Baseball season has been in full swing for a few weeks, and one Iowa State professor recently achieved one of the most important milestones of his more than 50-year career.

Seventy-four-year-old George Knaphus, professor of botany at ISU, pitched his 500th win May 25 in an 18-17 win for the Bethesda Lutheran Church’s slow-pitch softball team.

Knaphus, who also participates in an intramural league, said despite his accomplishment, he was not very impressed with his pitching in the benchmark game.

Worse, Knaphus has been battling lymphoma since last summer and that, plus his asthma, was taking its toll on his game Tuesday night.

“The only thing I remember that I did right was I was ahead at the end of the game,” he laughed. “But then we had a doubleheader, and we won that game.”

And whether Knaphus was pleased with his performance Tuesday night matters little to him now — he will definitely take the win.

“It sure is an interesting number, isn’t it?” he said. “I guess I was looking forward to it. I’ve never been one that goes leaping in the air about something you’ve done, like you see so many professional players do, out there flying and dancing.”

It is his enjoyment of the game, which he refers to as “somewhere in between a passion and a mortal sin,” that has kept Knaphus playing for all these years. He clearly savors the rapport of his team, who helped him celebrate his win.

“They seemed to be happy about it,” he said. “Also, my grandchildren were there, and my daughter and her husband and [my family] baked a cake for me because they thought I was going to win.”

Knaphus’s enjoyment of the game is renowned around the botany department, said James Raich, associate professor of botany.

“He has softball analogies here and there, and he’s been around for a long time,” said Raich, of Knaphus’s 37-year tenure at ISU. “He has a stack of softballs in his office, all signed. It’s the first thing you notice when you walk into his office.”

Knaphus started his baseball career in high school, and he played on intramural leagues while he was a student at ISU.

Although he started out as a center fielder, Knaphus said he enjoys pitching, which he started doing once he joined the slow-pitch leagues.

Between his participation in the church and intramural leagues, in the last 13 years he has captured 47 championship T-shirts. He is modest about his accomplishments, but Knaphus said he still possesses some secrets to getting the ball past the batters.

“It became obvious that I had a special way of holding the ball that I don’t advertise much,” he said. “It seems to help a lot. The main thing is that you need to have control enough so you don’t just pitch strikes; you pitch stuff that’s on the edge of the strike zone.”

Knaphus is the oldest player on his intramural team, but his teammates range in age from 55 years old to freshmen in college. Knaphus said he enjoys the multi-generational aspect of the game.

“It’s great. The kids love it, and the old folks love it, and we play together, and we play as a team,” he said. “It’s always more fun when you get a win as a team, instead of everybody stepping up there to look great for themselves.”

Knaphus is also optimistic about his health problems.

“It happens to be the kind of cancer they have a lot of confidence that they can whip, so I feel very good about that,” he said.

And although his health isn’t necessarily slowing him down, Knaphus said it soon may be time to hang up his glove.

“I’m 74, and why then you’ve got to be a little realistic, although I haven’t been real realistic to get this far,” he said. “But I didn’t win 500 to say ‘that’s enough.'”