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Donkey baseball?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by RedCanuck, Aug 22, 2011.

  1. RedCanuck

    RedCanuck Active Member

    Every week, I do a 'this week in history' sort of column for the paper. Today, I found reference to a donkey baseball game from the 1950s. Apparently, all the players except the pitcher, catcher, and batter mounted donkeys and played the game on them. When the batter hit, he had to get on his donkey to ride around the base paths.

    I looked it up on the 'net and it appears some rural communities still do this. Anyone ever heard of it or seen a game?
     
  2. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Never heard of donkey baseball, but one of our local schools did donkey basketball as a fundraiser a few years back. Same premise, different sport. Probably pissed off the janitor something fierce, though.
     
  3. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    It was long before my time, but donkey baseball and basketball used to be around here all the time as fundraisers. It seems like I have memories of hearing people talking about it when I was a kid in the 70s, but I never saw it.
     
  4. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    I saw a donkey baseball game at a small park in Chicago when I was a kid. Pretty neat.
     
  5. bpoindexter

    bpoindexter Active Member

    Donkey baseball/basketball was big for years as a fundraiser and during smalltown carnivals and the like. Kind of a Saturday-afternoon thing. This is the first reference to donkey baseball I've seen in years.
     
  6. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    Yeah, but you damn reporters never cover donkey soccer..they work just as hard.
     
  7. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Good luck to the poor sap who has to take reams of mule track and field agate.
     
  8. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    You just wait until they crown the new Donkeyweight champion at UFC 148.
     
  9. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    The donkey marching band parents are the worst.
     
  10. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Agreed. They are such asses.
     
  11. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Donkey baseball was a fairly popular gimmick for traveling amateur/semipro teams of the Depression era.

    The House of David team, specifically, was well known for its donkey baseball games.

    http://www.baseballlibrary.com/excerpts/excerpt.php?book=house_of_david&page=18

    [​IMG]

    It mostly died out in the '50s and early '60s, when amateur/semipro ballgames no longer served as viable sources of entertainment in rural communities.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  12. Killick

    Killick Well-Known Member

    Donkey show. There, I said it. Someone had to. Carry on.
     
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