OT-Ross Barnes Memorial Dedication
 

This past Saturday a memorial honoring Mount Morris NY native and early base ball pioneer and star Ross Barnes was dedicated in a local park. Close to 100 people attended. Yours truly was the speaker. As many of you know, I have long campaigned for Barnes election to the Hall of Fame. Who knows if that will ever happen, but at least there is a form of recognition in his hometown. A vintage base ball game was played following the dedication ceremony.

Leon- You can move this, if you think this is not the appropriate place for this.

A picture of the game. At age 60, I still held my own.

Very cool, Gary. It is certainly appropriate here and is a wonderful thing. Happy collecting...

Great post Gary. Honestly I had never heard of Ross Barnes, but love to look up stats after posts like this and also read some history on the player. Good stuff.

I saw the pictures on Facebook. That's a very nice monument. RB for the Hall!

Well done Gary. Gary and I were discussing the uniforms, and I said they very much resembled the ones worn by the Live Oaks of Rochester, who appear on the cover of the 1860 Live Oak Polka sheet music. Sure enough, that is in fact the models that were used by the person who designed the ones for this game.

Great that you are keeping Ross Barnes name in the public eye. That is probably the first step towards getting him elected to the HOF. I think his inclusion is long overdue. His career matches up or surpasses other 19th century players who are already in.

Great stuff Gary. More pics of the game if you have them.

Did you go full 1860's? Front foot pointed towards the pitcher, hands separated, 48" bat?

Rob M

I've tried to post more pictures, but most won't upload. They must be too large.
We played with a pitcher's box 45' from the striker's line x 49' from the striker's line making it 6'x4'. Each batter was required to straddle the striker's line. You couldn't over run first base and foul balls could be caught on one bounce and be an out. Of course, the fair foul hit was used. This was Barnes' signature advantage. I was told the rules we used were from 1868. That's me pitching.

Great job Gary! Barnes absolutely deserves inclusion in the HOF as one of the dominant players of his era.

I bet there are some people in this world who wouldn't recognize the uniforms of the Live Oaks of Rochester as shown on the cover of 1860's Live Oak Polka when shown a photo of last weekend's game.

Here's a photograph that better shows the Live Oak uniform. We locals had to mix in with the Live Oaks. That's why some don't look of the period. I do have a nice team shot, but it won't load.

But it might give them a reason to do a little research.:)

Congratulations Gary on a job well done! The memorial itself is absolutely beautiful. If you don't mind me asking, was there some type of fundraiser/banquet to help fund the purchase of the memorial?

Barnes
 

Very nice!

With one exception, all funding for the monument came from businesses, organizations, or individuals that either live in Mount Morris or have a Mount Morris connection. I'm very proud of the community for stepping up.
I should add that the reverse of the monument has a full body engraving based on Barnes' 1872 Warren cabinet photograph. I wish I could load the picture of it. It is very impressive.

I bet it is! When time and technology come together, I would love to see the back of the memorial. That is great that the community stepped up. Just a wonderful story!

Fine, fine effort by Gary and the community.
Gary, where exactly is it in town? Bellamy Park?
We'll make a point of checking it out next time we're at Letchworth...

It's in the small pocket park on the corner of Main and State Streets at the stop light.
I go to Letchworth almost every day!

Tennis Guy- Send me your email address and I'll send you Pictures of the reverse.

Wow Gary, fantastic memorial and unveiling!, complete with a period correct game. Looks like a lot of fun for everyone. Congrats on getting Ross Barnes some well deserved attention and recognition.

I too would like to see the team picture and the back of the memorial. I will post them here after resizing them if you don't object. detroitwolverines@gmail.com

Gary- What a wonderful effort! I've been a fan of Ross Barnes for several years. If I'm not mistaken, he is credited with the very first National League home run.

We don't have much appreciation for Baseball's distant past here in SEC territory...what a shame.


Looks like you had a lot of fun with it and went first class all the way! Thank You for sharing the details. I hope an image of the monument other side becomes available soon. The front was very well done.

Congrats!

-Raymond

Here is the other side of the monument and the team picture (a little small, hosted on Net54 which limits size to 600x600 pixels). Both look great.


Thank you Gary.

This is awesome Gary! Although I live no where near you I wanted to thank you for putting in the effort and keeping the name of Ross Barnes alive!

Thank You Gary
 

....for sharing this event with us. It is also good to put a face on the emails exchanged!!