Listen as Grant concludes the series by doing a read-aloud of essays from our website, 21ctownball.com!

Chapters:

2:12-9:24, The Origins of the American Pastime

9:24-13:03, The Fibonacci Factor

13:05-19:51, The Massachusetts Game (TMG)

19:56-25:22, Twenty-First Century Townball

25:24-28:39, Swift Pitching in TMG

28:40-38:29, Baseball is Boring

38:30-41:47, TMG and the Zone: A Match Made in Heaven

41:50-43:39, Why the Name Townball?

43:42-48:11, Vintage Base Ball

48:12-53:02, Coda

For the last interview not only of this chapter but of the whole series, we’re gonna hear from a brand new townball player from northern Washington state, Aaron Gibbs! Aaron has played a total of three townball games, so of all the guests we’ve had he is the most new to the game. Aaron is a good friend of Rylan Schubkegel who we had on in Chapter 2, if you’ll remember. Aaron is getting a master’s in history at Western Washington University and has really come to love playing townball so far! He even already has some characteristic townball stories that he shares with his friends, like getting pegged in the outfield by the catcher, breaking one of the stakes, as well as other good memories.

Thanks for making it this far and we’ll see you on the next episode for a wrap-up of the series!

Daniel Jones is back but this time he is joined by his wife Adina! Adina has been along for the ride from the beginning and was the principal seamstress in making jerseys for the Newberg Quakers last year as well as other townball jerseys. Adina could not have done this without the help of Veritas alumna Olivia Veeman. Olivia was an avid townball player at Veritas and has since joined the Newberg Quakers, being one of the few to play in both West Coast Townball Tournaments back to back in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 west coast tournament was, in many ways, the first time we played with updated zones made none other than by Grant's high school friend Christopher Poole. The second zone model Chris came up with is what we used in the tournament, and he’s developed another model since then. Both Daniel and Adina, Olivia, and Chris have done the most when it comes to the products, materials, and equipment that encompass our game. Like any other sport, everything feels way more real when you have the look down and you have quality equipment. We’ve only been able to achieve this in the last couple of years, and it’s because of these individuals.

Before there was townball at UHS, there was cricket. We get to hear about that at length for the first time in this series from repeat guest Jimmy Sanborn and newcomer to the podcast Josh "JT" Treisman. Jimmy and JT go way back as friends at UHS and were there to witness the transformation from the cricket season to the townball season at UHS, year in and year out in the early to mid 2010s. Today, they both play on the townball team called the Fresno Eagles. Jimmy and JT's perspective on the overlap between cricket and townball is something unique to the UHS years that wasn't quite covered in Chapter 1 so this is really where you'll get to hear that conversation.

Roshan and Artashes are the captains of the California Golden Bears. As of January 1, 2024, Roshan will be the new West Coast Townball League Commissioner and Artashes just took a position in the motherboard which is a group of 8 that oversees the sport in general. They are both finishing up their studies at Berkeley College this year and they’re on a mission to keep townball growing! Like others in chapter 1, they encountered townball as students at University High School, and have since returned with greater fervor for the game through the creation of the West Coast Townball League. Grant got to meet Roshan and Artashes last year in the first West Coast Townball Tournament. Roshan and Artashes are super kind, they’re passionate about the game, and they’re just good dudes. Listen to them exude their good dude-ness to you over the soundwaves . . .

You stuck around to the end! Chapter 4 is more or less the chapter we’re using for episodes that aren’t as concerned with a particular period in time. Since these conversations didn’t fit as well into the other chapters, they ended up in the miscellaneous chapter if you will. However, that’s not to say that these conversations are super random. In fact, they cover more of what’s going on in California as well as the business side of townball. Some of these episodes focus more on the cricket side of the University High School experience and how that overlapped with townball, something we’ve heard about in passing but not in full detail. Tune in for the last chapter in the series!

Thai Village Fundraiser:

In this chapter called Townball in the Midwest we are closing with some very important and wonderful people that have put their stamp on townball in Hillsdale, MI most notably at Hillsdale College. My other brother Jacob will help bridge the gap between townball out west to how townball has expanded out here in Michigan, you’ll hear from our friend Gabe Kottkamp (the current townball club president at the college) about his love for the game, and lastly you’ll get to hear from newly minted motherboard member Alex Buchheit (who sometimes goes by "Buckets"). He is also a Hillsdale alum who has since expressed great interest in townball and even spent his internship at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY this last summer playing townball with his fellow interns! He has plans to get a Cincinnati area team going in the future and to be involved in some kind of Midwest league down the road.

Thai Village Fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/townball-and-thai-village?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

Guess what? There are more Mores! We get to hear from Grant's brother Nathan talk about how he introduced Grant to townball back in Newberg in 2019 and how Nathan has been along for the ride ever since, witnessing townball's expansion into the Midwest. You'll hear Nathan start by recounting his time as a student at Veritas, meeting Daniel Jones, and then describing the state of townball in the greater Hillsdale, MI area. Nathan is a junior in high school but you wouldn't know it by the way he talks or dresses. He has the vocabulary of an academic and the wardrobe of a crooner. He likes everything from jazz to basketball to learning Latin in his spare time. He's truly a renaissance man, and we're happy to have his insight (and athletic skills) on the game.

Get to know four players from the only (so far) townball team east of California, the Hillsdale People: Ezra and Silas Hutchinson, and Felipe and Artur Siimes. This is the first time we get to hear from the younger player’s perspective, and they were very glad to do this episode in person. They passed a single mic around the table so everyone got equal opportunities to speak, so you’ll notice that everyone’s voices go in the same order: each question starts with Silas, then Ezra, Artur, and lastly Felipe so that’s how you can keep track of who’s talking. These guys are very special to Grant because they were his first teammates outside his family in Michigan and they’re keeping the spark alive as townball is built from scratch out in the Midwest. So filter your tap water, avoid potholes, and say hi to the herd of deer just walking around your neighborhood in broad daylight ‘cuz we’re talking about townball in Michigan!

Dr. Paul Moreno is the Dean of Social Sciences at Hillsdale College and faculty advisor for the college's townball club. We get to listen to him take a deep dive into what made baseball appealing in its early stages all the way until its golden era in the mid 20th century, and what lessons can be learned from history when it comes to how to shape the culture and growth of Twenty-First Century Townball. If you're a Yankees fan, you're in good company! Dr. Moreno has been a Yankees fan for a long time and he follows them closely.

Thai Village Fundraiser: