1:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Early arrivers are invited to an opening reception at Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm, home of the Rochester Grangers. In an age of rapid suburban growth, a tiny hamlet from the past is preserved in Rochester Hills. Stoney Creek Village was a bustling community in the mid-1800s built by the Elisha Taylor and Joshua Van Hoosen families, but the railroad was routed through neighboring Rochester in 1876, setting the stage for this preserved community.

6:00 p.m. - ????

Option 1 Early arrivers are invited to join fellow ballists at the Rochester Mills Beer Company at 410 Water Street in historic downtown Rochester, Michigan – approximately 5 miles from the hotel.  Maps will be available at the hotel desk.  Wear your club’s hat!  This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most significant buildings in our community’s history.

Option 2 Discounted tickets ($17) are available for a Detroit Pistons basketball game at the Palace of Auburn Hills Friday night.  Tickets need to be purchased by Friday, March 7.  Make checks payable to Rochester Grangers and mail to the address listed in the registration form!

8:30-9:30 am

Registration and Breakfast

Best Western ConCorde Inn

Please bring your club merchandise, brochures, newspaper articles about you, videos, and information to share.  Display tables will be available.

9:30 –10:00 am

Welcome and Opening Huzzahs!

·        Mark Heppner, President, VBBA

·        Introduction of clubs and those present

10:00 – 11:00 am

Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan

Peter Morris is a leading authority on nineteenth-century baseball and introduces us to his first book detailing Michigan baseball during the years 1857-1875.  His talk will be specifically geared to the vintage base ball community and discussing aspects of early baseball not currently being utilized in vintage base ball.  He has been an instructor of English at Michigan State University, a writer and editor. 

11:00 – 12:00

Scoring an Ace With Your Vintage Base Ball Interpretation

First person interpretation allows a ballist to interpret vintage base ball and the19th Century in an educational and entertaining atmosphere.   This session provides methods for gathering historical information, identifying techniques to develop a historically correct “character”, and presenting information in an accurate manner. 

Geoff Hoerauf and John Skeens are members of the Sterling Uptons Base Ball Club.

12:00 n – 1:30 pm

Lunch

Provided by the Rochester Grangers Vintage Base Ball Club

1:30- 2:30 pm

The Age of Energy, 1860-1900

Professor Carl Osthaus, Chair of the History Department at Oakland University, looks at the Civil War era and Gilded Age and discusses themes, attitudes, lifestyles, and paradoxes of late nineteenth-century America. He will discuss North-South reconciliation, industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and class consciousness and offer his reflections on the view that “those who save the Union did not know what to do with it.”

2:30 – 3:30 pm

The Detroit Base Ball Club and the World series of 1867

David Lee Poremba is currently the manager of the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library. A native Detroiter, he has been with the Library since 1989 and is the author of eight books on Detroit and Detroit sports history including Baseball in Detroit, 1886-1968 and Detroit: City of Champions. He also wrote a pictorial history of the early decades of the American League. Earned a BA in history from Wayne State University in 1978 and a Master of Library Science degree in 1990 from the same school.

3:30 –4:30 pm

Roundtable discussion regarding issues facing vintage base ball teams –

Questions for consideration: What do living history museums expect from a visiting vintage base ball group? How much living history is too much in vintage base ball? How do I get players to interact with the spectators when everyone just wants to play ball? Should we require waivers and purchase insurance coverage? When does vintage base ball stop being fun? Is there such a thing as vintage base ball burnout? The discussion is open-ended. Bring your questions. 

Moderator: Deano Thilgen of the St. Croix BBC, Stillwater, Minnesota and Quicksteps BBC, Twin Cities, Minnesota

6:00–9:00 pm

Tour and Dinner at Meadow Brook Hall   www.meadowbrookhall.org

The third largest private residence (80,000 square feet) in the United States located on the campus of Oakland University.  Built in 1926-29, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shuttle rides available from the hotel or maps available at the hotel desk.  Also enjoy the silent auction to support the VBBA*!  Approximately 4 miles from the hotel.

8:00 pm

Keynote address by Dr. William Anderson, Director of the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries.  Bill Anderson is a Civil War and baseball historian.  He is the author/editor of five books and seventeen published articles and he has completed 34 published interviews of Detroit Tiger players.  Dr. Anderson is a past president of the Historical Society of Michigan and the Michigan Humanities Council. 

8:30-9:30 am

Registration and Breakfast

Best Western ConCorde Inn

Please bring your clubs merchandise, brochures, and information to share.  Display tables will be available.

9:30 –11:00 am

Welcome and business meeting

A short business meeting will allow us to review the VBBA’s programs in 2002 and to chart the course for this year.

11:00 –12 noon

Civilian Re-enacting

Glenna Jo Christen will provide an overview of social culture and period etiquette for the Lady or Gentleman in the mid-19th Century. Also discussed will be the challenges of presenting ones self as a convincing 19th century character in applying first and third-person interpretation. Glenna Jo is published in the Watchdog, Citizen's Companion, Civil War News and The Living Historian. Visit the Christen's web pages at The Curiosity Shop: http://home.earthlink.net/~gchristen/

12:00 –1:00

Lunch

1:00

End of Conference