to bring your own beverages and refreshments, perhaps an extra dish or two (and the recipe, of course) to share with others under the pavilion throughout the day.

But what Bonnie Goodhart wants you to bring more than anything else is a big smile, enthusiasm ... and the determination to make this the one day you want your family and all your friends to circle on the calendar every year.

* * *

No one is more serious or more determined to fight cancer than Bonnie Goodhart.

Back in December of 2003, her Christmas present was a doctor's diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). That's just another big word or another strange form of cancer for people whose own lives or family and friends lives haven't been affected by cancer. It's just another big word or strange form of cancer for people who can't even begin to comprehend the pain, sickness and torture cancer inflicts on its victims.

Other than her husband and a couple of close friends, hardly anyone knows that Bonnie Goodhart has fought through an assortment of aches and pain as well as sickness almost every day since being diagnosed with CLL.

Four times she has been forced to undergo a nauseating chemotherapy arrangement - 6-8 hours a day over a three-day period for eight straight weeks. She has had a number of six-week radiation treatments. And she gets very uncomfortable reactions to the medications prescribed to help her through the sickness and pain.

Her fight is waged primarily at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. But she's been forced to go round after round with it at Fox Chase, University of Pennsylvania and Temple hospitals in Philadelphia, and also at Sloan-Kettering cancer centers throughout the tri-state area.

The medical bills mount well beyond what most could conceive.

"Outrageous," her husband said. "We have a pretty good insurance plan, and even though (the bills) still mount up they don't hit us nearly as hard as they do most people. That's what concerns Bonnie, and that's another reason we hope this will be a success so we can help cancer victims with their finances in addition to the giving money to Relay For Life."

Every little bit helps ... and helping others is all Bonnie Goodhart wants to do.

* * *

If Bonnie Goodhart could take a baseball bat and beat cancer to a gruesome death, she would. Others, who have waged their own battles and endured a pathetic quality of life to survive as well as those who have lost family and friends to cancer, would gladly join her.

Instead, she's hoping to form her own swat team(s). She's hoping people will be willing to put up $25, pick up a softball bat and hit a home run against cancer.

Just by word of mouth over the past week, many have already shown their willingness to do just that. Some you'll know, some you won't ... but you'll get to know by day's end.

Some will surely bring some drama to the games, others (off the record, of course) will bring humor.

The Cotellese Clan, which has unloaded its share of long balls through the years, is coming. A few people from PMMC's Cancer Center and Brookside Family Restaurant are cooking up teams.

Then there is the real over-the-hill gang ... which one can only wonder who'll be kind enough to put them in their lineup. Lew Hoffman, a player-coach out of the Casey Stengel mold with his 55-and-Over teams, is lining up a team or two. Southpaw Barry Peterman, who still pitches in an Over-50 baseball league up in Allentown, is expected to throw (though his off-speed arc to the plate is questionable). A couple of his old (only 58 years old, that is) Pottstown teammates - Fred Faison and Jeff Jackowski - will be there. Faison still runs like the wind (then gasps for wind when he gets to where he's going), while Jackowski reportedly hopes to get a little help from the wind during his dash down the line. St. Pius X boys basketball coach Randy Reber, also 58, should be able to grab a weak grounder or two after surviving all the tracers served up by Paul Favinger when the two played for Pottsgrove back in the late 60s.

Word around town is that The Hill School girls softball team is trying to get into the scheme of things, too. Hmmm... wonder if Kevin Kirby and his Owen J. Roberts girls or Tim Hughes and his Spring-Ford girls know about that (hint, hint)?

"We've gotten a lot of responses already just by word of mouth," Jim Goodhart said. "Hey, if we get too many people or teams, we'll find a second field, a third one if we have to."

"Isn't it exciting," Bonnie Goodhart added.

It is.

And, God willing, it will continue to be for Bonnie Goodhart, who is determined to stick around and see her Baseball For Life produce countless home runs against cancer.

* * *

Registration forms for Baseball For Life are available by writing Bonnie Goodhart at 1407 Glasgow Street, Pottstown, Pa. 19464, or by e-mail at bonniegoodhart@verizon.net. The deadline to register is Sept. 27.

*

Don Seeley is the sports editor of The Mercury ... and a cancer survivor.

Baseball lost one of its big hitters last week with the passing of Barry Trate.
The kids who play the game lost a great coach, an even greater role model … one of their most loyal fans.
The entire area lost a genuine gentleman.
Yes, Jane Trate did lose her devoted husband of 52 years, and Laurie, Cherie, Marcie and Chris did lose their beloved father. The emptiness, and the heartbreak his passing has created in the family, was oh so evident the past week, as it will be throughout this morning’s memorial services.
Time, as so many know, doesn’t heal all wounds.
But as Jane and Laurie, Cherie, Marcie and Chris have already heard – and will continue to hear – Barry Trate inspired and influenced so many lives beyond his immediate family. They’ve heard the stories, some over and over again and, aside of a new one here and there, will continue to hear them for quite some time.
And if they haven’t already, will soon realize just how Barry Trate’s love of baseball impacted so many youngsters’ lives.
“He loved baseball and he loved kids,” said Ross “Squiggles” Smith, chairman of the Boyertown American Legion Baseball Committee. “And he loved teaching baseball to kids.”
*
Barry Trate fell in love with baseball growing up in Reading and played it as passionately as anyone every spring in high school and every summer for the Gregg Post’s American Legion organization. It didn’t change while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps – and playing for his unit in Quantico, Va. – either. Then, nearly 50 years ago, Trate brought his knowledge of the game and his uncanny ability to teach it to the Pottstown area.
It would be easy to point a finger toward an entire dugout full of men responsible for revitalizing the game in this area. But Barry Trate would definitely be in there among them.
He got involved with both of Pottstown’s Junior and Senior American Legion programs, and no one was more grateful – or expressed their appreciation for what Trate brought to their organizations – than the late Pat Sundstrom and his son Carl Sundstrom.
Trate had to take a few summers off, from baseball that is, because of extensive work-related travel. “I couldn’t stand it,” he told me years ago.
It wasn’t long before his itinerary changed … for good, too.
In 1988, he teamed up with Bob Houck on the Boyertown Bear-Cubs’ coaching staff. The following season, after Houck left, he teamed up with Lee Mecherly, and the two were together through last season. In his 19 years with Houck and Mecherly, the Bear-Cubs won more than a dozen Berks County League championships and six Pennsylvania state titles.
Trate was also an assistant under Boyertown High School coach Todd Moyer for six seasons. Most forget he served as an area, district and regional administrator for Pennsylvania Junior Legion, too.
But it didn’t matter if he was coaching or administrating, or when and where he was coaching or administrating, Trate didn’t miss many games – spring or summer.
“Barry had a great understanding of the game, a real passion for the game,” Smith said. “I don’t know many people who knew the history of game like Barry did, either.
“He loved the game. He loved to share his knowledge of the game with kids. He taught you to respect the game, too.”
Mecherly saw how quickly Trate earned the respect of his players, just 13-15 years of age.
“He was so good, so very good, with the younger kids,” Mecherly said. “They liked him, too, and that’s important.
“Barry was just a great guy. He’s going to be tough to replace. I’ll miss him big-time, like a lot of people will.”
Among them, Moyer.
“Barry Trate definitely had a passion for the game, but he also understood the game,” Moyer said. “It was his passion for the game that drew kids to him and to the game. Barry always had time for them. Whether it was before or after a practice, before or after a game, he’d always be willing to stick around with a kid and work with them individually.”
Trate didn’t just see baseball as a game with nine-on and nine-off, basepaths, fences and the like…
“It was more than just a game to him,” Moyer added. “What upset Barry more than anything was seeing a talented player who didn’t spend time practicing or working hard to get better.
“But what he enjoyed more than anything was seeing those other kids … the ones, regardless of how good they were, who wanted to learn, who wanted to play. He loved that. He loved helping them.”
Don’t think those “kids” didn’t learn to appreciate him, either. Every summer, they thanked him.
And there were even a few thirtysome-year-old kids thanking him in their prayers this past week.
*
Barry Trate was inducted into the Pennsylvania American Legion Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Berks County Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 … honors he more than earned.
What Barry Trate didn’t earn, or deserve, was cancer.
First diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago, he battled back until being diagnosed with bone cancer last July. Radiation and chemotherapy treatments weakened him, but not enough to keep him away from the ballpark.
He was barely able to get to his seat at last summer’s American Legion state tournament at Spring-Ford High School. When asked if he needed anything… well, let’s just say all he wanted was a Boyertown win, another Boyertown state championship. A couple of months ago, while lying in his bed in the hospital and asked if he needed anything … well, let’s just say all he was interested in was what teams were going to be good this spring in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.
You know, it’s a shame the cancer, which he fought so courageously for so long, didn’t show up with a bat and ball … because Barry Trate would’ve beaten it, and not into remission but submission.