The Brandywine BBC of West Chester, PA made the trek out to St. Louis, MO at the end of July to participate in the 3rd Annual St. Louis Cup hosted by the St. Louis Brown Stockings. The trip was originally planned as a visit home for Matthew “Pins” Hagnauer, but it turned into a club reunion with their former player. The team flew into town on Friday and got right down to business the only way Brandywine BBC can…they rented a party bus. This would be the team’s means of transportation throughout the weekend setting the tone for how things were going to go. They drove through St. Louis a bit on Friday checking out the St. Louis Gateway Arch and the Budweiser Brewery, before heading to Pins’ mom’s house just across the Mississippi River in Dupo, IL where she generously put up the ENTIRE club.

Fast forward through some club hooliganry to Saturday, to the 3rd Annual St. Louis Cup. The setting for the matches was the beautiful Forest Park, home of the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair. Brandywine BBC was concerned about the rule differences going into their matches being that in the Midwest they play by modified 1860s rules instead of 1864 rules. The biggest concern was that someone would forget that taking a large lead, sliding or stealing was prohibited by the modified 1860 rules. One other major adjustment was that defensive positioning did not allow for any shifts. This meant that the first basemen, second basemen and third basemen must be within two steps of their respective base before the pitch is thrown. Only the shortstop was allowed to play anywhere on the field. Even the outfielders were not allowed to shift. This took some getting used to for the club. The Brandywine BBC played 3 matches in the St. Louis Cup and were defeated by the St. Louis Perfectos (11-3), the St. Louis Brown Stockings (9-5), and the Belleville Stags (31-9). All 3 teams played hard and earned their victories over the Brandywine club. Though Brandywine got beat, they didn’t let that get the best of them. Instead they vowed to come back with a vengeance on Sunday and let St. Louis know how the east coast plays base ball.

Sunday, the day of reckoning, it was hot and humid and a perfect day for base ball. The Brandywine BBC played 2 great matches against their opponents, the St. Louis Unions (8-7) and the Indianapolis Hoosiers (3-2), to pick up two one-run wins. The Brandywine boys were more relaxed going into these games and it showed in their on-field antics. The boys were jabbering back and forth from across the field at each other, something the home teams didn’t seem too accustomed to, but both wins were a combined effort from every player on the club, Bullseye got on base in almost every at bat; Splinter was about the smoothest shortstop you’d ever seen; Colonel was intimidating at the plate and kept the outfield guessing; Pins was stretching and scooping up balls like it was nothing at all; Shaggy displayed his best hitting so far this season sending two the opposite way; Rockwell didn’t let a ball bounce, showing just how manly he is in left field; Shield had the defensive play of the game coming from 2nd to 1st with a flip of the ball to make a crucial out late in the game; Stonewall brought out his heater and left the opponents as lost as a duck in high weeds; Manny broke out not one, but back-to-back triples; Slowhand was our “Midwest Muffin” displaying the poise of a veteran vintage player in left field, at the plate, and with a 6-string later that night!; King played so well his uniform and shoes couldn’t contain him! The captain of the Brandywine BBC more than earned his stripes in this Midwest trip.

As we wish one of our clubs safe travels on their way to St. Louis this weekend, the MAVBBL can take the time to follow one of St Louis’s traditions and that is blacken your shoe out Weekend.  As the MAVBBL strives to be as authentic as possible, one of the things a spectator will notice is that we wear modern cleats or spikes for safety reasons.   One thing we all can do though with our black shoes is to darken out any logos that may appear on the shoe.  Just take 5 seconds to erase the modern logo off of your shoe and go out there and have fun.  Most clubs are in the middle of festivals over the next 2 months.  Each player wants to put their best foot forward and try to look as authentic as possible.  On a related note, best of luck and safe travels to the Brandywine Club as they head out to St Louis for a festival out there!

