America’s pastime beside an English River
Metalheads, Giants and Baseball bliss.
Metalheads, Giants and Baseball bliss.
Now for details of an exciting and high scoring start to today’s “Baseball by the River”, over to our UK correspondent, Stephen Blackford
“No sooner had the players entered the field of play but yet another rain shower descended on “The Meadow Ground”, home of the Telford “Giants”, who this morning played host to the “Metalheads” of Birmingham as East met West in the West Midlands Baseball League. With Birmingham travelling West with an impressive 5–3 season so far, their Telford hosts in the Eastern Division remained mired in the middle of their division with an underwhelming 2 wins from 7 matches this season, but struck early to end the 1st inning with a 2–0 advantage. Their lead lasted until the top of the 2nd inning with the visiting Metalheads squaring matters at 2–2 before the home team Giants once more took the lead, and a 3 runs to 2 advantage into the 3rd inning. That’s when calamity struck for the Giants.
Unable to escape the inning and with base runners forever in scoring position or stealing a base, the Giants gave up 10 runs in a costly 3rd inning that included 3 separate, multi-scoring Home Runs that all flew over the centre field fence, and from 3–2 down entering the inning, the Metalheads from Birmingham left the inning without allowing a run in reply with 2 glorious strike outs.
At 12–3 entering the 4th inning, the Giants are staring yet another heavy defeat squarely in the face.
Back to you in the studio Tom”.
My photographer and I left the game at the Top of the 4th Inning with the hosts trailing 12–3 as yet again bribery had ultimately won the day and a box of piping hot fish and chips were calling us from the local chip shop near the bridge. Despite the heavy rain showers, we largely dodged them in search of errant baseballs in the nearby trees or by sheltering beneath the stone arch that supports the world’s oldest iron bridge and which I have forever dubbed the “Grand Old Lady”. Ironbridge hummed along to the sound of excited tourists, families and children, and we bade farewell once more to a tiny piece of heaven on earth that I can’t recommend highly enough should your travelling feet ever be heading for central England.
The baseball? Ended 26–11 (26–11!) in favour of the visiting Metalheads. 12–3 at the top of the 4th Inning became 15–5 by the bottom of the 5th before both teams scored heavily in the 6th and the Metalheads rounded off the scoring in the top of the 7th with 4 final runs on their way to a comprehensive 26–11 victory.
The Giants have 3 consecutive home fixtures back in Ironbridge in early to mid August and with the UK expected to be basking in yet another heatwave by then and throughout the month of August apparently, no prizes for guessing where I’ll be spending some sunny Sunday afternoons.
Baseball by the River Severn?
Count me in!
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to visit my “UK Travel” library here or alternatively, here are my three most recently published articles from this Summer of 2023:
The 15 Locks of Audlem Mill
Thursday 13th July 2023.medium.com
A stroll on the banks of the River Severn
Wednesday 5th July, 2023.medium.com