By Kim J. Harmon

It started as one man’s hope of fielding a vintage base ball team to participate in an exhibition this summer for the Newtown Tercentennial Celebration on August 6 and now it has become something a little bit more than that.

Following an informal meeting last Friday at the Edmond Town Hall, Ray Shaw of Newtown has determined that there is enough interest to not only participate in an exhibition game (with the Hartford Senators, no less) but also participate in a summer season leading up to that exhibition game.

“We decided we will go ahead and start scheduling games and practices with the intention of practicing in earnest as soon as the fields are suitable for play,” said Mr Shaw. “In the mean time, we will contact potential opponents to schedule games and scrimmages beginning in May, seek local businesses interested in providing sponsorship investment and services, and continue to actively recruit local talent to fill out our roster.”

Now, vintage base ball is quite a bit different from the game we know today. The meeting included a discussion of 19th century base ball bats, balls, gloves (or lack thereof), other equipment, and the game as it may have been played in Newtown at the turn of the century.

Newtown Bee articles chronicling the exploits of teams such as the Newtown Athletics, Sandy Hook Colts, New York Belt and Hawleyville nine were passed around and discussed with town historian Dan Cruson.

Michael Paes, who managed the local Newtown Over-30 baseball team for some time, has a store of local talent to draw from and brought to the meeting some period bats that will give the Newtown/Sandy Hook ballists some quality lumber to get spring practices under way.

While putting together the team in the next several weeks, Mr Shaw said, a lot of the emphasis will be on an experienced ‘behind’ (catcher) as well as younger, faster players with the ability to generate sustained ‘ginger’ through the dog-days of summer.

“Brad Greene suggested that we may have at least one secret weapon in our midst,” said Mr Shaw, “an accomplished pitcher with ‘fast pitch’ capabilities who could provide a significant advantage to the team especially in 1870 and early ‘80s events.”

In the mean time, Mr Shaw and other team members will be contacting potential opponents to schedule games and scrimmages beginning in May; seeking local businesses interested in providing sponsorship investment and services; and continue to actively recruit local talent to fill out the roster.

The first practice is only a few weeks away. Anyone interested in playing vintage base ball is still welcome, so contact Mr Shaw at rcshaw1@earthlink.net.