Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League

While the new year is just around the corner and it seems that Spring is far off, the clubs of the MAVBBL are making preperations for another campaign which kicks off on March 25th and goes right through the end of October 2012. The MAVBBL has expanded once again adding the Lewes Base Ball Club from southern Delaware and the Old Dominion Club of Northern Virginia. Lewes will join Elkton, Philadelphia, Delaware, and Chesapeake City in the Eastern Conference. The Southern Conference will consist of the Talbot Fair Plays, the Chesapeake Nine of Baltimore, the Arundel Excelsiors, the Mechanicsburg Nine, the Potomac Nine of Washington and the Old Dominion BBC of Virginia. Havre de Grace is in the process of re-forming and will merge with the Chesapeakes from Baltimore until they are back on their feet again and will rejoin the Eastern Conference once again. The Northern Conference will once again consist of the Elizabeth Resolutes, the New York Gothams, the Flemington Neshanock, the Brooklyn Atlantics and the New York Mutuals. A new club is forming in Gettysburg as we go to press and will play some matches in 2012. Look for schedules to be posted shortly from each of the clubs as they complete them for the upcoming campaign. The first match is the ever popular Chopper Classic in Elkton at Terrapin Station Winery where Philadelphia will play Chesapeake City and Arundel while Elkton will play Arundel on March 25th. After a week off for clubs to attend the National VBBA Conference at Old Bethpage on March 31 and April 1, the season will kick off in earnest on April 7th. Stay tuned for more details!

Brooklyn Repeats with 13-7 Triumph

When the six club tournament field was announced for the MAVBBL Championship at Fort DuPont in Delaware everyone knew it was six really good 19th century base ball clubs.  What they didn’t know was how good the games were actually going to be.  On a dreary day in Delaware City, the six clubs assembled to crown the league champ in a season that started in the beginning of April.  In the first game, the heavily favored newly crowned Maryland State Champion Chesapeake City Cecils did not have a very good game defensively and were dropped 10-4 by the host Diamond States.  In the other first round match, the Gothams and Fair Plays went back and forth until Talbot added 2 runs late to advance to the semi finals 16-14.  In the semi finals, the found their old nemisis, the Elkton Eclipse.  In the first inning the Fair Plays struck first with a run before Elkton came back with 4 in their half of the frame.  In what looked like it may be a blow out or at least a high scoring affair, the Eclipse held on to advance to the championship with a 7-5 victory.  They would take on the Brooklyn Atlantics who needed extra innings to get by the upstart Diamond States to reach the championship. 

To defeat the Atlantics a club needs to not give the club from Brooklyn more than 3 outs an inning, and unfortunately, the Eclipse gave away more than the 3 hands dead each inning but in a well played match, the Eclipse were no match for the defensive gems that the Atlantic threw at them as Brooklyn came away with a 13-7 win to win their second straight title.  The Atlantic had a 5 week layoff and while they looked rusty at times, showed enough strength to outlast the field to take home the championship again.  Great job by the Diamond States in hosting this year’s event!

Delaware City, DE– The MAVBBL League Championship Tournament is slated to start Sunday, October 2nd at Ft DuPont in Delaware City, Delaware.  This is the first time the first state will be holding the event which features the top 6 clubs in the league.  Admission and parking are free and the day kicks off at 10:00am and the champion will be crowned around 4:00pm.  Come out and see six of the finest 19th century base ball clubs battle using the same style equipment and uniforms and playing by the same rules and customs of 1864.

At 10:00am, the Talbot Fair Plays will take on the New York Gothams while the Cecil Club of Chesapeake City plays the host Diamond State BBC of Delaware.  Waiting in the wings for the winners are the champion and runner up from last year.  The winner of the Talbot/New York game will play the Elkton Eclipse at Noon while the victor of the Chesapeake City/Delaware match plays the Brooklyn Atlantics.  The 3rd place game will take place at 2:00pm between the Noon losers and then at 2:15 the Championship will take place to determine this year’s league champion.

Chesapeake City downs Talbot in MD State Championship

Glen Burnie, MD– The Cecil Club of Chesapeake City sit atop of the roost for the 2011 season as they win their first 19th Century Base Ball Maryland State Championship with two convincing wins over traditional Old Line powers.  In the first round matches of the day, the Potomac Nine of Washington won a hard fought victory over the host Arundel Exclsiors 17-10 to earn a meeting with the number 2 seeded Talbot Fair Plays.  In the other first round match, the 4 time defending state champion Elkton Eclipse got by the Chesapeake Nine of Baltimore 16-7 in  a match that was much closer than the score indicated.  In the 4th inning, Chesapeake was up 7-4 before being white washed the rest of the way.  This set up a match between the two teams in the Elkton Base Ball Club- the Eclipse and the Cecils.  Cecil went up 4 in the first inning and the Eclipse got one back in the 3rd.  In the first 3 innings the Eclipse left 5 men in scoring position with just one out.  After the Cecils added on another run to go up 5-1, the Eclipse cut it to 5-2 before Chesapeake City put up a 4 spot en route to a 13-5 convincing win to end Elkton’s reign.  On the other field, Talbot methodically took care of business against Potomac winning going away to set up the championship match.  Talbot has made it to the championship all 5 years– and all 5 years came up just short.  In a well played game, the younger Chesapeake City Club took home the championship 9-6.

