Alan Smith has been one of the most significant Project COBB collaborators since its inception back in October 2008. As just one example of this, the backbone of the modern top-tier stats archive comes from his determined and successful efforts to piece together the statistical history of the London Warriors, aided by other ex-Warriors such as Brad Thompson.

His latest major contribution resulted from linking in Cobham Yankees stalwart Pete Hammer with the research and archiving initiative. Hammer was sitting on a digital gold mine, and he managed to string together 61 attachments in one of the most remarkable, and largest, emails I’ve ever received. Most relate to the Yankees, but some contain information on the Oxshott Orioles, a feeder team for the southern baseball giants.

Many of the materials are safely stored for now in the offline holdings, and, as with all of these materials, anyone is welcome to request a search of these.

The materials that have been immediately taken into account in the online archives all relate to the 1983 national final, which Project COBB previously lacked much in the way of information on. Now, thanks to Pete and Alan, we have a team photo from a neighbouring year, the championship programme, and the pitching line of the winning hurler.

The Cobham Yankees of 1982