Chicago, IL– The MAVBBL is proud to announce that several of its club executives were elected to the top posts of the Vintage Base Ball Association.  Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw from the Neshanock was voted in as President and is the first sitting member of a MAVBBL club to be elected to such a high position.  In addition, Matt Bartnicki from the Diamond State BBC of Delaware was named Vice President.  Eric Micklich from the Eckford Club of Brooklyn was re-elected as historian.  Brian Travers from the Providence Grays and Bruce Leith from the Eclipse BBC of Elkton still have 1 more year left on their terms as trustees.

2016 MAVBBL SEASON TO START

The 8th season of the MAVBBL kicks off this weekend with the Brooklyn Atlantics traveling to the Garden State to take on the Flemington Neshanock at the Somerset Patriots Fan Fest in Somerset, New Jersey.  Meanwhile in Easton, Maryland 4 of the states finest clubs will get together for the first Maryland State Festival.  Talbot, Elkton, Arundel and Chesapeake will be enjoying their first matches of the season on Sunday.

The first game of the season took place on April 2nd as the highly skilled veteran Delaware Diamond States introduced the Ellicott’s Mills club to the league with a 68-7 victory.  Flemington and Furnace Mills were rained out.

Make your plans now to attend as many 19th century games as you can.  This year, the clubs are entered in to many tournaments and festivals including the Silver Ball, the World Tournament, the Gettysburg Festival, the Old Time Base Ball Festival and of course the League Championships.  Check back often for scores, highlights and a lot of information.  See you at the ball yards!

The 2016 season is still 4 months away, but on January 16, the MAVBBL will hold its annual President’s and Scheduling Meeting.  The 2016 edition of the League looks to feature up to 24 clubs from Rhode Island to Washington DC and as far west as Harrisburg, PA.

Each year, the club presidents gather to discuss the previous season and look ahead to what can be done to improve the play of member clubs for the upcoming year.  Loop holes are discussed as well as new research in to the history of the game that could alter the way member clubs have played.  Each year, new language is found from the 1860s that member clubs didn’t know about.  Sometimes, even new ways of play from pitching to hitting stance is introduced to make our game more authentic to spectators who come out and watch us in the upcoming year.  For example, up until just a couple of years ago, clubs would exclaim “Huzzah” after matches.  After research it was found that the correct language should be “Hurrah”.  Words like “hurler”, “behind” and “cranks” have been eliminated from our vocabulary and replaced with “pitcher”, “catcher” and “spectators”.  (Words that are common today and were actually used in the 1860s as well!).  At the end of the meeting, in a scene that looks like its straight off the trading floors of Wall Street, everyone takes about a half hour to meet with other presidents to fill out their 2016 schedules.

If you are interested in playing for one of our clubs or if you have an interest in starting your own club for the future, please contact us.  We have a strong interest in placing clubs in Richmond and Fredericksburg, Virginia as well as Scranton, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Gettysburg, PA– A driving thunderstorm right before the 6th Annual Gettysburg National 19th Century Base Ball Festival nor the searing heat could keep the thousands of fans away  as 18 clubs converged on Gettysburg on July 18 and 19.  The setting was once again at the Schroeders Farm just minutes from the Peach Orchard and the day 2 battlefields.  Fans were not disappointed as some of the best matches in the history of the festival took place.  Many clubs from the MAVBBL joined the Tennessee Hog and Hominy Club, the Columbus Capitals, the Spring Creek Nine and the Maine Dirigo club for an epic weekend of base ball and friendship.

Some of the highlighted games included a 1-1 11 inning battle between the Eckfords and the Fair Plays.  The Eckfords also lost a 8-7 squeeker at the end to the Elkton Eclipse.  The Eclipse also gave up 2 runs in the top on the 9th but scored 3 in the bottom frame to down the Dirigo Club from Maine.  Maine also lost a heartbreaker to the Atlantics 11-10  in the same fashion.

It was once again a great event and look for the 7th one to take place the 3rd weekend in July.  We hope to see you there!

Reposted from “A Manly Pastime-A Base Ball History Blog”
By John Z.

