05.22.09
Who wants to play ball?
There appears to be a reviving interest in getting a vintage base ball team together. If you are interested in playing please let me know. I would like to organize a get together soon so everyone can swing a heavy bat and check out the vintage base balls (They are much softer and will not kill your gloveless hand. I promise.)
Hopefully the photos below will inspire you to get involved. You don’t have to have a whole lot of playing experience or be in shape for that matter. I haven’t played baseball in 7 years and I am getting incredibly winded typing this.
I stole these images from Ray Shaw of the Newtown Sandy Hook of Connecticut. I hope he doesn’t mind. Check out more of his images: http://www.diamondpix.com/.
Most of the vintage clubs out there have their schedules in place but I would like to get people together to get a feel for playing vintage ball and go from there. Drop me a line here or at info [at] scvbb.org. Also, feel free to join us on our Facebook Group.
03.17.08
Vintage Base Ball Club Could be Reborn Later This Summer
After putting in a lot of time last year in to forming and organizing a vintage club I have decided against putting in additional time again this year in to trying it again. I put in a lot of time, effort and money (I don’t have) and in the end there were not quite enough dedicated to playing a full schedule. Did I mention that I put a lot of time in to it last year? On the plus side I have some cool vintage baseball bats, baseballs and a cap! Instead, this summer my wife will be setting up at the Rochester Farmers’ Market selling handcraft fabric children’s aprons, capes, dolls, etc. I will also attempt to make cloth baseballs made to the style of the 19th century lemon peel design to sell at the market. The first couple of ones I made are pretty sad but there is time for improvement.
The idea of putting together a vintage club is not completely dead. Mattapoisett is in the process of planning an annual historical festival, a scaled down version of the 150th anniversary celebration. Although vintage baseball is not mentioned in the Wanderer’s report of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen’s Meeting, I have been contacted by one of the event organizers about including vintage baseball as part of the activities. I don’t have all of the details yet but when I do I will post them here.
My hope is that this will be a good place to reorganize plans for a vintage ball team. Most likely the club’s name will be changed from the Ironsides to something based on a historic Mattapoisett town team. Should this work out, the club could play at other local events and could expand in to playing other vintage clubs. And maybe, just maybe get those cool reproduction uniforms.
If anyone is interested in playing in this event, please contact me.
09.10.07
Intro
I am currently researching baseball history in the New Bedford area. As I go along with research I plan to post some of my findings here. Feel free to comment, criticize, offer advice, share information and ask questions.I am also in the process of forming a vintage base ball club in the area. By playing baseball using historic rules I hope to learn something about the history of the game, promote local history and get some exercise. Much needed exercise. SCVBB is South Coast Vintage Base Ball, something I came up with when I decided to attempt to start a vintage club. I hadn’t yet picked a name for the team and was in the process of getting a web site for the project. For now it is the Ironsides Base Ball Club based on a club with the same name that existed in New Bedford in 1858-1859. I still need players so if you are interested drop me a line.
