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A wild world of baseball

There must have been something in the water in the early 1970s – or at least something in international waters.

The World Hockey Association hit the ice in 1972, the World Football League took the field in July, 1974, and in April, 1974, the World Baseball Association announced its intention to make the National Pastime the Global Pastime.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl**

President and co-founder Sean Morton Downey Jr. (who would later become better known simply as Morton Downey Jr., a confrontational talk show host who helped pioneer trash TV) held a news conference in Washington, D.C., proclaiming the WBA was ready to challenge Major League Baseball. The WBA would feature 32 franchises with 16 in the United States and the other 16 scattered across Mexico, South America, Cuba, Japan, Taiwan and Canada. A 72 to 84-game regular season would begin in January, 1975.

“We’ll better the American and National League salaries, yet our players will have to play less than half the number of games the current major league teams expect of their players,” Downey said in an article published by Associated Press. “We anticipate longer player life, more offense In the game, less lengthy games and player participation in operation of the association.”

Downey stressed that this would be big league all the way, with the WBA going after 160 “front line” players.

It was revealed at the news conference that franchises had already been awarded to Columbus, Ohio; Jersey City, N. J.; Birmingham; Memphis; Tampa -St. Petersburg; and Mexico City. Each franchise cost $150,000 and two and a half percent of all gross revenues annually would go to the WBA, a “profit-making corporation that will direct all activities of the league, including hiring of ballplayers, coaches and managers and umpires.”

A manager/player draft was to be held in June.

“We have some substantial people, people with money, already involved,” WBA co-founder Wayne Nelson told the Miami News. “I can’t tell you who they are, but a couple of our people make (American Football League founder) Lamar Hunt look like a pauper.”

But it wouldn’t be a 1970s sports venture without some groovy rule innovations, and the WBA was gonna shake things up dramatically.

Some of the ideas included:

* Orange baseballs used for night games.

* Five designated hitters to replace five defensive players who remain in the game.

* One designated runner per game.

* Pitchers required to release a pitch within 20 seconds.

* Three balls instead of four for a walk.

* Two runs for stealing home after the sixth inning.

Shortly after the announcement Dick Williams, who managed the Oakland A’s to a pair of World Series titles, said he had been approached about becoming the new league’s commissioner.

“I’ve had three short conversations with those people,” Williams told AP. “I have no idea what the job would entail. I know of 70 players who have been contacted already. It’s got every chance to go. I think the WBA will put a lot of pressure on the rest of baseball.”

It certainly would’ve been entertaining to see this wildly reimagined version of baseball actually come to life. But for that to happen the WBA needed teams, and as the spring turned to summer and the summer turned to fall, it became apparent teams were hard to come by.

In June it was announced that Washington had joined the league, and Downey Jr. expected to name six flagship franchises by September 10 and two more by December 10. He said the WBA would likely start with 10 to 14 American clubs for the first year.

January, 1975, came and went without the WBA, and little was heard from the fledgling league until late November when new president Marvin Adelson told AP it would have a “sneak preview” with a six-game winter exhibition series in Cuba. The tournament would feature a “team representative of the World Baseball Association against clubs representing various provinces of Cuba and the national championship team, Santiago de Cuba.”

Adelson said the delay in launching a full season was simply a case of smart business.

“We’re really being tough on people who want franchises,” he said. “We can’t afford the bad publicity the World Football League got. That’s the reason it’s taken so long. You’ve got to be prepared to lose money – big money. We want to go slow and easy and be on solid ground.”

Adelson said five franchises had been sold in North America, but he declined to give names or locations. He added that five more franchises had been awarded to cities in Japan, two in the Dominican Republic, two in Puerto Rico and one in Manila.

As for the international tournament, well, it was never played.

In September, 1975, the WBA released a statement saying that a United States team would face a Japanese team in Honolulu and Tokyo, which would be the first actual game associated with the league.

That was never played, either.

And by December of 1976, Adelson had abandoned his role as WBA president in order to buy the Triple A Pawtucket Red Sox. He also hoped to own an MLB club within five years.

Thus, the World Baseball Association joined the increasingly long list of professional sports ventures that never made it past the idea stage. And as for the other 1970s leagues with “World” in their names, their worlds ceased to exist before the decade came to a close.

