BJ newsroom retiree Thomas C. Moore is in Fort Myers, Florida with his annual six-week job of publishing the newsletter for former BJ sports editor Tom Giffen’s Roy Hobbs World Baseball Series for older players.

This time there’s a third BJ retiree, advertising makeup’s Mike Williams, with him.

Writes Tom:

“Back in Florida with the Roy Hobbs 26th World Series. And I've got a good buddy with me --long-time friend and retired co-worker, Mike Williams. And, of course, it's almost like the old Akron Beacon Journal, working with former sports editor Tom Giffen. We have 240 amateur baseball teams from all over the country, Russia, Canada and the Dominican Republic.”

Richmond, Virginia native Tom, who came to the BJ from John Knight’s birthplace, Bluefield, West Virginia, has been Giffen’s right-hand man at the Roy Hobbs World Series in Fort Myers, Florida for 11 years.

Maybe Mike is helping Tom with the newsletter for the older baseball players, which includes interviews and reports on the games.

The series is divided into age divisions---youngest group is 28-plus and oldest is 70-plus.

Giffen, now 65, in 1990 formed a four-team league of adult men playing out of Akron. The next year the league grew to 11 teams and joined Roy Hobbs Baseball, which was owned by Ron Monks of California. In 1992 Monks sold Roy Hobbs Baseball to Giffen and his wife, Ellen.

For several years, Giffen ran Roy Hobbs Baseball out of his basement and continued to work at the Beacon Journal. In the mid-1990s, as the organization brought in more and more teams, Giffen resigned from the BJ to work full time at his business.

Roy Hobbs is the fictional hero of Bernard Malamud's novel, “The Natural,” and the movie starring Robert Redford as Hobbs.

Tom quips:

“No, our wives are not with us. My wife says this is her vacation.”

IF YOU GO TO MIKE WILLIAMS' FACEBOOK PAGE, HE HAS POSTED OTHER PHOTOS OF THE ROY HOBBS ACTIVITIES IN FORT MYERS, FLORIDA. OUR BJ TRIPLETS ARE HAVING A BALL (PUN INTENDED).

Tom Giffen (standing, in shorts) at Roy Hobbs staff meeting; Tom Moore (standing, in red)