MAVBBL Championship Tournament Site Set

The Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League has announced the date and site of its championship tournament.  On Sunday, October 2nd, Fort DuPont in Delaware City, Delaware will host the 6 club event featuring the top 6 teams from the league as they battle for the league championship in this seeded single elimination tournament.  Stay tuned to this site for more details and opponents!

Huricane Irene reeked havoc on the Mid Atlantic region last week wipping out a thin slate of matches that were scheduled.  Every town in the League with the exception of Mechanicsburg was affected by the storm in some degree.  Power was not restored in some towns until the middle of this week.  Massive flooding took place in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York.  Winds brought downed trees and power lines to Delaware and Maryland.  Even though it is not in our league, one of the fine clubs in vintage base ball had its town destroyed.  Roxbury, New York in the upper part of the state which is home to the Roxbury Nine was destroyed in the floods that ravaged that area.  They are in real need of assistance from the vintage community as well as others who would like to lend a helping hand.  If you can donate, please log on to this site for more information about how you can help:  http://markproject.org/about-mark/donate.  Their streets are now rivers and they could really use a hand.

Despite the threat of stormy weather all weekend, 12 MAVBBL clubs got together at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to celebrate 19th century base ball and show the public how the game was played in 1864.  The Athletic Club of Philadelphia put on a great show as clubs from all over the league got together for a fun festival.  There was no pressure of a winner and clubs that came out on the wrong side of the boxscore didn’t go home dejected, but rather they left getting to play someone they either had not seen for a while or never saw before.  The schedule was set so the New York clubs would get a chance to square off against foes it had only seen on paper from Washington, Arundel, and Mechanicsburg.  Clubs from Easton, Elkton, and Chesapeake City got to play teams from New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania as well as New York.  Make sure you check out the scores posted in the results page (see the column on the right side) to see who won what games.  This weekend though, everyone was a winner.  Special thanks to the clubs that participated: Philadelphia (host), Delaware, Talbot, Elkton, Mechanicsburg, Chesapeake, Arundel, Flemington, Potomac, New York Gothams, Flemington, and Chesapeake City.

The Philadelphia Navy Yard will play host to a fine display of 19th century base ball this weekend featuring 12 clubs from the MAVBBL.  The host Athletic BBC has put together a great weekend of base ball and 19th century fun for the entire family.  Matches start at 10am each day and go on until about 4pm.  Come see clubs from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC play base ball the same way it was played in 1864 using the same style uniforms and equipment and playing by the same rules and customs of the day.  For more information, go to http://phillyvintagebaseball.org/

RESOLUTES WIN PAIR FROM NEW YORK

The first match began with the Gotham BBC at the line. Monk and Wickets scored in that half of the frame and the Resolutes followed with 3 aces of their own. In the 2^nd frame no team scored. In the 3^rd frame Scratch scored an ace on a walk, steal of 2^nd and a cross of 4^th base after Crash’s 2 base hit. The Resolutes followed with 0 aces of their own. In the 4^th frame, again the Gotham BBC scored 1 ace with a Monk 1 base hit, steal of 2^nd and a cross of 4^th base on Scratch’s 1 base hit. The Resolutes followed with 0 aces of their own. In the 5^th frame, no team scored. By the end of the 5^th frame, the score was Gotham BBC 4 Elizabeth Resolutes 3.  In the 6^th frame, the Gotham BBC scored scored on Weed’s 2 base hit and hands by Professor and Monk. Of course, Weed hurts himself during the play. In the bottom of that frame, the Gotham BBC forgot how to limit the damage and played catch with themselves while Resolutes ran the bases. We really need to learn that fundamental rule of controlling the opponent’s base running. By the end of the frame, the Resolutes scored 3 aces. In the 7^th frame, the Gotham BBC scored 0 aces and the Resolutes scored 1. Stacks ended the frame with a nice line drive catch. Again, in the 8^th frame, the Gotham BBC scored 0 and the Resolutes score 1. In the top of the 9^th frame, the Gotham BBC scored 0 aces. Game over, Gotham BBC 5 Resolutes 8.