Glorious Rickwood Field

Editor’s note: This story originally ran on April 2, 2022.

When I walked into Rickwood Field on Wednesday to watch the inaugural Rickwood College Classic baseball game between UAB and Birmingham-Southern, it marked the first time I’d been to “America’s Oldest Baseball Park” since June 4, 1998. That was the third year of the Rickwood Classic, an annual throwback game contested between the Birmingham Barons and another Southern League opponent.

A quick bit of research shows that in this particular clash the Greenville Braves defeated the Barons, 12-8, before 6,873 fans.

That I didn’t remember.

What I do recall is that it was brutally hot that day, made even worse by the fact that I was wearing a heavy, old school New York Yankees baseball jersey (fans were invited to wear “turn back the clock” attire and the Barons had once been a Yankees farm club so, you know, I was trying to dress the part).

The uncomfortable heat, however, was no match for how cool it was to be inside this working museum.

It opened in 1910, so obviously it’s rich in sports history. And since Major League Baseball finally righted a wrong in 2020 and gave the Negro Leagues big league status, Rickwood Field is a major league park thanks to the Birmingham Black Barons (who started playing there in 1920).

That makes it even more exciting to claim the venue as a huge part of my history.

Fun fact: my first trip to Rickwood wasn’t as a spectator, but as a player. A member of the L.M. Smith School Cougars 70-pound football team, I was part of the squad that played a team called the Browns there in September of 1971. It wasn’t the Cleveland Browns, of course – that would’ve been a bloodbath – but rather some kids who wore orange helmets and white jerseys. When you think about it, they probably should’ve been called the Oranges.

Anyway, I was a scrub on that team (it would be a couple of years before I transformed from a scrappy young athlete with limited skills to a scrappy older athlete with limited skills) so my only playing time was on kicking teams. I never made a block or tackle, but I did inhale a lot of dust because our field was lined off on the infield, which had most recently been used by the Birmingham A’s.

And that leads me to my first visit as a spectator – although I didn’t get to actually see a game.

On May 15, 1975, the defending World Series champion Oakland A’s were slated to play their Southern League farm club at Rickwood, which was to be the first time I had ever watched a live game involving a major or minor league team. But lightning knocked out a bank of lights at the stadium, and inclement weather prevented the game from being played.

But, I got second baseman Phil Garner’s autograph, watched Reggie Jackson and Billy Williams take BP, and saw Vida Blue throw some pitches, so it was hardly a wasted trip.

On the drive home I mentioned to my dad how neat it was that I had played on the same field as those guys. When he told me it was also the former home of legends such as Willie Mays and Satchel Paige and had hosted everyone from Babe Ruth to Dizzy Dean, well, I felt downright special.

And why not? You should feel special at a place that’s always been a special place for you.

I saw UAB beat Alabama, 12-2, there on April 29, 1980, which was the first college baseball game I ever attended.

I watched the St. Louis Cardinals beat UAB, 7-2, in an exhibition on April 8, 1981, and was almost hit by Keith Hernandez’s two-run homer while perched in the right field stands. Fortunately, my flaming speed allowed me to run away while the ball banged against the aluminum seating a couple of times before being snatched by a youngster.

I was in the house on April 14, 1981, when the Barons were reborn after relocating from Montgomery; shook hands with the San Diego Chicken, aka Ted Giannoulas, after crashing into him while making a beer run during the Barons’ 1983 championship season; and even hung around for a post-game Beach Boys concert after meeting a young woman at a game, even though I have never at any point in my existence been a fan of the Beach Boys.

It all came back to me during the Classic. I watched it with good friend and BirminghamProSports.com guru Gene Crowley, who does a better job chronicling Magic City sports history than anyone. I even got to reconnect with another old buddy, Joe DeLeonard, who – along with the rest of the members of the Friends of Rickwood organization – helps keep this baseball cathedral up and running.

Gene indulged me as we walked through the facility and I pointed to seating areas I’d occupied and told tales of the good old days.

And the good old days at Rickwood always seemed great to me.

With UAB safely in front (the Blazers won, 10-4, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning), we wrapped up our visit at the on-site museum and gift shop. I got an up-close look at memorabilia from 42, Soul of the Game, and Cobb, movies which were filmed at Rickwood Field, and eyed some old seats from New York’s Polo Grounds, which were bought in 1964 and reused at the Birmingham stadium.

