Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I recently posted about the Amsterdam Mohawks.
More recently, I went out to the game and snapped a few photos. I wasn't too pleased, overall, with the results, but here are a few pictures that I saw fit to upload.


The Mohawks play in what's been described as a throwback baseball field that sits in the middle of a green park. Some members of the Collegiate league that play there say it's like stepping back in time.

It's a very intimate setting for ball game and everything is reasonably priced.General Admission tickets are $3.00 each (on occasion the local paper will have a coupon for FREE admission!).
The Beer flows freely and a Yuengling (Traditional Lager) 16 oz. draft is $3.oo.There was one night, however, where they played a double header ( a make up game with a 3:30pm start) and they offered "Happy Hour Prices" from 3-5pm ($1 drafts!!!).

These young ladies below are the Amsterdam Zephyrs Dance Team. The Zephyrs are a member of Empire Football League.

The Old Ball Game

Those readers that have been with me from the beginning know that I currently reside in Amsterdam, NY. Just a short walk down the road is Shuttleworth Park, home to our local baseball team, the Amsterdam Mohawks. They play in the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL).
It's a fun time to be had at a small stadium nestled within a little riverside park where I regularly walk Klara, my German Shepherd Dog.
Being new to town, and not knowing much about the club, I did a little online research (gee, this internet thingy is great. It might catch on!). My search revealed, among other things, an article which detailed some of the rich and colorful baseball history that the town boasts.
It so happened that the 1942 Yankees had played here against the Amsterdam Rugmakers of the Can-Am League.
Back then Shuttleworth Park was called Mohawk Mills Park.


"In July 1942 the New York Yankees, with DiMaggio, Henrich, Keller, Rizzuto, Gordon, Selkirk, and Rolfe in their lineup, struggled to a 9-5 ten-inning victory over the Rugmakers, but that wasn’t the unusual part of the story."

The story, by David Pietrusza, describes the earliest days of the park and more importantly the terrible fire that all but destroyed it just 8 days before the Yankees were to play, and how the town rallied to restore it in time.



UPDATE: Following the completion of the 2010 season, the Mohawks became a part of the newly founded Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL).