Delco League hits the big 100 this year

Exactly why a horse and carriage were in deep left field on that long ago August day is lost to history.

We do know that the outfielder chasing a fly kept his eye on the ball a bit too literally, and instead of whacking a modern padded outfield fence, ran smack into wood, metal and horseflesh.

"Seriously injured," is all we know.

Such were the dangers when the Delaware County Baseball League was founded a century ago. Its first game was May 9, 1908, and as far as anyone can tell, it is the oldest semipro league in the nation.

Tim Wiles, director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., said the claim cannot be irrefutably proven. But he knows of no league that's older.

"Any baseball league that has been in existence for that long is a tremendous thing," said Wiles.

Locally, there is no doubt. "We are definitely the oldest incorporated league in the United States," said Jim Vankoski, league president. In 2007 10 teams play on high school, college and community ball fields from the city of Chester to Wayne. Only wood bats are used.

Storied players have graced the league's diamonds.

Early in the 20th century there were future Hall of Famers Frank "Home Run" Baker and pitcher Charles Albert "Chief" Bender, so nicknamed because he was a member of the Chippewa tribe.

Former Kansas City Athletics pitcher Lew Krausse played in the 1960s. Other veterans are current Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer.

A former Phillie, Keith Hughes of Havertown, still swings his bat for this year's Wayne team.

Connie Mack, the famed Philadelphia A's manager, also pitched in to manage the league, in 1925 and 1926, according to the league's history.

The Delco League is a "competitive" semipro league made up of high school players, current and past college players, a couple of former pros, and some solid regular folks with no credentials - just a love of the game.

The league started as the Delaware County Christian Endeavor Baseball League, with six teams from Aldan, Collingdale, Colwyn, Darby, Folsom and Rutledge. The name was changed the year after it started, and by the 1940s it grew to 16 teams.

In the early years, rivalry between Clifton Heights and Media was so intense that businesses and stores in Clifton Borough would close so residents could travel up Baltimore Pike to Media for the games, which attracted crowds of as many as 2,000.

In July 1910, a close call at third started a riot during a game between Woodlyn and Glenolden.

The player-meets-horse episode occurred on Aug. 13, 1910.

Also, Connie Mack traded away an unhappy "Shoeless Joe" Jackson to the Cleveland Naps that year, and got in return a former Delco player, Bristol Robotham Lord, better known as Bris "The Human Eyeball" Lord.

Baker, a third baseman who helped the A's win three World Series, quit that team for the Delco League in 1915 because he was tied of traveling.

Mack was displeased.

"Frank Baker can't make a fool out of me, and if he thinks that he can have a little jaunt in the Delaware County League and then, at his pleasure, report to me and then expect to find a place on my team, he has made the mistake of his life," Mack said at the time.

Baker said he wanted more money from the A's, for which he was criticized by other pro managers.

The Delco League gave him a "Baker Day" and awarded the player a $1,000 prize bull calf.

These days, no livestock is involved.

"I play for fun now," said P.J. Vanni, 28, from Swarthmore, a catcher for the Wayne team. "I don't ever want to give it up."

A teacher at the Haverford School, and a former Bloomsburg University player, Vanni typifies the league's caliber of player. Most players are between the age of 18 and 35.

Angels manager Scioscia, who is originally from Delaware County, grew up listening to his father and brother talk about the Delco League, and at age 15, in 1974, he joined "Haab's Sunoco" as a catcher.

"It was definitely a league . . . you took notice and wanted to play in," said Scioscia.

Scioscia was at first intimidated by the high quality of the older players, "until I got out there and realized it was just baseball."

The league has been more than just baseball to some players; it has also forged lifelong friendships.

At the Centennial Celebration banquet earlier this month, more than 550 players, coaches and families gathered to celebrate. They came from as far away as Texas and Alabama.

"I'm still getting calls from people," said Vankoski. "They met people there they haven't seen for 40 or 50 years."

Delco may still be feeding the majors.

Lefthanded pitcher Frank Gailey, 21, this year of the league's Wayne team, has a fastball that crosses the plate at 89 m.p.h.

He doesn't worry about horses in the outfield, but whether he will be drafted by the pros next month.

He was awed when told of the league's past. "Wow, when you say those names. . . . It's surreal," said Gailey, who is from Roxborough. "To even be associated with them is a whole new level."

To see old and new photos of the Delco League, go to http://go.philly.com/semiproEndText