The Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers will be hosting the Tippecanoe Base Ball Cup Sunday, September 26 during Mum Festival Weekend. The Inaugural Tippecanoe Cup will feature a few of Ohio’s premier base ball clubs including the Clodbusters Base Ball Club (Dayton), Ohio Muffins (Columbus) and the Champion City Reapers (Springfield). The event will be held at the Tipp City Park north of the Aquatic Center parking lot. The event will feature four 7-inning base ball matches starting at 1. The winners of the first matches will play at 3 pm for the coveted Tippecanoe Cup.

“We are honored to host three fine base ball clubs at our first Tippecanoe Cup,” said Reed “Worm Burner” Spencer, club founder and player, “More than just premier base ball clubs, all 3 have been very helpful starting the Canal Jumpers.” The 52^nd Tipp City Mum Festival offers a great venue for the event. The Mum Festival is Miami County’s oldest festival.  The festival began in the fall of 1958 to showcase fields of mums growing on the edge of town. “It’s a perfect opportunity to promote vintage base ball and the Mum Festival,” said Spencer.  The schedule for the day:

• 11:30 am – Field Set-up
• 12:00 pm – Club Photos
• 12:30 pm – Warm-up
• 12:55 pm – Introductions
• 1:00 pm – Columbus Muffins vs. Clodbusters BBC
• Champion City vs. Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers
• 3:00 pm – Cup Match
• 3rd Place Match
• 4:30 pm – Tippecanoe Cup Presentation

Canal Jumpers reenacts base ball (yes, two words) the way it was played in 1860 when Tipp City was a bustling canal town. Similar but different to the modern baseball, the ball is hurled (pitched) underhand, the players don’t use gloves and the ball can be caught on the bound. Vintage base ball clubs also wear reproduction uniforms and play a gentleman’s game, no swearing, scratching, chewing or spitting.

The Canal Jumpers are winding down their first full season of vintage base ball. The Tippecanoe have won 4 matches, lost 9 and one tie on the season which started in April in Rising Sun, Indiana. Tippecanoe participated in the Ohio Cup at Ohio Village in Columbus over Labor Day Weekend. The Ohio Cup, hosted by the Ohio Muffins, featured over 30 clubs throughout the Midwest.

The Canal Jumpers are a project of the Downtown Tipp City Partnership, a non-profit 501c3 organization with a mission to enhance, preserve and promote downtown Tipp City. For more information on vintage base ball or the DTCP, please call 937.667.0883 or visit our website at www.tippecanoecanaljumpers.com.