Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

by **mittmutt** » October 11th, 2007, 12:12 am

Brett, Ihave a couple of gloves I will send if you'll get me an address I'll get cracking. Thanks, Lee

by **Moonlight Graham** » October 13th, 2007, 8:59 am

Hi !
My baseball society is under way! Seven 10 year-old kids joined the club! The very first session was more a briefing about the whole project I have in mind (that is not just about playing ball but also learning a lot about the culture and the history of baseball since its early beginnings as well as about present day baseball, teams, leagues, players ... everything!). Then I explained the rules roughly, showed them what baseballs, bats and gloves looked like, then everybody ran like mad in all directions to get the batted balls the others managed to hit (we used plastic softballs) ! It was a bit disorderly but we had great fun !

I have bought a few books and downloaded more documents about coaching tee balls and youth baseball, so I guess the next session should be quite a success. Well, I hope so ! :wink:

More news next week !

by **stockbuddy** » October 13th, 2007, 9:30 am

Moonlight. Sounds like you have launched the club, congrats. I hope you and the children will have a great time learning about and playing baseball.

Dave

by **vintagebrett** » October 15th, 2007, 7:39 pm

Hi Guys

Just a reminder that I'd like to package everything up and get it mailed out on Saturday. If you are still planning on sending something to be included, please mail it ASAP.

So far we have a great assortment - gloves, bats, baseballs, bases, books, DVDs, newsletters, hats, catchers masks.

by **vintagebrett** » October 19th, 2007, 6:57 pm

Ok, everything is here and almost ready to go. Moonlight - hopefully the package will depart by Monday. I'll let you know what our shipping cost is and if anyone wants to donate towards that, it would be appreciated I'm sure.

by **Cowboy7130** » October 20th, 2007, 12:16 am

Thanks for all your hard work on this, Brett!

Good luck, Moonlight! Bon chance!

Let us know how it is going!

by **Moonlight Graham** » October 20th, 2007, 6:25 am

Well, I'd say it's going pretty well! Next Friday should be our very first training session per say, since most of the kids were already members of other clubs on Thursdays so I only managed to meet them in small groups so far. And as they're all free and really willing to join the ball club on Fridays (one almost cried when he first realised he wouldn't be able to make it on Thursdays), from this week on our sessions will take place between 1 and 2 pm every Friday.

I've only showed them how to put a glove on, how to hold a baseball between their fingers and how to throw and catch. They had thousands of questions, it was really something, I wish I had taken photos of their faces, you should have seen them, it was like I was giving out bunches of $100 dollar bills!! I told them about your efforts and gifts and they were truly amazed and pleased. Robin Buckeye and I have also started talking about our kids engaging in correspondence and maybe some day organize exhibition games between our teams in France and, why not, in the USA.

The principal of my school is watching all my efforts with a large smile and is ready to help me put this project on another level if the society attracts enough kids.

I must find a way to show you how grateful I am for your generosity. Just let me think, I'm going to find something... :wink:

by **vintagebrett** » October 21st, 2007, 10:18 am

Everything is packed up and ready to be mailed on Monday. We collected close to 30 gloves - a good assortment of RH and LH, 1B, catchers and fielders, big and small - something for everyone. There are 5 bats, 2 dozen baseballs, a set of bases, a catchers mask, DVD, books, articles, hats, etc. - your group should have fun Moonlight when the boxes arrive. Some of the gloves might need a cleaning. I don't know the international regulations on shipping cleaning substances so I didn't include any - I'm sure you can find something in France.

by **Moonlight Graham** » October 21st, 2007, 11:10 am

Wow! This is wonderful! I should be renamed Moonlight Lucky Graham!

Don't forget to ask for help if the shipping charges are more costly than what you'd thought. I don't want to let you deal with this alone. I owe you at least this much!

You know, some day, when the best players in the American major leagues are French, you'll have to stand up and explain the public you are the ones responsible for this! :wink:

by **vintagebrett** » October 22nd, 2007, 9:27 am

Boxes are packaged and posted. Total was $230 to ship them to France with USPS (UPS and Fedex were double that!). I collected $20 for shipping from people who dontated items. If anyone else would like to donate, just let me know. I'll split the remaining total with Moonlight so he doesn't have to incur a huge expense. Thanks again for all the stuff you sent - the kids should have lots of choices!

by **stockbuddy** » October 22nd, 2007, 1:22 pm

Hi Brett,

I will chip in on the shipping with 15.00 bucks even though you out bid me on that 3 finger fat finger glove this weekend.

I was out of town when that bid happened. LOL I will send you the 15 within a day or so.

Hope others will help out on the shipping expenses. Sounds like a lot of cool equipment and stuff is going over there.

Nice job Brett.

Dave

by **Cowboy7130** » October 22nd, 2007, 2:46 pm

How embarrassing! :oops:

I was the one who suggested helping out with a $10 in the package we sent to Brett, and then I forgot to include my $10! "The check is in the mail!"

by **stockbuddy** » October 23rd, 2007, 3:15 pm

Hi Brett,

Just a note I have sent you 15 to help on shipping. Hope you get some folks to offset the shipping expenses.

Dave

by **Moonlight Graham** » October 25th, 2007, 1:29 pm

Just another quick note to say that I've made up my mind on a name for my team. It's going to be "The Dodgers" after the way the kids cross the streets outside our school. Seeing them doing that made me think of why the Brooklyn Dodgers had been named the dodgers and I thought it was only natural to settle on that name for the exact same reasons. So we had our first team cheer this afternoon "Go Dodgers!" and one of the kids went away saying to himself "Hope grandma' will agree to knit a Dodgers scarf for me this weekend". Ain't that cool ? :wink:

by **Moonlight Graham** » October 27th, 2007, 8:35 am

The first of the two boxes has made it safely over the Atlantic ! And the content is absolutely awesome !

I counted 17 gloves in all and a catcher's mask and helmet. They're so much nicer than the poor little things we have here at our school! It's Christmas !

I'll take pictures and post them when the second box arrives. In the meantime I think I'll need your help, because there's a lot of cleaning and relacing ahead, so I'll post my questions or remarks in the glove conditioning section of the forum.

Many thanks to you guys! What you've done here is worth a million dollar to me, thank you! Brett, I owe you one!

Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

The American Baseball Missionary Society Mission to France!

Thanks, Brett!

Well aren't I red-faced!

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