Framed versions of the Canal Jumpers team photo and the Canal Jumpers Exhibition Game Poster and Ticket are now available. The cost is $64.50 for the team photo, which includes the photo and professional framing in a vintage-style frame. The Exhibition Game Poster and Ticket is $67.50, framed. To order your framed versions of these two limited edition items, please contact Reed Spencer at reed AT reedspencer.com. We only have a few photos and posters left, so order quickly!  If you are interested in just purchasing the Team Poster, it is $8.00 – please contact genslen AT yahoo.com to order – we have about six left.

On August 16, the Canal Jumpers hosted the Clodbuster Base Ball Club of Dayton to a gentlemanly vintage base ball match on the lawn of the Willowtree Inn in Tipp City. Many a folk, clear skies and balmy temperatures greeted the Canal Jumpers and their cranks “fans”. “What a wonderful day for a base ball match,” proclaimed Greg Enslen, Club Co-founder & Manager.

Reed Spencer, Captain and Co-founder of the Canal Jumpers, introduced his club of 24 ballists “players” to the cheers of the home town crowd of 300 strong. Many of which sported their Sunday best on this fine day. This was the inaugural match the for Tippecanoe club. The 1860’s Beadle DIME Base Ball Player rules were used by both clubs.

The Clodbusters were victorious by a 7-2 score. Aces “runs” for the Canal Jumpers were scored by Doug “Dawg” Saul and Rod “The Vacuum” Martino. Huzzah’s “hurray’s” are warranted to the superb play of center fieldsman, Matt “Maverick” Owen and the behind “catcher” skills of Mark “Mad Dog” Mabelitini. Overall, the match was well played and huzzah’s were shared by all by both clubs.

Special huzzah’s go out to the Clodbusters, Willowtree Inn, Harrison’s, Abbey Credit Union, Spring Hill Nurseries, RE/MAX Professionals, Big Robot Game Café, Miami Valley Wine & Spirits, Andrea Nay Designs, Logan Rogers, Ron Re, Sharon Elaine Hultberg and Peg Hadden. The Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers Vintage Base Ball Club is a project of the Downtown Tipp City Partnership.

The Kettering Clodbusters-Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers Vintage Base Ball Exhibition Game will be held at the Willowtree Inn on Sunday, August 16th from 2 pm to 5 pm with a rain date of August 23rd (location and times the same). There will be ample free parking and the organizing committee is in the process of setting up for the event, so more details are to come. For more information or to read about vintage base ball or the history of baseball in Tipp City, please visit our website at www.tippecanoecanaljumpers.com.

Players, thanks for coming to our first practice, which was held at Reed’s house on Tuesday night!  Things went well and I think we’re getting the hang of it!  Our next two practices are set, and here are the dates and times:

• Practice #2:  At Reed’s House on SUNDAY, AUGUST 9th at 2pm
• Practice #3: At The Willowtree Inn on Thursday, AUGUST 13th at 7pm

Also, don’t forget our TIPPECANOE CANAL JUMPERS FUNDRAISER – it’s at HARRISON’S in downtown Tipp on Friday, AUGUST 7th from 5pm to 8pm.  Players are asked to COME IN COSTUME if you can.  See you there!

Hey everyone, it’s officially going to be Vintage Baseball Week in Tipp City, Ohio starting on August 16th!  Last night at the Tipp City City Council meeting, Mayor Tim Evans declared that the week of August 16th-23rd would be Vintage Baseball Week in Tipp City!  Here the whole proclamation being read off by the Mayor HERE:  Canal Jumpers Mayoral Proclamation

From the Dayton Daily News sports section:

Jim Wilson has played for the Clodbusters vintage base ball team for 21 seasons. He has earned his keep not only at second base, but also in the shop. Wilson makes a portion of the bats for the local team that plays America’s pastime as it was played at the dawn of the Civil War.

In the 1860s, the bats were thicker, heavier and longer. Unable to find vintage bats at sporting good stores, Wilson assumes the duty. “Start to finish, I’d say it takes about four hours,” he said. “That’s from roughing it down to spraying the finish on it.”

One of the Clodbusters’ bats is 37 inches long and 41 ounces, much heavier than modern bats. “It’s really fun to make a bat and see the guys use it,” Wilson added. “It’ll last for a few years and then somebody will get a good hit on one and crack it, and you have to make another one.”

The 14 members of the Clodbusters see themselves as members of the Dayton Historical Park family, though the team — which plays home games at Carillon Historical Park — is a separate entity. Most expenses, particularly traveling, come out of the players’ pockets. There are about 40 vintage base ball teams in Ohio. The Ohio Village Muffins, out of Columbus, are the originals.

The Muffins jump-started the movement by holding clinics and seminars. One of the teams the Muffins helped organize was the Clodbusters, and Wilson has been a Clodbuster since the beginning. “The first couple years we were doing good to win a single game,” he said. “We finally took our first win from the Ohio Village Muffins. We were very ecstatic about it.”

In the following years, the team has posted a perfect season and is a three-time winner of the World Championship of Vintage Base Ball at the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village, close to Detroit. “It’s taken the place of family vacations in some sense because every weekend you’re going to a new and exciting place to play baseball,” Wilson said. “What could be better than that?”

Play Ball
Upcoming Clodbusters games:
July 17 — Settler Survival Summer Camp, Carillon Park
July 25 — Deep River Grinders, Carillon Park
Aug. 7 — Settler Survival Summer Camp, Carillon Park
Aug. 16 — at Tipp City

Yes, Vintage Base Ball (during the Civil War it was two words) is coming to Tipp City as the Kettering Clodbusters visit Tipp City on August 16th to put on a Vintage Base Ball exhibition game at the Willowtree Inn! The Downtown Tipp City Partnership will be hosting the Clodbusters and fielding a vintage ball team made up of interested local volunteers. This team, to be known as the Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers, will play the Clodbusters in the August 16th exhibition game and, hopefully, there will be enough interest to put together a team for the 2010 season!

Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers logo

Details: The Kettering Clodbusters-Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers Vintage Base Ball Exhibition Game will be held at the Willowtree Inn on Sunday, August 16th from 2 pm to 5 pm with a rain date of August 23rd (location and times the same). There will be ample free parking and the organizing committee is in the process of setting up for the event, so more details are to come. For more information or to read about vintage base ball or the history of baseball in Tipp City, please visit our new website at www.tippecanoecanaljumpers.com.

What is Vintage Base Ball? Vintage Base Ball is base ball (yes, it was spelled two words prior to the 1880s) played by the rules and customs of the 19th Century. Our players (sometimes called ballists) wear period reproduction uniforms, either with long trouser and shield shirt, or a later style lace shirt and knickers. They recreate the game based on rules and research of the various decades of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The playing of vintage base ball can be seen at open-air museums, tournament re-enactments and city parks. It is played on both open grass fields and modern baseball diamonds. Spectators may consider vintage base ball to be a new sport, however, some clubs have been in existence since the 1980s. Vintage base ball is a reflection of how baseball existed at an earlier time.