Saturday, my friend Brando and I went to the Uncle Joe Cannon’s Base Ball Jamboree at Danville Stadium. We saw five hours of glorious (and maybe not so glorious) vintage base ball. Either way, we had a blast!
It was Brando’s first time at a vintage base ball game. It does take some getting used to some of the rules. The most prevalent ones being:
- the batter is out if the fielder catches the ball on one bounce runners cannot lead off, steal, slide, and the batter may be tagged if he overruns first base.
- infielders (except for the rover) must play on their base till the pitch is thrown.
- no walks and strikes are called only when the batter swings and misses.
The Jamboree Participants
The four teams participating in today’s event were (links go to the team’s respective web sites):
It was a round robin tournament where each tournament where each team would play the other once. The tournament began on time at 11;00 with the host team Voles taking on the Salmon.
I’ve never been much good for remembering scores at vintage base ball events. To me, that’s not the attraction of the game. I suppose that’s a good thing when the Voles, the hosts and the team I follow, give up 17 runs in the first three innings of the first game against the mighty Chicago Salmon. The Salmon had a knack for hitting line drives that just wouldn’t bounce up so the Voles fielders could catch them on the first bounce. The game was thankfully called via the mercy rule. To their credit, the Voles were playing with many of their squad gone. More Voles showed up later for their games against the Juniors and the Unions.
Before we get to more photos, I would like to thank Brando for coming with me for the day. It made the day that much more fun. Also thanks to host team captain Jim Knoblauch who doubled as arbiter for much of the day. It’s my guess that a lot of the planning for the day fell on him, too. Great job!
Also, thanks to tally-keeper Ed “Hambone” Hamilton and alternate arbiter Robert Hous both who did a excellent job. Oh, and thanks to Jim’s wife Joyce who scored me a tournament pin (you see a scanned image of it at the top of this post). The pins were handed out to the players but she was real nice and gave me one too.
And thanks to the players too!
Some more photos (you can see a whole bunch more at the Photo Gallery):
The two faces of Voles’ team captain Jim Knoblauch
Ballist… |
…and later, arbiter. |
A few grim faced gentleman who were members of the Chicago Salmon. They were actually nice and were a heckuva ball team. They won all three of their games.
The Chicago Salmon men were a great team and all but they don’t fool me. This woman was the real boss. She would sit in their dugout and fan herself. With her sharp tongue, she would yell encouragements to the Salmon players and sometimes tell the arbiter how she thought things should be run.
My buddy Brando striking a pose with the bat they use in vintage base ball.
A close up of the bat label (click to enlarge).
Hey, there’s Zealot friend (and Voles’ webmaster) Shawn “General” Lee as hurler for the Voles against the New Baden Juniors!
He also drove in a run with a two-base hit in that game. When I gave him congrats on that after the game, self-deprecating Shawn pointed out that he was probably responsible for nine of New Baden’s eleven runs. oops. Nice hit anyway, Shawn!
The look of intensity on this Vole ballist as he runs to first base is amazing.
The Unions catch a New Baden runner in a pickle.
A Vole hurler was hit squarely on the chest by a hit ball during the New Baden contest. Within a minute, he was up and tossin’ the onion once again.
New Baden players salute with the traditional “Huzzah” at the end of the game.
Once more, there are more photos at the Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery. Tons of photos.
(8/25/08) As an added bonus, I’ve just added a (slightly jerky) video of the Vermilion Voles introducing themselves before their game with the New Baden Juniors. You can see it here.