Philadelphia Vintage Baseball Club Shines Light on Game’s Past
From Lois Puglionesi at the Delaware County Daily Times on July 4, with mention of SABR member Jeff Watson:
A combination of historical re-enactment and real time competition, vintage baseball has grown in popularity since the first game was played at Old Bethpage Village Restoration in New York around 1980.
The goal is to celebrate an early form of baseball that’s been “completely scrubbed from history,” said Athletic’s co-founder and President Scott Alberts, a Haverford native now living in Upper Darby. “There’s no video footage and not a lot of photography. It’s been lost to time and we’re bringing it back.”
A lifelong baseball fan and historian, Alberts, 32, resolved to start a local club after hearing about vintage baseball games along the East Coast, and finding out Philadelphia didn’t have a team.
It seemed “absurd that we wouldn’t have a team like this, given that we’re so obsessed with sports and history,” said Alberts.
Given an opportunity to combine his passion for performing arts, baseball and studying the past, Alberts founded the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia in October 2009. With assistance from Eric and Ryan Berley, owners of Franklin Fountain in Old City, and members of the Society of American Baseball Research, Alberts spent the winter recruiting players, establishing uniforms and ordering equipment.
Read the full article here: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/07/04/news/doc4e111e3ed70f0208388980.txt
Originally published: July 4, 2011. Last Updated: July 4, 2011.