uglymailman
Bronze Member
- #1
Thread Owner
I've got some old baseball fields I've been thinking of hitting and wondered if they are worth the effort.
1. Field built by WPA in 30's. Had native stone/ concrete bleachers. Torn down in early 80's due to Corp or Engineer lake.
2. Small town field also lost to lake. I remember the backstop still being there and an old coke machine, the type that had bottles sit in cooled water and you took bottle out thru maze. It was about gone and not used in mid 60's.
3. Small village ball field. I can get the site down to a couple of acres.
4. Country school field. Was a high school until 40's or so. Elementary till this day. The original school burnt to arson about 67' or 68' and a new one built before next school year. We played softball there but the kids don't even have a backstop there anymore. I'm guessing baseball was played there years ago. The school had some basketball trophy's from 20's/30's. That was played outdoors too.
Small village/town baseball was pretty big at least from 1930 to mid 50's. To get 9 players ages could range from 13 or so up. My Dad and Grandad both played in 30's. They would play other village teams. Always Sunday, usually a double hitter. Between games they would find a shade tree and have washtubs of iced beer for the men and soda for the boys.
One team had brothers that were pitcher and catcher. One would pitch first game,the other catch and the next game they would trade positions.
One brother as catcher would tell the boys "Get ready, this is going to be a curve" or" Here comes the fastball." Between games the pitching brother got on the catcher for tipping the young boys off to his pitch. The catcher explained the "boys" needed to learn the game. The brothers were in their 70's.
My point I guess is the finds would be pretty modern. Perhaps some silver. But due to the era and the small amount of money that ever changed hands at these events, I don't know if they'd be worth the effort. A couple of acres is a big patch of ground to hunt. I would expect them not to have be hunted so maybe virgin ground is a plus. What do ya think?
1. Field built by WPA in 30's. Had native stone/ concrete bleachers. Torn down in early 80's due to Corp or Engineer lake.
2. Small town field also lost to lake. I remember the backstop still being there and an old coke machine, the type that had bottles sit in cooled water and you took bottle out thru maze. It was about gone and not used in mid 60's.
3. Small village ball field. I can get the site down to a couple of acres.
4. Country school field. Was a high school until 40's or so. Elementary till this day. The original school burnt to arson about 67' or 68' and a new one built before next school year. We played softball there but the kids don't even have a backstop there anymore. I'm guessing baseball was played there years ago. The school had some basketball trophy's from 20's/30's. That was played outdoors too.
Small village/town baseball was pretty big at least from 1930 to mid 50's. To get 9 players ages could range from 13 or so up. My Dad and Grandad both played in 30's. They would play other village teams. Always Sunday, usually a double hitter. Between games they would find a shade tree and have washtubs of iced beer for the men and soda for the boys.
One team had brothers that were pitcher and catcher. One would pitch first game,the other catch and the next game they would trade positions.
One brother as catcher would tell the boys "Get ready, this is going to be a curve" or" Here comes the fastball." Between games the pitching brother got on the catcher for tipping the young boys off to his pitch. The catcher explained the "boys" needed to learn the game. The brothers were in their 70's.
My point I guess is the finds would be pretty modern. Perhaps some silver. But due to the era and the small amount of money that ever changed hands at these events, I don't know if they'd be worth the effort. A couple of acres is a big patch of ground to hunt. I would expect them not to have be hunted so maybe virgin ground is a plus. What do ya think?
