Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia
Encyclopedia
Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia is a vintage base ball
team based in Philadelphia, which plays by 1864 National Association Rules. Athletic is a member of the Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League. The club made its debut in April 2010 and plays many of its home matches at Memorial Hall
in Fairmount Park
, located in the West Philadelphia
section of the city.
, winning the first pennant in 1871. Athletic went on to be a charter member in the National League
until folding in 1877. The name Athletic was then adopted by three subsequent major league
teams, including two American Association
teams in Philadelphia, and the current Oakland Athletics
of the American League
.
Athletic’s uniforms are based on descriptions in The Book of American Pastimes by Charles Peverelly, and images in Harper’s Weekly.
The team was founded by Philadelphia native Scott Alberts. He came to learn about vintage base ball clubs playing on the East Coast from a magazine article and found that Philadelphia did not have its own club. Alberts founded the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia in October 2009, with assistance from Eric and Ryan Berley, ice cream purveyors in Old City in Philadelphia
, and members of the Society for American Baseball Research
.
. The inaugural event in August 2011 drew twelve MAVBBL teams.
Vintage base ball
Vintage Base Ball is baseball presented as being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and uniforms from the 1850s, 1860s and 1880s. Vintage baseball is not only a competitive game, but also a reenactment of baseball life...
team based in Philadelphia, which plays by 1864 National Association Rules. Athletic is a member of the Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League. The club made its debut in April 2010 and plays many of its home matches at Memorial Hall
Memorial Hall (Philadelphia)
Memorial Hall, designed by Herman J. Schwarzmann for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an early example of monumental Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States. Schwarzmann, the chief engineer of the Fairmount Park Commission, also designed the temporary...
in Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...
, located in the West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
section of the city.
Inspiration
The original Athletic Base Ball Club was founded in 1859 when several members of the Handel & Haydn Society (a singing club) came together with the express purpose of playing “the New York game." They would go on to dominate amateur play in Philadelphia through the early and mid-1860s. The team went professional in the late 1860s and helped establish the National Association of Professional Base Ball PlayersNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...
, winning the first pennant in 1871. Athletic went on to be a charter member in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
until folding in 1877. The name Athletic was then adopted by three subsequent major league
Major League
See Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.Major League may also refer to:-Sport:* Major League Baseball, the highest level of play in professional baseball in North America* Major League Cricket...
teams, including two American Association
American Association
American Association may refer to one of the following professional baseball leagues:* American Association , active from 1882 to 1891* American Association , active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997...
teams in Philadelphia, and the current Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
of the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
.
Athletic’s uniforms are based on descriptions in The Book of American Pastimes by Charles Peverelly, and images in Harper’s Weekly.
The team was founded by Philadelphia native Scott Alberts. He came to learn about vintage base ball clubs playing on the East Coast from a magazine article and found that Philadelphia did not have its own club. Alberts founded the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia in October 2009, with assistance from Eric and Ryan Berley, ice cream purveyors in Old City in Philadelphia
Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Old City is a neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in the area near e Delaware River where William Penn and the Quakers first settled...
, and members of the Society for American Baseball Research
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown, New York, in August 1971 by Bob Davids of Washington, D.C. The Society's mission is to foster the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball, while generating interest in the game...
.
Philadelphia Base Ball Fair & Exhibition
Athletic hosts an annual Philadelphia Base Ball Fair & Exhibition at the Naval Yard Marine Parade GroundPhiladelphia Naval Shipyard
The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...
. The inaugural event in August 2011 drew twelve MAVBBL teams.