Delmarva Baseball: Digitizing the Heritage of 20th-Century Eastern Shore Baseball Leagues

FAIN: PY-263676-19

Salisbury University (Salisbury, MD 21801-6837)
Creston Long (Project Director: May 2018 to October 2022)

From the early 1920s through the 1970s, residents of Delmarva (Delaware and the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and Virginia) enjoyed attending games played by town teams that competed in the semi-professional Eastern Shore baseball leagues. Reflecting the broader segregation in American society, white players competed in the Eastern Shore and Central Shore leagues and African American players competed in the Negro League. Towns and communities on the peninsula built stadiums, sponsored teams, and paid players to compete in seasons that ran from spring through the late summer. Baseball on Delmarva was an integral part of cultural and social life in the region during this time. The Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury University will host a series of events in 2019 and 2020 to promote awareness of this rich history and to archive digital images of documents, photographs, and memorabilia connected to Delmarva baseball.

Associated Products

Friends and Rival: Baseball on Delmarva (Exhibition)
Title: Friends and Rival: Baseball on Delmarva
Curator: Melinda McPeek
Abstract: Throughout the twentieth century, in the ballparks and backyards of small towns on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, the most popular summer activity was attending or playing baseball. This exhibition looks at the history and heritage of baseball on the Delmarva Peninsula and the role it played in the local communities that embraced the national pastime.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/exhibits/show/friends-rivals-baseball-delmar/introduction

Eastern Shore Pastime: 100 Years of Baseball (Exhibition)
Title: Eastern Shore Pastime: 100 Years of Baseball
Curator: Melinda McPeek
Abstract: The exhibit, displayed in the First-Floor Lobby of the Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons, features a sampling of images that take viewers on a photographic journey through 100 years of baseball on the Eastern Shore, from the 1876 Salisbury White Clouds to the 1976 Salisbury State College team.
Year: 2019

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