EXETERSPITFIRES
SPITFIRESHISTORY
HENRYCHADWICK
Exeter's home grown hall of famer....
Exeters conribution to baseball streches back to 1824 and the birth of Henry Chadwick. Henry moved to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 12 and at that time was a keen cricket and rounders player.
Chadwick first encountered baseball in 1856, while working as a cricket reporter for the Long Island Star. He was soon hooked on Baseball and set about devising ways to record baseball scores and statistics. Chadwick is credited with devising the Box Score, batting averages, ERA and using the letter 'K' to represent a strike out.
Chadwick was an influencial member of the game's early rules committees and worked hard to promote the sport during its infancy. Chadwick wrote many guides, manuals and coaching books on Baseball, including the first ever hard cover book on Baseball 'The Game of Baseball' first published in 1868.
For his tireless and influencial work, Chadwick was inducted in to Baseball's hall of fame in 1938 and is known as 'the father of baseball'. He passed away in April 1908 in Brooklyn, leaving behind a legacy that would grow to become one of America's favourite past times.
2000Takeoff
Formed in 2000, the Spitfires became members of the Mid West Baseball league, playing against The Cheddar Rockies, Gloucester Meteors , Droitwich Spartans and Rowheath Raiders. The clubs first ever game was against the Mid West defending champions, the Cheddar Rockies in a 23-8 loss. Their first win would come a week later against Rowheath, in a comfotable 37-6 victory.
The club celebrated its first ever grand slam in the penultimate game of the season, courtesy of Neale Raleigh, in a high scoring 35-27 win for the Devon club. The following week the Devon side lost their last game of the season to Gloucester, as the Meteors were crowned champions after a perfect 8-0 season. However, despite the loss, the Spitfires finished a respectable second place in their first season.
Final Standings
win losses %
Gloucester 8 8 .100
Exeter 5 3 .625
Cheddar 4 4 .500
Droitwich 3 5 .375
Rowheath 0 8 .000
2001The GoldenYear
The 2001 season was the zenith for Exeter Spitfires, 2nd place in the league, 2nd place in a 4 team London tournement and champions of the Baseball UK Mid West Knockout Cup.
The squad was bolstered by the arival of infielders Gary Courtney and Mark Williams, also arriving from the states were University pitcher Andy Nosneski and BBF envoy coach Chad Brown, former Great Britain Pitcher Julian Fountain also played several games on the way to reviving his Great Britain career.
In a 4 team London tournament, the club would finish 2nd, after victories against Windsor and the Essex Arrows. Following the tournament Julian Fountain was selected to play a 5 game series for team GB against Sweden and the tournament would prove to be his last game for the club.
The highlight of the season came in July in the Mid West Trophey. Victories against Cheddar and Sparkhill saw the Spitfires top their group and set up a semi final against Gloucester. Victory against Gloucester set up a final against Cheddar. The Spitfires went on to beat Cheddar 11-0 on the back of a superb pitching performance by Andy Nosneski.
Sadly, after the 2001 season Droitwich, Sparkhill and Gloucester all folded leaving the Exeter Club no fixtures for the 2002 season and thus, sadly the Spitfires folded as well.
The Exeter Spitfires were formed in 2000 and are named after the Polish Spitfire pilots who were stationed in the city during World War II. Following promising seasons in 2000 and 2001 the club was disbanded following the 2001 season due to lack of opposition. In 2012 the club was re-born and became members of the South West Baseball League. What follows is a history of the Exeter Spitfires and the cities very own Hall of Famer
2012FromLittleAcorns
In 2012 the South West Baseball League was established with the Plymouth Mariners, Torbay Barons and Bristol Bats taking part in the first season. This provided just the inspiration needed for former Spitfire player Neale Raleigh and he set about reforming the Spitfires with a few other former team mates and some new faces.
The newly re-established team began training towards the end of the 2012 season and enjoyed a friendly victory over the Torbay Barons and a 10-10 tie in a post season friendly against the new crowned SWBL champions Plymouth.
In October 2012 a meeting was held at the Bowling Green Inn and the club was formaly re-established. Neale worked hard over the winter to ensure the club had a ground for the 2013 season. St. Luke's College were approached and were receptive to the idea of a baseball diamond but confirmation would have to wait till School staff returned from the Christmas break in January.
