Once more the appointed hour has arrived! It is time again for another distinguished edition of our Ballist of the Week.
This week, we are proud to present our featured Ballist โ Little Brother, of the Phoenix VBBC of East Nashville
๐๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ (๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐)๐ฆ๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ?
I heard about the league from my brother and my dad, who heard about the league from a former co-worker of our dad. I also stumbled upon a game at Moss-Wright park in Goodlettsville I think in 2014 when I was still in high school. Initially, I had no interest in playing baseball ever again in any form, as I had not played in about 5 years at that point. However, in 2017, my brother and my dad convinced me to come out to a Phoenix practice and I was instantly hooked. This year will be my 10th season playing for the Phoenix of East Nashville. To me, this league means helping me rediscover one of my biggest passions in life; baseball. Ever since I started playing vintage base ball, Iโve also started playing modern baseball again. Currently, I play for 2 sandlot teams in addition to my vintage team as well as every Hog and Hominy/Rag Tag event I can make time for. I play a TON of baseball and I love every second of it.
๐๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ?
I played a lot of outfield and just a little bit of third base in youth baseball. When I first started playing vintage base ball, I played a lot of catcher and second base (very low risk positions). Over the last several years, Iโve played pretty much every position with some sort of regularity, but left field and third base take up most of my time these days. Iโm not particularly quick, but I can get a good read on the ball off of the bat and I can get myself into position to consistently give myself a chance to make a play on the ball.
๐.๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ
My favorite aspect of vintage base ball is all of the big travel events we attend throughout the spring and summer. It just feels like one big family reunion every time we take our trips outside of Tennessee between sharing the field as teammates with other fellow Tennessee ballists from other clubs or seeing our friends from St. Louis, Columbus, Gettysburg, and so on.
๐.๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐?
Just do it. I joined 10 years ago and I canโt imagine a life without vintage base ball or the people I have met because of the game. A lot of people I know that seem interested in the game but donโt play are off put by the fact that we play bare handed. Come out to a practice, try to pluck a ball out of the air, and then realize it only hurts for about a second. Youโll be hooked instantly.
๐.๐๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฎ๐๐ญโ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ?
All of us are just normal, working class people who want to do something fun on the weekend to decompress after a stressful week of work. We also want to encourage more and more people to play to help our sport grow. Gentlemanly conduct and a welcoming atmosphere is the best way to make sure our sport has a bright future.
๐. ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ?
I have so many favorite memories that I could write a book. One of them includes hitting a home run in Gettysburg in 2021. It was such a cool feeling to do that at a place with so much history. The 2025 Sulphur Dell Cup also comes to mind. We had won 3 games all season and only had 9 players available for the entire tournament. We managed to rattle off 3 wins in a row (all against teams who beat us in the regular season) after suffering a blowout loss in the first round before bowing out in the semi-final game. It was the grittiest/toughest performance I have ever seen out of a baseball team. My all time favorite moment occurred during the 2023 regular season. Shortly before the beginning of the season, my father fell ill and passed away. He was one of the biggest supporters of the TAOVBB and he was my hero. He rarely missed a Phoenix match and made great efforts to watch other teams play when we werenโt playing. Before our match against the Maroons that year, Natural and Stitch completely blindsided us by creating a trophy and dedicating the yearly match between the Phoenix and Maroons to honor him. Every year since then, the Phoenix and Maroons have played the Bubba Bradley Memorial Cup and we will be playing the 4th annual memorial match later this season.
