In Talinn in 1919

Pre-pro Baseball

Talinn, Estonia Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games Estonia Firsts, Games, Clubs, Fields, Predecessor Games

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Date of Game	1919
Location	Talinn, Estonia
Modern Address
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Score
Game Number
Innings	9
Number of Players
Game Officials
NY Rules	Yes
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Description	U.S. Army Lt. John Thors  first introduced baseball to Estonia back in 1919. In his memoirs An American Epic (1961), former U.S. President Herbert Hoover writes: “The only bit of humor from the Baltic was provided by Lieutenant John Thors who had charge of child relief in Estonia. He reported that upon the arrival of our ship the Lake Dancey, the captain asked for a field for his crew to determine whether the sailors or the fire-men had a better baseball team. Thors had a field marked out and decided that he would charge the Estonians admission to this strange performance. He borrowed a band from the town and saw to it that full publicity appeared in the press. The sailors and firemen donated cigarettes to be sold for 1.50 marks a pack – say 25 cents – a reduction of about 80 per cent of the current price. The band, cigarettes, and baseball game proved a huge success. Lieutenant Thors counted up 3,200 marks for the Children's Relief.”  In August, 1923, the crew of the USS Pittsburgh even got a chance to play a game of baseball against a local  Estonian team, defeating them by a score of 6 to 1.
Sources	Herbert Hoover, "An American Epic" (1961)
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Has Source On Hand	No
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Found by	Bruce Allardice
Submission Note
Entered by
First in Location	Estonia
Players Locality	Non-local
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