Gettysburg hosts 19th Century Base Ball Festival on July 17, 18
Players use 1860s rules, equipment and uniforms
(Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) - 7/6/2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ...
CONTACT:
Bruce Leith
President, Eclipse BBC of Elkton
215-768-8392
[email protected]
The first Gettysburg Vintage Base Ball Tournament will take place the weekend of July 17-18 at Hickory Hollow Farm just outside Historic Gettysburg, Pa.
Six 19th Century base ball clubs will be competing in a tournament using the same rules and customs and playing with the same style uniforms and equipment as would have been used in 1864. When spectators make the three-mile trek on Route 30 west to Crooked Creek Lane to Hickory Hollow Farm they will be transported back in to time to witness what a sporting event was like during and just after the Civil War.
The ball players are not re-enactors, they are actual base ball (two word) players who play a full schedule of matches from April until the end of October all up and down the East Coast of the United States.
“The games are not scripted,” said Greg Rodenbaugh. “If we were like the re-enactors you see out on the battlefields of Gettysburg, we’d be using real bullets.”
The six clubs include the Eclipse Base Ball Club of Elkton, the Talbot Fair Plays both from Maryland; the Pittsburgh Franklins and the Somerset Frosty Sons of Thunder from Pennsylvania; the Diamond State Base Ball Club of Delaware; and the Flemington Neshanock of New Jersey. Each of the clubs are members of the Vintage Base Ball Association and they play from Virginia up to Boston and as far west as Cleveland. Visitors will watch such players as “Tin Cup,” “Bootleg,” “Schoolboy,” “Coffee Boiler,” “Steamboat,” and “One Finger.”
President Lincoln, General Grant and General Lee will throw out the first pitches during the weekend. Spectators will learn about the history of baseball, see different 19th Century replica uniforms and equipment.
Matches start at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday and again at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday with the championship being at 12:45 p.m. Sunday.
Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets and a picnic lunch or enjoy great concessions from Gettysburg Eddies. The event is free as is parking.
The tournament is sponsored by the Gettysburg Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gettysburg Eddie’s, Hickory Hollow Farm, the Gettysburg Foundation, the Union Drummer Boy, and www.19cbaseball.com
For more information, contact the Elkton Eclipse for more information at [email protected]. To get updates on the tournament, visit www.gvbbt.wordpress.com.
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