The second match of the day began with the Gotham BBC in the field and a redesigned team. Without regard to his teammates’ feelings and right in front of their faces, Oates happily took cash from the Resolutes to leave for the day.In the top of the 1^st frame, the Resolutes scored 2 aces. In the bottom of the frame, Monk struck and stole bases to get himself to 3^rd base. He would eventually come home on Wickets’ 1 base hit. In the top of the 2^nd frame, Crash ran 1 mile to catch a booming strike and 1 bound. Neither team would score that frame. In the 3^rd frame, the Resolutes scored 1 ace and the Gotham BBC scored none. In the 3^rd frame, the Resolutes scored 1 ace and the Gotham BBC scored 1 on Scratch’s 2 base hit and well struck 1 base hit by Wickets. By the end of the 3^rd frame the score was Gotham BBC 2 Resolutes 4. In the top of the 4^th frame, the Resolutes scored 2 aces and the Gotham BBC responded with 0 of their own. In the top of the 5^th frame the Resolutes scored 4 aces and the Gotham BBC scored 1. In the 7^th frame, the Gotham BBC was threatening. Wickets raced himself around the bases, thieving two of them to get to 3^rd. With Crash at the line, the team was ready for another ace. Crash struck the ball down the 3^rd base line, drawing the 3^rd base tender, pitcher and catcher to the ball. Wickets watched while Crash got to 1^st base and then decided to run. The 1^st base tender threw to the catcher and Wickets was tagged out. No team scored that frame.In the top of the 8^th frame with 1 hand and a Resolute on 1^st base, the striker hit a towering fly ball to short stop. Scratch realized he could make the double play by letting the ball drop. This was a pretty cool idea but he only let it drop once. The striker was out and there was no force at 2^nd base. No aces were scored the rest of the game. The final score was Gotham BBC 3 Resolutes 10

Talbot Goes 3-1-1 in Mumford, NY

Genesee Valley- The Talbot Fair Plays won their first 3 matches of the National Silver Ball Tournament in upstate New York this past weekend and tied their last to earn a spot in the Championship match on Sunday.  The Easton Nine downed the Victory BBC 18-15, the Rochesters 14-5, and the Flower City BBC 16-14.  In its last match it tied the Live Oaks 10-10 before the time limit ran out in the 8th inning.  It was good enough to earn a return to the championship to meet the Cleveland Blues.  The Blues had defeated the Flemington Neshanock last year in the Silver Ball Championship.  This year, it would be the same result- the Blues won 20-5 to take home its 2nd straight Silver Ball Championship.

A Split in Cecil County

Elkton, MD- The two teams from the Elkton Base Ball Club, the Cecil Club of Chesapeake City and the Eclipse BBC of Elkton squared off at the Terrapin Station Winery on Sunday.  In the first game, after the Eclipse struck first, the Cecils slammed 10 aces in the 3rd inning and held on for a 14-12 win.  In the second match, Elkton held a 4-3 lead when Chesapeake City scored twice in the 7th to take the lead.  Elkton scored one run in the 8th and held the Cecils scoreless in the 9th.  In the bottom of the 9th, as the Eclipse has done so many times this year, they got their first two men in to scoring position before Erik Meyers hit a long drive to centerfield easily scoring the runner from 3rd to earn the split with a 6-5 win

Atlantic Takes Islip Cup

On the grassy plains of the Islip Grange, the Atlantic Base Ball Club joined the Flemington Neshanock and New York Gotham clubs in the first ever Islip Cup Tournament. This round-robin tournament brought together spectators and farmers from all around Long Island.  In the initial match, the Flemington club took the lead on a balk in the 1st inning.  Unfortunately, that was their only ace to tally that game.  The Flemington lead was quickly erased as the Atlantic lead-off hitter TC used all his might and speed to round the bases for a home run.  TC didn’t stop there as he went a perfect 4 for 4 with 3 doubles and scored in each at bat.  Dreambucket also swung the stick well with 2 doubles, and Butcher contributed 2 hits also.  Pigtail and the Atlantic defense did not allow any more Flemington runners to score and the Atlantics went on to win by the score of 13-1.

In the 2nd match between the Flemington Neshanock and New York Gothams, a back and forth contest ensued.  Each team took and lost the lead more then once leading to a tie game at 6 aces each entering the 10th frame.  In the top of the 10th, the Gotham pitcher Bugsy was fatigued and hung a few too many hittable pitches as the Gotham defense could not stop a 6 run rally by the team from Jersey.  Undeterred, the Gotham batters rallied to score 3 aces and attain runners on the bases.  Alas, the Gothams could not plate any more runs and fell to the Flemington squad by the score of 12-9. 

With losses by both the Flemington and Gotham teams, the Atlantic squad needed a victory over the Gotham Club in the third and final match to attain the coveted Islip Cup.  A pitching matchup between the Atlantics Tree and Gothams Wickets promised for a entertaining game.  Tree shook off a bit of rust to keep the Gothams to 7 aces, while Wickets had to face the gauntlet of Atlantic bats and held them to 18.  For the Atlantics, TC and Willy Mo roped 4 hits each, while Toothpick and Dreambucket gathered 3 hits a piece.

Special Note:  Look under tournaments/festivals for information on the Philadelphia Base Ball Exhibit and Fair on August 20-21 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.  13 MAVBBL clubs will be participating.  Come out and see most of the clubs in the Mid Atlantic play base ball the way it was played in Philadelphia in 1864!

Potomac, Arundel and Old Dominion Play in Manasas Festival

 Old Town Manassas, VA commemorated the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War and the Battle of First Manassas (Bull Run) July 21-24 with living history demonstrations, speakers, art, music, and Civil War base ball.