Lewes Base Ball Club will play its home game on June 29

Lewes will continue its 2024 season against the Deacons, a prison chaplaincy baseball team that includes some Lewes players. The game will be played in a doubleheader format, with first pitch at noon on Saturday, June 29. Play will be under 1864 rules. The game will be played at the field in the Villages of Five Points near the intersection of East Edgemoor Street and Old Orchard Road in Lewes.

The Lewes Base Ball Club plays by the rules of 1864, which include that balls must be caught on impact to be out, no fielding gloves can be used, and other fun, historically accurate rules of the 19th century American pastime. Games are free, and spectators are asked to bring a chair or blanket.

After the games against the Deacons, the club’s next stop is a trip to the National 19th Century Base Ball Festival in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the team will compete against clubs from New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and elsewhere.

The Lewes Base Ball Club’s origins date back to 1874. During the 2024 season, it will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first recorded baseball game in Lewes. On February 28, 1874, Lewes faced Milton in a game whose outcome is currently unknown. There were probably earlier games, but no written records of them have been found. The club celebrates all of baseball history in Lewes, the Cape Region, and throughout southern Delaware.

Over the years, the team played throughout Delmarva and even the Chesapeake Bay, with at least one game being played in Baltimore. Lewes may have fielded a semi-professional team until at least the early 1940s, and other local and recreational teams called the First Town home. Anyone with information, artifacts, photos, game reports, uniforms and equipment, or newspaper clippings related to baseball in Lewes is asked to contact the club.

The current team was re-formed in 2010 and was crowned Delaware State Champion in 2016 and 2023. Interested players and volunteers are asked to contact the club via the Facebook page or email. [email protected]The club is a non-profit organization and membership is open to all. Other activities include lectures and programs on baseball in Delmarva with a special emphasis on Lewes and Sussex County.

For more information visit the club’s Facebook page @LewesBaseball or www.lewesbaseball.org.