COMING SOON

1938 Bugle Field

1938 Bugle Field - Home of the Baltimore Elite Giants. Gorgeous USGS aerial shot. The previous best available pic was very washed out.

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Kip Selbach

1902 Kip Selbach American League Baltimore Orioles.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/selbaki01.shtml

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Johnny Ogden

The Immortal Johnny Ogden

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=ogden-002joh

PLAYER OF THE DAY - Fritz Maisel

1921 Fritz Maisel

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=maisel001fre

Babe Ruth with the Orioles

1914 Baltimore Orioles with Babe Ruth.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=3f932f85

The 1899 U.S. Naval Academy Base Ball team

The 1899 U.S. Naval Academy Base Ball team in Annapolis.

1907 Baltimore Orioles

1907 Baltimore Orioles

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=e2a34748

Crawthumper?

According to this here 1894 map Marylander's like to thump craws. I'm thinking it's an insult but the Orioles did win their first pennant that year so I'd imagine the crab town kranks were vociferous. I dig the pig. Nice lemon peel ball as well. 

Crawthumper (plural crawthumpers) / (Ireland) ostentatiously pious person
    
 The term suggests that the person is always beating (thumping) their chest (craw) a gesture of piety      and submission. It also implies an extreme obsequiousness towards the Catholic Church, priests,          monseignours, and especially junior bishops. A crawthumper will know every gradation of the clergy,      from curate to pope, supplicant to reverend mother and the correct form of address in canon law.          Derogatory, though commonly used by Irish catholics to describe other, more openly pious                    catholics, the term has an anticlerical tinge. -wiktionary

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

1897 Orioles Batboy

1908 Baltimore Orioles of the International Association

1908 Baltimore Orioles of the International Association.

1868 - Deaf team vs. the Pastimes

The hearing impaired students of the Kendall School Base Ball Club of Washington D.C. took on the Pastimes June 6, 1868 at Madison Avenue. Although no box score could be found, the Sun remarked in the announcement for the game that “the deaf mutes have been successful against several of the best clubs of Washington.” The Kendall School became the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, and then later renamed Gallaudet University. The prestigious school also gets credit for inventing the "huddle" in football when they were playing against another team of deaf players and needed to hide their sign language from their foes.

Picture is of the 1887 Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind Base Ball Club. The school had already been playing competitively for over a decade by then. 

Icterus Galbula

High above in the tree tops, Icterus Galbula, the Baltimore oriole, sings its sweet song, announcing its return from a long journey of winter migration. In early spring, males establish their territories and begin to attract females by chirping and chattering while hopping from branch to branch. Depending on interest, the females will either ignore the male or sing back and give a suggestive wing-quiver in response. Mating pairs are often monogamous, and after a fluttery-feathery love making session, Mr. and Mrs. Oriole prepare for their coming family. Among the elms, cottonwoods and maples, the mother Oriole carefully constructs her unique hanging nest.  She anchors it high, hanging long fibers over a small branch, and then poking her bill in and out to tangle the fibers. The process is continued as a closely knit wall slowly forms. Males occasionally bring nesting materials, but don’t usually help with the weaving, preferring instead to patrol the family territory. The female lays three to seven eggs with an incubation period of about two weeks. Once free of their gestational protection, the hatchlings are fed by regurgitation by both parents. After less than two weeks, the curious younglings start to venture out of the nest and become independent thereafter.

John McGraw finds happiness once again

1902

LORD BALTIMORE'S NINE

LORD BALTIMORE'S NINE

by Clinton S. Birch (1874)

We are a jovial base-ball club; our hearts are light and free, And though we meet with some defeats, oft gain the victory!

Give us fair play and win or lose we’ll never make a muss, But be content to act like men; yes that’s the style for us!

           Chorus                                                                          

Down at the Newington Park, on the baseball grounds,

When in earnest contest our gallant nine are found,

Struggling with their rivals for victory and renown,

Down at the Newington Park, on the baseball ground!

Of all the manly games in vogue, enumerate them all.

There’s none you’ll find that can compare with that known as base-ball!

‘Tis jolly fun when on the run or when with eagle eye.

You catch your adversaries’ ball and take it on the fly!

