Looking back on a prior year's season is an annual ritual that gets us (and we hope you, the reader) through the winter doldrums. From the many posts on our social media, we're reminded of the fellowship and camaraderie that playing "the early game" with friends brings to our lives in this close-knit mountain community.
At the end of each season, inevitably people will ask what our W-L record was or "How'd you do?" My response is usually a shrug with a disclaimer that although winning is nice, our Club has tried to create a culture that's not about "the W", trophies or stats...There are plenty of official leagues of adult baseball or softball for that. As vintage ballists, I feel that we are and will always be different...a sub-culture where it's more about the relationships and mutual respect for the game's rich history than it will ever be about individual victories. The sweet sauce for our vintage baseball community is when our games can be equal parts sport, history/education and theater with an extra sprinkling of philanthropy. And we believe that's the formula that keeps us and our followers coming back; helping us retain players and add new recruits to our roster each year.
But before we begin, I'll share a story...Near the end of our '23 season, I invited a player and his wife to join us when we were short-handed at the Cowtown Scramble. After the festival, he was very critical of my behavior during a match when we were getting badly beaten by the Atlantic Base Ball Club (among the most experienced 1864 teams in the U.S.). He suggested I was taking the game too seriously and by default, taking the fun out of it for him. I was floored. Therefore, heading into 2024, I took those comments to heart and changed my over-competitive ways. After all, having our local community and economic development organization, the MARK Project as our key non-profit partner means that it's always been bigger than just baseball as communicated to Spectrum 1 News when they interviewed us before a match in Bovina last September.
From the onset, we've promoted our games as a platform for worthy causes like the Fleischmanns Museum of Memories, Historical Society of Middletown, Fleischmanns Volunteer Fire Department, etc. Going back to 2010, we even played a marathon 48 inning game to raise over $7,000 for the wheelchair accessible playground where today our children keep themselves occupied as we play our games. Each year for the last seven, we've sent players to Connecticut for the John P Martin All Star Series of Historic Baseball for ALS Patient Care to raise funds for families struggling with Lou Gherig's disease. We'll continue these and other fundraisers in 2025.
Here's a look back at our year in pictures to illustrate all the fun we had delivering on our mission to "enhance community pride, preserve local culture, and connect generations" through the game we cherish, while supporting worthy causes along the way...
On June 23rd, we welcomed a group of female baseball players from a three hour radius to play some 1800's matches with us in a split-squad exhibition. For some, it was the first time they'd ever faced underhand pitching (while demonstrating the 1864 game). Coincidentally, it was also the 52nd anniversary of Title IX, which prohibited discrimination based on sex in education ushering inclusivity for women and equal opportunity in women's sports. It was a great day introducing Sabrina Robinson (a spokesperson for Baseball for All) and her friends to the 19th century game and learning so much about women's involvement in the sport.
To celebrate this special day, we hosted a live ZOOM in the morning with Dr. Leslie Heaphy who shared with us The Role of Women in Nineteenth Century Base Ball. Did you know that in the 1890's there were all women's baseball teams that played 150 games in a season?!
In August, the Cornshuckers of Canton, Michigan came to DelCo and beat up on the Polecats and later the M.A.C. only to fall to Bovina the following day (we must've worn them out by taking our shellacking). Having one of the pre-eminent, highly skilled (and younger) teams in the Nation travel from the mid-west to play a weekend of vintage baseball in the Catskills was truly an honor and a testament to what we've rebuilt here since the floods in 2011. See original post here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1XjmcCM9Ft/ A fitting alternate title for the Club back in the 1890's was the Mountain Tourists. And we certainly lived up to the name, as the rest of the season had the M.A.C. traveling plenty...
A stop at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown for a weekday matinee on August 16 was a complete treat courtesy of Michigan-based travelbaseballrankings.com. It's safe to say, I don't think anyone has ever pulled off 38 years of nineteenth-century rule changes in seven innings before, but that's what we did to honor Doc Adams and raise awareness of his credentials for election to the HOF. A huge thank you to "Big Bat" Tom Fesolowich of the NY Mutuals for some great photography, Patrick Reily of the Game Hens for the graphic work on the free tickets (we handed out almost all 200 to patrons around town before the game), longtime Hudson Valley umpire Jim Wegrzyn (sporting his steampunk style), and Roger Ratzenberger of docadamsbaseball.org.
The Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, PA on the Upper Delaware River was another splendiferous opportunity to play in front of throngs of fans eager to understand the early game. Ol' Zane himself was a helluva hurler and ballist during the 1890's before he became the famous western novelist. It's thought that perhaps he might've played versus the M.A.C. in 1899 while playing for the Orange (NJ) Athletic Club after graduating from UPenn. The Naional Park Service staff along with volunteers from Lake Wallenpaupach High School continue to make this event a truly special occasion. A special thanks to Craig Combs, Captain of our opponents the 1870 Elizabeth Resolutes for making the trip. See our post on the event here: https://fb.watch/xpiswynAfo/.
A re-scheduled match from a rainout one year prior, saw us join the Connecticut Base Ball Club of Hartford in a benefit for the Time and Valleys Museum in what may be the Hartfords last 1895 game for some time (they'll be on hiatus in '25). They always bring their "A" game and this stop on their tour was no different as they put their bats on display at the sandlot at the Little World's Fairground in Grahamsville, NY.
Then it was a trip down the "Suskie" River to Rising Sun, MD for the Weekend at the Winery hosted by the venerable Rising Sun Base Ball Club, a throwback to the first organized team in the State of Maryland following the end of the Civil War. We took another loss at the hands of the Eclipse BBC of Elkton (we've yet to emerge victorious on three meetings with the Club), yet enjoyed the finest feast of Maryland blue crab and cob corn with other teams in a post-game gathering overlooking the mighty Susquehanna River. A brilliantly organized event with wonderful hospitality. See some great photos from day one action here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18awrPjUwH/
"The Martin" was up next and this time we elected longtime member Cody "Coco" Conrad to accompany relative newbie Carlos "Kid" Santiago to represent the M.A.C. on the grounds of Wethersfield Cove Park in historic Wethersfield, CT. This event continues to bring out the best in all of us and this year was no different. Kudos to Chuck Ciccarello and his crew from the Hartfords who always step up to assist for this annual charity event seven years running now. The 4th Annual Cowtown Scramble back home here in DelCo was its best yet with Clubs from across the Northeast ascending to the Little Delaware River Valley in Bovina Center, NY to play across three fields on the old MacPherson Farm now operated by Livestock Foundation. This event has become the seminal gathering of the tribes for our baseball sisters and brethren. It always does our hearts good to see so many friends get to share our slice of heaven amid the backdrop of the fall foliage in all its splendor.
Finally, our last Pitch for Doc Adams event welcomed the Polecats back to the M.A.C. Grounds in late October for a fantastic finish to the season. Our friend Jeff "Pinetar" Kornhaas came out to support this last effort to acknowledge Doc Adams' many contributions to the game. Pinetar was central to the effort in galvanizing support from the vintage baseball community when he co-founded the Knickerbocker Experience - a loosely organized cadre of vintage ballists wishing to play historically accurate 1858 rules baseball just like the Knicks did at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, NJ during baseball's nascent period in greater NYC.
Watch this short film focused on making a Pitch for Doc featuring many players from the across the vintage baseball community:
SEE YOU ALL IN 2025!
Comments