Spiegel Grove site of Vintage Baseball match
June 22, 2011
Nancy Kleinhenz
800.998.7737
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Spiegel Grove site of a Vintage Base Ball match on Sunday
FREMONT – The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center’s vintage base ball team – the Spiegel Grove Squires – plays their first home match of the season at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26 in Spiegel Grove. They are joined in this competitive demonstration of 1860s-style base ball by the Canal Fulton Mules. The match is free and open to the public.
The sport of base ball (two words in the 19th century) just was reaching the level of a “national pastime” in the late 1800s. Professional teams were organizing and rules of play were being standardized. By the 1860s, most large cities hosted matches of what was known as the “gentlemanly sport of base ball.”
The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center re-creates the early history of base ball with its Vintage Base Ball games. A group of 22 male volunteers make up the Center’s 1860s base ball club called the Spiegel Grove Squires. They play matches that adhere to base ball rules and customs in use during the 1860s. Players wear vintage-style uniforms, use 19th-century-style equipment, and observe such regulations as no cursing, no base stealing, no untucked shirts, and no calling other players by their first names – the courtesy title “Mister” is used in all references to teammates or rivals. The distinct differences between base ball’s early years and today’s sport make for delightful entertainment, as well as surprising enlightenment.
Other matches in the Squires’ 2011 season are
Sunday, July 10 - 2 p.m. at HOME versus the Celebrity All Stars
Sunday, July 24 - 2 p.m. at HOME with the Wood County Infirmary Inmates
Sunday, July 30 – noon at Sauder Village, Archbold. Sauder Village Cup Vintage Base Ball Tournament
Sunday, Aug. 7 – 2 p.m. in Northville, MI with the Eclipse Base Ball Club
Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 13-14 – World Tournament of Historic Base Ball, Greenfield Village, MI
Sunday, Aug. 28 – 2 p.m. at Ohio Village, Columbus, with the Ohio Village muffins
Sunday, Sept. 18 – 2 p.m. at HOME with the Columbus Capitals
The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center is located at the corner of Hayes and Buckland avenues, Fremont, Ohio. The facility is affiliated with the Ohio Historical Society. Check the Hayes Presidential Center website www.rbhayes.org for a complete list of year-round special events, as well as a history of the Spiegel Grove Squires.
Press Release Contact Name: Debra Wolfe
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Press Release Contact Phone: 419-332-4470
Organization Name: Sandusky County Visitors Bureau
Website or Link: www.sanduslycounty.org
Organization Address: 712 North St, Fremont, OH, 43420