Home British baseballProject COBB Remembering the Bournemouth Cubs

Remembering the Bournemouth Cubs

by Joe Gray

A big thank you must go to James Norman and (indirectly) Peter Beach for submitting a team-name story and a bunch of photos relating to the Bournemouth Cubs, a club that Peter’s father Vic founded and for which Peter played shortstop. A photo of the team is below (Vic is in the centre of the front row and Peter at the right of that row).

1f (cropped)

The team-name story (which I’ve already added to the archive of those things) is as follows:

“The Bournemouth Cubs were founded in the late 1940s by Vic Beach, and the name can be explained by the fact that Vic wrote to the Chicago Cubs, asking if they could help with any equipment. Their response was generous, and they also adopted the team as their British contact. The team did not actually play in Bournemouth, though, since in those days that south-coast town had a strict bylaw: no Sunday sport on council-owned pitches. Home games could only be arranged on a Sunday, but the team still managed to stay by the coast, playing over the council boundary in Poole. Opponents included the Hornsey Red Sox, the Wokingham Monarchs, and Chipping Norton, and teams enjoyed playing the Cubs on the road as it allowed them to bring friends and family for a day out at the seaside.”

Another story that James submitted on behalf of Peter relates to the photo below.

9f (cropped)

At first I thought that the haziness at the top was some kind of fading, or even dodgy developing, but according to Peter it is in fact smoke from bonfires that had been lit by the local residents, who were trying to stop baseball game from being played.

You may also like

1 comment

Joe Gray July 2, 2011 - 9:45 am

Just copying across a comment on this story left by Jeff Archer on the Project COBB Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-COBB/130925016980867):

“Interesting story about the bonfires set up to halt baseball activities. One time in early 1976, my team held a practice at a Ruislip playground. We got permission and told the authorities it was a one-off event. Some asshole comes running out of his house and began to berate us, calling all Americans jerks. Then, about three of my players rebutted his idiocy. They were British and the guy walked away in disgust. He thought only US citizens played baseball. In 1975, when I was with the Crawley Giants, a fellow took his dog on the field and stopped near second base. He could have easily walked around the field. He said, “I’m a rate payer and I have the right to use any part of this ground at any time.” The game was held up for about 15 minutes. Finally, the dog took a piss on second base and the guy left the field with his dog, who had more brains than his owner.”

Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.