Baseball is truly a sport in which age can be immaterial.

When the Elgin Men’s League opens its sixth season on the second Saturday in April, it will be a generational as well as family affair.
 

“One of the things about our league that makes it special is you have fathers and sons, uncles and nephews playing with each other,” said Augie Morado, president of the league. “It’s definitely a family thing with us.”
 

The 13-team league, divided between a four-team Single-A division, and a nine-team Double-A construction, spans the gamut for those who cherish the game.
 

“We have guys in their 60s,” Morado said. “Most of them coach, but you will still see one or two of them playing.”
 

Then again, the longstanding adage of father time being undefeated cannot be dismissed.

^{Elgin Mens Baseball League President Augie Morado loves the game of baseball and has provided quality competition for many players looking to continue in the sport with his EMBL,  playing games at Continental Park in Elgin set to kickoff on April 10.}

“Some of them aren’t as fast as they used to be,” Morado joked of the league members who are north of thirty. But Morado views the league as a vehicle not only for growing the game but also establishing a rapport with the community. The latter element has been a collaborative arrangement with Elgin city officials.
 

“We partnered up with them,” Morado said. “I met with the (Elgin) Parks and Recreation body. It’s been a blessing to work on the fields and get them back to life. The city is 100 percent behind us.”
 

Continental Ballpark, just south of Lake Street on Route 31 in Elgin, is the epicenter of league play. The teams are essentially guaranteed a 20-game regular season. There will be comprehensive playoffs for each division.
 

The eighth and ninth seeds of Double-A will require a wild card to determine the eight-team bracket. From there, winners will need to triumph in best-of-three series to advance in the playoffs, which are expected to conclude in the fall.
 

Morado said the two divisions will have at least one crossover game during the regular season.

"It gives us a good gauge to see where the individuals and teams should be placed,” Morado said. 

With the older players primarily earmarked for Single-A, Morado has an underlining quest in nurturing younger players. Morado has grand plans

to entice as many high school and college students as possible.

^{Azul players Teddy Lawnicki (L) and Niko Morada (R) hold in Jubulent Triumph after winning the 2020 "AA" Championship Trophy.}

“We’re hoping to make some noise,” Morado said of his player-development mission. “The price for high school travel baseball is so expensive.We try to help the younger boys with that. We’re hoping to form some kind of high school summer league.”
 

Morado will not be bashful when reaching out to the local schools. 
 

“Elgin, Larkin, Streamwood, South Elgin, St. Ed’s, Westminster (Christian) and Harvest (Christian) are all right here,” Morado said.
 

Yet Morado realizes where the potential players’ loyalties lay. With the pandemic, the IHSA, the state governing body for high school sports, has delayed the start of the traditional spring prep calendar.
 

“That is one rule we do have,” Morado said as a result. “They cannot play until their high school season is over.”
 

Morado envisions college prospects being in the mix. “Some of them go to out-of-state schools,” Morado said. “Some of them are from in-state. It gives the (college) guys a chance to hone their skills.”

^{Continental Park in Elgin is the host site of all the EMBL games. The League and the City of Elgin work Hand-in-Hand to provide a quality location for the League and its players along with bathrooms and concessions.} 

The games will have a three-hour time limit with modified extra-inning rules. There will also be twin “slaughter-rule” provisions: either a spread greater than 10 runs after seven innings, or 15 following the sixth inning.  Managers in the two divisions will be permitted unlimited substitutions to counter the various contingencies inescapable to summer sports leagues.

The entire Morado family is involved in the league operations in some form or another.

“We do it as a family,” said Monica Morado, whose daughter Raquel often has control of the scorebook and whose boys, Angie IV and Niko, have had their fair share of plate appearances over the years. “It’s not just watching baseball; it’s special to us.”