And even though a T-Shirt is the last thing I need, I snagged one with the Birmingham A’s logo and the phrase: “Rickwood Field 1967-1975.”

I think of it as a memento from the first baseball game I almost saw there.

I would’ve bought one that reads: “Cougars vs. Browns 70-Pound Football Game 1971,” but none were available.

I’m gonna pretend they were sold out of those.

For more information about Rickwood Field, go to rickwood.com.

Team handball, anyone?

While I’ve spent most of my life following “traditional” American sports, I’ve allowed myself to broaden my horizons over the years.

I became passionate about soccer in the early 1970s when it was still given the side-eye by many of my peers; stuck with Australian Rules Football even after ESPN expanded its programming lineup; and will always think World Team Tennis is fantastic.

Major League Rugby and the Premier Lacrosse League are now two of my favorite spring and summer pastimes, and slowly but surely I’m learning to appreciate cricket.

But few things have captured my fancy in recent months like team handball, so now I find myself swinging through the interwebs in search of every piece of information I can find. And as someone who is also (spoiler alert!) big into alternative leagues, I’m pleased to report that there was, indeed, once a pro team handball circuit in the United States.

Sort of.

In 1978 the National Teamball League debuted with six franchises – the Boston Comets, Chicago Chiefs, Detroit Hawks, New York Stags, Philadelphia Warriors and Pittsburgh Points.

“There are a lot of sports that don’t score enough,” Chicago manager Jim Teckenbrock told the Journal Herald of Dayton, Ohio, for a a December 28, 1978, story. “People want to see a lot of action, and they see it in teamball.”

Added Detroit skipper Paul Roberts, “It’s basically an American game based on team handball. We’re just starting. It’s a new baby and we have to work things out.”

Billed as a combination of hockey, lacrosse and basketball, teamball was a more frenetic version of team handball. There were five players to a side – including a goalie – with the object to throw a ball into a goal past the keeper. It also featured body checks, rough play and high-scoring matches.

Traditional handball is 7-on-7 and players can use their torsos to obstruct an opponent, but can’t use their arms or legs to do so (teamhandballnews.com is a great resource to learn more about the sport, including the official rules).

The NTL didn’t exactly capture the imagination of fans, exiting almost as quickly as it entered. But I wondered if perhaps such a league had been attempted again. I guess it depends on how you define “attempted.”

During a meeting of the Pan American Team Handball Federation in 2007, an official proposed the formation of an American pro league with franchises in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City and San Juan, but nothing came of it. More recently, there was again talk of professionalizing team handball in the United States, beginning in 2023.

In January, 2020, Sports Business Journal reported that IOA Sports in Orlando was doing research and development on an American-based pro handball league. Tentative plans called for 10 franchises at the outset, possibly partnering with NBA and/or NHL teams.

I recently reached out to Paul Garofolo, who was working on the project, and asked if it was still going forward. Unfortunately, Garofolo said the move to form a domestic pro league has been abandoned “for now.”

Needless to say, getting my team handball fix is not easy. I tried to find a club or league in Birmingham and got excited when I came across both Birmingham Handball Club and Birmingham Bisons Handball Club.

But they’re in Birmingham, England, roughly 4,220-miles away.

While pro team handball might not be a thing where I live, it’s a big thing in other parts of the world. There’s Handball-Bundesliga in Germany, Spanish Liga Asobal in Spain and Ligue Nationale de Handball in France, just to name a few. And the world’s best clubs compete in the European Handball Federation Champions League.

Sadly, none of those leagues or teams are located in convenient driving distance for me.

However, the World Games are coming to the Birmingham where I live this summer, and one of the events is men’s and women’s beach handball. Once I found out I immediately started watching videos to learn more about it, and now I’m excited.

Ultimately I’d love to watch a standard indoor game, but I have little doubt the sandy, 4 on 4 version will be highly entertaining. Plus, it might be my only chance to ever see team handball live.

I’m truly glad I discovered it and think it’s one of the most entertaining sports on the planet. And I’m pretty sure my interest in it will last much longer than the National Teamball League did.