Team GB’s historical enthusiasts, and even the more casual fans, will be aware of – and will love to cite – the triumph of England over Team USA in a series of Tests in 1938 that represent the first official baseball world championship. (Among the stars of the England team was Ross Kendrick, who was one of the inaugural inductees into the British Baseball Hall of Fame back in 2009.) To acknowledge this unlikely story from baseball’s vaults, a replica Team GB shirt from 1938 has just gone on sale.
As people in the British baseball community will appreciate, there is a somewhat niched nature to the appeal that this item of clothing has, and the price tag necessitated by this means that it will not be an item for everyone’s jersey collection. However, it is a massive achievement in itself to get a replica made of this shirt, and it is wonderful just to have the item available. Two shops will stock it, Barneys New York and – closer to home – the Portobello-based Garbstore. Continue reading
During 2010, my posts on BaseballGB have been a little fewer and further between than I would have liked, but there has been a good reason. For the past 14 months, I have been researching and writing a 100,000-word history of Britain’s pro baseball league of 1890. The result was my first book.