But you still need to activate your account.
Charlie Vascellaro drives a truck for a living. But it’s not just any truck. Vascellaro is the teamster who hauls the Babe Ruth Museum travel exhibit around the country.
“I drive the exhibit from place to place in a truck. We set it up for a couple of days and let the fans see a bit of history,” Vascellaro said.
Vascellaro was speaking from a Buffalo, N.Y., hotel room where he will spend the next few days before moving on to Pawtucket, R.I. It is part of a four-month, 16-city summer tour of minor league ballparks sponsored by Nestle’s and Baby Ruth candy bars.
The traveling Babe Ruth show will be in Portland at Hadlock Field May 31 through June 2.
“The exhibit is mostly made up of post board and panels with a wrought-iron framework,” Vascellaro said.
Photos and display cases with artifacts are within the panels.
The items on display include a bat Ruth used during his 60-homer season in 1927. In fact, the exhibition celebrates the 75th anniversary of that season.
Also on display is a catcher’s mitt that Ruth used during his early days at St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore.
“It is a glove for a righthander, so the Babe would have to take it off after he caught the ball in order to throw it back to the pitcher,” Vascellaro said.
The display also includes a baseball signed by Ruth and teammates Bob Shawkey and Lou Gehrig, and the last contract the Yankees offered the Bambino.
Vascellaro lives in Baltimore. When not driving the truck, he works on special projects for the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, which is located, naturally enough, in the house where Ruth was born.
Vascellaro said the museum is approximately two blocks from Camden Yards. A bar owned by Ruth’s father once stood in the right-center field area of the park.
The display also includes video footage of Ruth’s famous “called shot” home run in the 1932 World Series.
“We usually have huge turnouts for the exhibit. It’s a great time for baseball fans and it’s free,” Vascellaro said.
Ultimate league flying high
The Ultimate Frisbee Summer League is looking for a few good men – and women.
“One of the things that separates our league from others is the gender ratio on the field is four to three,” Aaron Hoshide said. “We have four men and three women on the field.”
Hoshide is one of the league’s organizers. In it’s third year, the league is expanding from five to six teams for the summer.
Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that was begun in 1967 in a parking lot in Maplewood, N.J., by students at Columbia High School. Students from that school moved to Rutgers and Princeton, where the first intercollegiate game was played.
The sport has grown steadily over the years. It is now a club sport at universities around the country and national tournaments are held to determine champions at a number of levels of competition.
In the game, there are seven players on the field at a time for each team. Players advance the Frisbee by passing to teammates. A goal line is established and passes caught beyond the line earn teams points. Players can run without the disc, but when in possession they must stand still.
The summer league runs June 2 through Aug. 11.
“It’s challenging because you must make good [decisions]. You can really challenge yourself by playing,” Hoshide said.
Hoshide, 29, said his league will draft 15-20 players for each team.
“The ethics of Ultimate is the spirit of the game. We’ve come up with ways that winning isn’t the most important thing,” Hoshide said.
He explained that many leagues have five men and two women, or six men and one woman on the field at a time.
“Our gender ratio makes for a much better game. People pass it more at that ratio. There are less long throws,” Hoshide said.
Entry cost is $25 per person, $10 of which is for insurance. For more information, call Hoshide at 945-6830.
Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net
Comments
comments for this post are closed