B.A.V.B.B. squads ready to take fields for 2024 campaign
Bay Area Vintage Base Ball is set to begin its 2024 season March 24, with all 10 teams in action on diamonds at three different locations around the region.
The San Francisco Pacifics, champions of the Association in 2023, will open the season serving as the visitors in a match against crosstown rival Barbary Coast, the second half of a double header at the Big Rec Ball Fields. Earlier in the day, the Berkeley Clarions — defending champions of the East Division and winners of the Golden Gate Cup tournament — will lead off with a visit to Alameda Island and a tilt against the Oakland Colonels, who were runners-up in their shared department last year.
“I’m looking forward to an exciting 1886 season,” said Scott “Clover” Rowe of the San Francisco Pelicans, who serves as commissioner of the West Division. “Almost every squad in the West is going to be more competitive than last year, and the rivalries are intensifying.”
The day will also mark the debut of a newly titled nine within the Association, as the former Haywards Journals will take to the ball field hosting the San Francisco Eagles while sporting their new identity as the Mission Reddingtons.
“When I first came into the league, there was no room on the San Francisco teams at the time," explained Ruben “Breeze” Riguero, captain of the newly christened nine. “I was approached by Junior and Toro to join the Haywards Journals, the new team at the time. Junior, the founder of the Journals, is no longer playing, and I’ve since been handed the duty as captain. I am a city boy through and through, and wanted to represent that as such; however, there are already five San Francisco teams, so I thought it would be better to honor my favorite part of the city, my neighborhood.”
Keegan “Deadeye” Tatum, left, and team captain Ruben “Breeze” Riguero show off the new uniforms of the Mission Reddingtons, the B.A.V.B.B. squad known until recently as the Haywards Journals.
The Mission name also represents the historical Catholic outposts, established by Spanish settlers between 1769 and 1823, that stand to this day in locations around the Bay Area and California. The Reddingtons — or “Reds” — will continue to compete in the East Division and host their home games at fields in Dublin.
“Our team name is inspired by a PCL team, the Mission Reds, and the San Francisco Reddingtons, who played in the neighborhood in 1883,” Breeze said. “Our uniforms are inspired by the Negro League team the Leland Giants.”
The Pacifics and the Clarions, who squared off last season in both the Championship Match and the Golden Gate Cup Final Match, will meet once again on July 28, with Berkeley traveling to San Francisco for the bout.
As follows precedent, B.A.V.B.B. squads are each scheduled to play 13 games in the regular season; the Championship Match is set for Sept. 8. This season, the team that lays claim to the Association’s most coveted hardware will receive a prize with a fresh moniker: By a vote of the Board of Directors, the championship bat has been dubbed the Steve Gazay Trophy — or “The Cappy” for short — in honor of the league’s founding father.
The Golden Gate Cup contest is slated to begin the following weekend, with all 10 teams in the running for the coveted chalice in a single-elimination tournament format.
The Association is making plans for the winner of the Golden Gate Cup to meet the champion of So Cal Vintage Base Ball, the premier 1886 league in the state’s southern lands, in a match tentatively slated for Oct. 13 as the inauguration of a competition to be known as the Golden State Cup.
The annual All Star Match is scheduled once again for Independence Day.