Baseball historian Bob Mayer will be giving a presentation next weekend….
Noted baseball historian Bob Mayer will present a program—Spring Fever in the Hudson Valley—on Saturday, March 16th, at 2 p.m. at The Little Red Schoolhouse, 297 Locust Avenue, Cortlandt Manor, New York. Sponsored by the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society, the event is open free to the public.
Illustrating the origins of baseball and highlighting baseball activity in this area, Mr. Mayer will use a power point presentation of historical photos and baseball memorabilia. He will talk about some of the early players and teams in Peekskill, including amateur, semi-pro, and professionals. A special feature will be on the Fleischmann family and their baseball interests.
Fleischmann’s Standard Brands distillery factory complex at Charles Point was Peekskill’s largest employer for more than 60 years.
With a passion for baseball history and a player himself on tournament softball teams , Mr. Mayer has been connected to the sport for more than 50 years. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and their 19th Century Baseball, Negro Leagues, and Minor League
Committees. His primary interest is early baseball in the Hudson Valley.
Mr. Mayer has presented programs at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and atnumerous sports museums, libraries, and historical societies. Last month he presented “Baseball in Black & White” (Black Barnstorming in the Hudson Valley) in conjunction with the Hall of Fame’s
traveling Pride & Passion Exhibit at the Adriance Library in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has had articles published in: Baseball, A Journal of the Early Game; the Orange County Historical Society Journal; the Mahopac News; Glove Collector’s Newsletter; and several SABR publications.
He has appeared as a guest on several cable TV and local radio stations, and was the producer of the Old Timers Baseball Celebration in Peekskill in July 2012.
The Little Red Schoolhouse (the venue for his March 16th program) is located at the northern end of Locust Avenue next to Old Saint Peter’s Church and cemetery, on the hill just south of Oregon Road in the Town of Cortlandt. For more information, call (914) 736-7868.
