What do Chicks, Quicksteps, Powder Monkeys and Diamonds have in common? They were all professional baseball teams in Wilmington, Delaware! In fact, when the Wilmington Blue Rocks played their first game in April of 1993, professional baseball was already 110 years old in Wilmington.
For the first time ever, fans from all over the east coast will have the opportunity to relive those formative days of America’s Pastime when the First State 19th Century Base Ball Festival comes to Delaware City on May 22 and 23 at Fort Dupont State Park. The Mid-Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League has sanctioned the festival, which will be hosted by Delaware’s Diamond State Base Ball Club..
Vintage base ball is competitive baseball played according to the rules and customs of earlier times. The First State Festival will include 14 teams from 7 states, and they’ll be using 1864 rules. Players will wear period uniforms and use reproduction equipment. The event is free and open to the public, and if enough fans turn out (perhaps only if enough fans turn out!), this may be the beginning of what the Diamond State Base Ball Club hopes will become one of the top 10 annual outdoor festivals in Delaware.
Local amateur teams began to play in organized leagues in Wilmington in the 1860's, and by the 1870's, the dominate team was known as the Wilmington Quicksteps. In 1875 they barnstormed to Chicago to play the professional "White Stockings" and to meet the famed "Red Stockings' in Cincinnati.
n 1918 and the war in Europe threatened to shut down professional baseball altogether. Many of the big stars left the game and some found a safe haven working in the defense plants. And it was it was that year that Joe Jackson (later known as “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo”) came to Wilmington to work for the Harlan and Hollingsworth Company, a major ship builder located on the Christina River.
Like so many major east coast companies, Harlan had its own baseball team, that played in a newly constructed field just across the Market Street Bridge. The Wilmington “Shipbuilders,” as they were known, played in the East Coast League and won the league championship in 1918, featuring many big league players in addition to Shoeless Joe (check out a great two-part article about Shoeless Joe in Wilmington by David Woodward, Wilmington’s History Examiner).
Delaware City will also be hosting an Old Fashioned Sidewalk Sale to coincide with the First State Festival on Saturday and Sunday. Free jitney transportation will be available between the Fort DuPont Parade Grounds and Delaware City’s business district, shops and eateries during festival hours, including the legendary “Crabby Dick’s” tavern across from the Ferry to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island. For a full schedule of Delaware City summer events and opportunities check out the Delaware City website.
TravelTip: Be sure to review the weekend specials at the Clarion Belle and Christiana Hilton hotels. Both are first class and less than 15 minutes from Delaware City. Visitors traveling north from the DelMarVa Peninsula may want to opt for one of Dover's two major lodging options, the Sheraton and Dover Downs Hotels. They're about 30 minutes from Delaware City, but you'll be a half hour closer to home when the weekend winds down!
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