Battle at Bethpage

Photo by Mark Granieri

Base ball, of course, has no birthplace, but vintage base ball is of, well, more recent vintage so more is know about its origins.  My good friend Eric Miklich once told me that Old Bethpage Village on Long Island is the place where the on-the-field recreation of the early game began and while Eric isn’t always right, he’s never in doubt.  The game continues to be played at this restored village including a four team tournament in April and a much larger two day event in early August.  Saturday marked the renewal of the four team, one day tournament known as the New York – New Jersey Cup.  I believe for some time the Neshanock were the only participating New Jersey club joining the New York Mutuals (the home team) plus some other New York clubs, most frequently the Gotham Club of New York.  However when the Hoboken Nine starting participating, I think three years ago, it became a more geographically balanced field with the two New Jersey clubs playing each of their New York counterparts.

Photo by Mark Granieri

The Neshanock won the 2013 version, I believe, the first time, a New Jersey club took the cup home and retained it last year when the 2014 event was rained out.  So Saturday saw the Neshanock and Hoboken Clubs making the journey out to Old Bethpage under sunny and warmer than usual conditions.  In their first match, the Neshanock drew the Gothams who fielded a very strong team, bringing back a number of their fine players from prior years.  As with last week’s Neshanock-Resolutes game it was a well played, relatively low scoring match especially given it’s still early in the season.  This was, in fact, the Gothams first match of 2015.

Photo by Mark Granieri

The pitching and defense of both squads was so strong that no  tallies were scored until the top of the fourth when the Gothams scored two aces.  Flemington quickly cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning and after blanking the Gothams in the top of the fifth, scored three times for a 4-2 lead after five.  The New York club also answered quickly tying the score at 4-4, but the Neshanocks regained the lead in the bottom of the inning and led 5-4 after six.  Strong pitching and continued good defense kept the Gothams off the score board in the 7th and 8th while Flemington added three more runs for a 8-4 lead headed to the ninth.  However, the Gothams are always dangerous and no one on the Neshanocks was entirely comfortable even after there were two out with one on.  Two straight hits plated two runs before a ground out ended the game for a 8-6 Flemington victory. Danny “Batman” Shaw, Mark “Gaslight” Granieri and Chris “Low Ball” Lowry led the Neshanock attack with three hits apiece.  Right behind this trio were Tom “Thumbs” Hoepfner, Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw and Scott “Snuffy” Hengst with two each.  The Neshanock defense backed up “Brooklyn’s” strong pitching, making only two errors over the course of the match.

Photo by Mark Granieri

The Neshanock’s second contest was with the host club, the New York Mutuals who had topped the Hoboken Nine, 16-14 in the other morning match.  With the two morning winners playing in the afternoon contest, it was a winner take all affair.  Flemington continued to support strong pitching with good defense, but this time the Neshanock offense also got going scoring nine times in the first two innings for a 9-2 lead, adding one more in the fourth to lead 10-2 after five.  In the last four innings Flemington broke things open scoring 11 times while holding the Mutuals to only two more tallies for a convincing 21-4 triumph in a successful defense of the Cup.  Every Neshanock player made at least two hits with five different players getting three apiece.  Included in the latter group were Dave “Illinois” Harris, Rene “Mango” Marerro and Tom “Thumbs” Hoepfner who joined “Gaslight” and “Low Ball” who repeated their feat of the morning game.  Both “Mango” and “Thumbs” hit home runs in the contest.  All told the Neshanock left only five runners on base, but, in this case, that’s not as positive a statistic as it might seem as five of Flemington’s nine at bats ended with a base runner making the last out.

Photo by Mark Granieri

In the other afternoon match, the Gothams defeated the Hoboken Club 21-9.  It was a good day of base ball under pleasant, but a trifle warm conditions.  The Neshanock are, obviously, very pleased to retain the Cup and look forward to a return visit to Old Bethpage, the beginning of August.  Off to their best start in years, with a 4-1 record, next Saturday, Flemington journeys to Monmouth University for a match with some college students.