OTBC - THE STORY OF IT'S CREATION

By Founder Member Barry Mayfield

PHASE I

The story begins in London, in 1952, the year I joined the Mitcham Royals Baseball Club at the age of 14. Information on Major League baseball was scarce in those days and I relied on the odd bit of news occasionally found in the Saturday Evening Post, picked up from a second-hand bookshop in Streatham (south London) and usually three or four months out of date. It may have been the second copy I saw that included an article on Bob Feller, described as a great pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, who was entering the last few years of his professional career. I had wanted to become a pitcher and Bob Feller immediately became my idol. Some time later I managed to get a photograph of him and this photo held pride of place in my bedroom. Three years later I joined the British Army and Bob's photo accompanied me around the world for the next 18 years. In late 1974 I returned to the UK for my remaining four years of service and, more importantly, I got back into regular baseball. In 1987, whilst browsing through my baseball memorabilia and some recently acquired Cleveland Indians stuff, I found out that Bob was still involved with the Indians, in a front office role.

PHASE II

On Tuesday, April 12,1988, I met Bob Feller. It was a day I will never forget. In response to my invitation, Bob and his wife Anne came to London.

I had written to Bob and explained my interest in him while he was a player and my subsequent following of the Indians. I had also mentioned the state of British baseball and suggested that visits by ex-coaches to our shores could help the development of our game here. To my amazement, I soon received a response saying they would love to come to London as my guests. It was my desire to arrange for Bob to meet as many players as possible so that they could share this unique experience. I organised a tight itinerary that allowed for sightseeing in the day with visitors at night, attending local clubs and maybe watch a game at the weekend. My house became a public thoroughfare and the local off-licence almost ran out of beer and cola! Visitors included the Locke brothers from Hoddesdon who, being quite young lads at the time, were over-awed at meeting the celebrity. Bob presented them with signed photographs.

I think the most successful night was April 23 when sixteen veterans ('old timers') travelled from as far a field as Exeter to meet 'Rapid Robert', and one another. With an age span of 50 to 79, many of them hadn't seen each other for 28 years! Lots of chatter of old times, old photos circulated, and plenty of beer was drunk. Into the garden for a group photograph and then gloves and baseballs materialised - old bones creaked as they each took turns to play catch with the great Bob Feller.

Another visitor was Ron Marshall, the one time GB national team manager. He arrived representing the British Baseball Federation and presented Bob with a BBF tie and pennant and two official BBF registration cards, making Bob and Anne honorary members. Ron, Bob and I went on to see a game that day. During the changeover between innings, I invited the home-plate umpire (who shall remain nameless) to meet Bob Feller. I pointed him in the general direction of Bob who was dressed in full Indians uniform. Before I could stop him, this umpire walked up to Ron Marshall, grabbed his hand and said, "I'm honoured to meet you, Mister Feller"!!

Our sightseeing took us to places as far a field as Beaulieu, Eastbourne, Warwick, and Canterbury. Anne had a painting of Warwick Castle at home in Ohio and so was particularly interested in seeing it 'in the raw'. Bob bought himself a tweed country hat in Canterbury and wearing it with his off-white raincoat made him look quite stately. We therefore dubbed him 'Lord Robert of Canterbury'

While in Eastbourne, we lunched and Anne ordered a Cornish pastie so Bob thought he'd try it. Thinking the pastie was some sort of bread, Bob liberally coated it with strawberry jam. Anne slid under the table in embarrassment. Bob thought it tasted fine. Bob and Anne took a four-day break to Scotland and stayed in a hotel near Arrochar. As a country boy, Bob is fanatical about tractors and farm machinery and one day while taking a walk he spotted an old tractor half buried in mud. He noticed it had a rather nice iron seat and thinking it would look good in his barn back home, he removed the seat with a hacksaw. More excess baggage. Scottish Amicable supported their trip to Scotland and it was planned to hold a luncheon in Glasgow in Bob's honour that would include Scottish baseball enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the directors of Scottish Amicable were called away at the last minute so the celebration didn't take place. Later however, Bob did a telephone interview with Radio Clyde.

As mentioned earlier, at the weekends I took Bob to a number of local games where he would offer some tips, give a little pep talk, and provide pitchers with helpful advise. He was always willing to give autographs - on balls, gloves, books, scraps of paper, but drew the line when someone offered him a well-worn jockstrap! When we had the visitors, Bob had plenty of interesting stories to tell. My favourite concerned a player by the name of Boogs. Boogs was apparently renown for his lack of patience with umpires. In one particular game, Boogs was at bat and Bob had already chalked up two strikes. The next pitch came down and Boogs left it, thinking it was outside. "Steeee-rike three!" screamed the umpire. In anger, Boogs threw his bat high into the air. Instantly, the umpire warned him "Boogs, if that bat comes down, you're outta the game!"

I know that Bob collected some lasting impressions of British baseball and the enthusiasm of British players. How we would turn out in the cold and rain, how much we knew about the game and our following of the Major Leagues. He appreciated our problems with regard to coaching, field development, government support, and lack of sponsorship and money. Nevertheless, it was strangely gratifying to hear him say that amateur ball in the US is no better organised than ours. Looking back on the visit, my most memorable moment was when I met him for the first time on arrival at Heathrow airport. As I shook his hand, I remember thinking to myself "This arm I'm holding is the one that terrorised Major League batters for 18 seasons, some 50 years ago".

PHASE III

Sometime later in 1988, I was recalling how well the Feller visit went, particularly the day all the old retired players came round. Bob had told me about the Crackerjack Major League Old Timers baseball game that was played between the American and National Leagues. Bob took an active role in its organisation. Maybe it was possible I could get our 'old timers' together for a game or two began contacting players who I'd known since 1952, the year I started. These included Chuck Cole, Derek Phillips and Frank Adey. I also got in touch with a few who were around my age and still playing like Peter Crook, George Simmons, and Goff Phillips. They, in turn, began contacting others and soon it looked like we had a team. We bought uniforms and equipment, wrote our own Constitution and joined the British Baseball Federation. We planned to start actively playing in 1989 however, in the September of '88 I received a phone call from the British Softball Federation and we were invited to play in a slo-pitch game as part of their Pan Am Softball Classic celebration. We managed to muster 11 players for this mid-week game in Battersea Park, South London. We lost, but the Old Timers Baseball Club was born. I later wrote to Bob Feller and asked him to consider being our Honorary Life President. The icing on the cake - he accepted.