We make no boasts but stand resolved to win ourselves a name, And we will do the best we can to merit all we claim!

We’re not afraid of rival clubs; we’ll meet them anywhere, And when they choose to play us here we’ll act upon the square!

Recorded for the first time ever by Ken Mars

The Spitter

How to throw a Bobby Mathews Special.

1909 Frederick Hustlers

1909 Frederick Hustlers of the Blue Ridge League. Western Maryland was well represented.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_League

LOL!

ROBERT T. "BOBBY" MATHEWS - PITCHER

Born: November 21, 1851 in Baltimore, MD

Died: April 17, 1898 in Baltimore, MD

BOBBY MATHEWS 15 YEAR MAJOR LEAGUE TOTALS

W          L            %            ERA       GS           CG      IP           ER          BB         SO

297      248         .545           2.86      568           525    4956.0     1573        532      1528

AB               R             H           2B           3B           HR          RBI         BA

2486             318         504         48           9              1              164         .203

The Excelsiors finest starting nine visited their neighbors in Washington on Wednesday June 6, 1860. Little did they know that the game would be historic in that not only was it the first official game played by a Baltimore team and the first intercity game in the history of baseball outside of the New York City area, but also the beginning of a rivalry that would last more than 150 years. The Potomac Base Ball Club's home field was located on a cow pasture just south of the President’s Mansion called the White Lot. The hot weather did not scare away the spectators as the perimeter of the outfield was dotted with over 2,000 when the contest began at the stroke of one o’clock. Captain George Beam won the coin toss and elected to take the field first. The game started out evenly matched until the sixth inning when the Potomacs scored nine runs off Beam, putting them ahead. The hitting was even throughout, but Baltimore made it count. The Excelsiors fought back in the bottom half, tallying thirteen in response to take the lead, and ultimately the victory!

“A large number of spectators were upon the ground, including some three or four hundred ladies…  Hazlett, who played 1st base, was severely hurt in the third inning by a spike from one of the Potomac.”

-Porter’s Spirit of the Times, June 8, 1860.

                                              1    2    3    4    5    6     7    8    9

DC POTOMAC                  3    2    0    1    3    9     3    3    0 ….. 24

EXCELSIOR                        3    1    2    4    4   13    4    3    6 …...40

Passed balls- Woods 4, Smedberg, 8

U- J. Morrow Scorers- Satterfield, Excelsior and Irwin, Potomac

The Daily Exchange gave an extensive account of the contest and noted the Excelsiors: “were dressed in blue flannel pants, white shirt and gray caps; and the Potomac players in full gray flannel suits.” After the game, “at seven o'clock in the evening the two Clubs partook of a sumptuous entertainment, which was prepared at the order of the Potomac Club, and which was served up at Gautier's. When all were seated Captain Smedberg rose and in a neat speech, presented the ball, which is always the prize in a match, to the Excelsior Club. Captain Beam, on behalf of the club, responded in a few happy and appropriate remarks. After ample justice had been done to the good things, the cloth was removed, and, in response to sentiments, speeches were made by Messrs. G.A. Woods, James Morrow, Nicholas Chapman and others. At an early hour in the morning the company rose and dispersed, more than gratified with the entertainment and hospitality of the Potomac Club.” A month later the Excelsiors had the winning ball gilded in silver at William Brown’s Jewelry store at the corner of Baltimore and Charles Streets where it was displayed proudly for the rest of the summer. Inscribed on the ball are the words “Potomac vs. Excelsior. Washington, June 1860.” Our first baseball trophy!

1907 Eastern League

"THE EXCELSIOR BASE BALL CLUB - Within a few days past, a number of young men residing mostly in the Western section of the city have formed an association known as the Excelsior Base Ball Club, principally with the view of promoting physical exercise and healthful recreation. The following officers have been elected: W. D. Shurtz, President; George W. Tinges, Vice President; Henry (Hervey) Shriver, Secretary. Committee of Inquiry: A. K. Foard, George F. Beam and   M. N. Howe. The name was selected in honor of the Excelsior Base Ball Club of Brooklyn, N.Y., and the membership consisting almost entirely of young merchants, have selected their playground at a spot known as "Flat Rock," near the Madison Street Avenue."

                                     - American and Commercial Advertiser, July 12, 1859