People have been hitting balls with sticks, clubs and bats for many years. The first official baseball game was played in 1846 between the New York Knickerbockers and the New York Nines, a cricket team, using the Knickerbocker Rules, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. An item in a long-forgotten New York newspaper, The National Advocate, April 23, 1823, quoted a writer who called himself “the Spectator”. He stated, “much pleased in witnessing a company of young men playing the manly and athletic game.” A similar note in the New York Gazette stated, “received a communication in favor of the manly exercise of ‘base-ball’.” From those early days in New York, the game gained popularity across the country.
Baseball mania soon gripped the nation. Lifelong Deltaville resident and baseball supporter, Fred Crittenden, recalled in A Portrait of Deltaville 25th Anniversary Edition 2001: “The first Deltaville team came sometime after World War I and each business donated one green and white uniform.” By 1948, young men in Middlesex County, Virginia were playing baseball in their own wooden stadium, the Deltaville Ballpark. The Deltaville Ballpark is the oldest wooden ballpark in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Courtesy Crittenden family
Team photo circa 1950s.
Deltaville men, such as Thomas Crittenden, joined together in the 1940s to develop the Deltas baseball team program. His son, Fred Crittenden, played for and coached the Deltas. Eventually, Fred’s son Jerry played for the team as well and has been coaching since 1986. Jerry said, “I more or less grew up going to the ballpark. I was first taken there as an infant. I can remember as a toddler being there with my dad while he worked on the field. As I grew up, we knew every Saturday night from May until August, we were going to be in Deltaville at the ballpark. My sister, my brother and I grew up going there to work on the field. My sons are the fourth generation in my family at the ballfield. All three of them are involved playing with the team. It goes full circle. My baby grandson is now down there every Saturday night. He is three years old.”
The lifelong members and spectators appear to believe there is no better fun than to attend a baseball game on a summer weekend. Under the bright lights and the sound of familiar country music filling the air, they enjoy the fellowship of good friends who are in the stands or playing the game. The aroma of Old Bay French fries, hamburgers, hot dogs, crab cakes and popcorn permeate the air. Unlike the slick performances at major league games, the games played at the Deltaville Ballpark are good old-fashioned baseball played not for the enormous salaries of the professional players you see on television but for the love and passion for the game. Avid baseball fan and humorist Will Rogers once said, “Baseball is our national game; every boy and girl in the United States should play it. It should be made compulsory in the schools.”
Another entry in the A Portrait of Deltaville 25th Anniversary Edition 2001 states “In the early years, the Deltaville team played next to the old schoolhouse, now the Community Center, where the tennis courts are located. Some of the early heavy hitters were Speck Harrow, Norton Hurd and Ed Norton. In the late 1950s, Fred Crittenden became player/manager. He came up with the name ‘Deltas’ when Deltaville was too long to fit on the uniforms he ordered. The Crittenden family has continued to be the foundation of the Deltas with Jerry as manager and Fred and Tommy still coaching.”
One of the founders of the team, World War II naval aviator hero Norton Hurd, played in the Deltaville Ballpark, attended and played baseball at Lynchburg College and taught and coached at Amelia High School from 1938 until June 1941. Prominent businessman Hank Norton, founder of Norton Yachts, played in the old stadium as well, along with IBM vice president and Texaco CFO A.J. Crowe, Reverend Edward Harrow Sr, founder of Middlesex Peninsula Insurance Company and a Baptist minister, and Willard Norris, the famous deadrise boat builder. Bob Henkel, one-time professional baseball player for the Cleveland Indians baseball team who later became a banker, was a team member too. Security adviser Mike Ward has been working at the games as an umpire and then as an announcer for 34 years. In his youth, he played there as a little leaguer.
Former Deltas player, Keith Atherton, was drafted in the 1978 Major League Baseball draft by the Oakland Athletics. He debuted with the A’s in July of 1983 and appeared in 29 games pitching over 100 innings. In 1986, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins where he earned a World Series ring in 1987. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1989.
The Deltaville Deltas are a wood bat summer baseball team of current and former collegiate players from the Middle Peninsula/Northern Neck and surrounding area. When colleges all through Virginia end their school year, former area players come home to keep up their skills playing for the Deltas during the summer as part of the National Adult Baseball Association (NABA).
The land on which the ballpark now sits was purchased in the 1940s. A sandlot ballpark was constructed on the site. In time, friendly baseball rivalries developed between Deltaville and surrounding community teams in Urbanna, Tappahannock, and Mathews.
The Tidewater Baseball League was developed in the early 1950s. Watching baseball on television is just not the same as being at a game. It all starts when you walk through the entrance. Excitement builds as fans all anxiously await the start of the game. The sight of the players warming up. The clinking of wooden bats. The cheering when a favorite player appears. The booing of umpires. All form a cacophony of sounds, sights and smells that touches each fan in a different way. It seems that no matter how many times you go to a game, the game you are at always seems to be special and different.
Keeping the old stadium in tiptop shape is an ongoing endeavor. Randy Blue, manager of the Deltaville Ballpark and chair of the ballpark committee, recalls, “The grandstands were substantially renovated in 1976. The original 1950s incandescent lighting system was replaced in the early 1980s with a then-modern metal-halide lighting system. The dugouts and outfield fence were rebuilt in 1996. In the mid-2010s, a series of significant renovations were completed in phases. The original grandstand roof was replaced in 2016. The scoreboard was replaced in 2017. In 2020, a former entrance was renovated to be ADA-accessible, ADA seating was installed, and the concession stand was replaced with a larger, modern structure. In 2022, the original restrooms were replaced with enlarged, ADA-accessible facilities. And in 2024, the skin playing field (the sand, silt and clay surface of the infield) was substantially replaced using professional, laser-guided equipment, providing a significantly improved playing surface.”
The Deltaville Ballpark is a cherished part of the Middlesex County community. It is part of the Deltaville Community Association. In 2024, volunteers Randy and Stephen Blue spearheaded, along with other volunteers, a one-million-dollar restoration of the Deltaville Ballpark. Randy Blue told The House and Home Magazine, “No one said no. Local contractors, electricians, plumbers, and businesses all came together to pitch in. When it was needed, things appeared…and still do. It simply amazes me, the generosity of the community. The result is that in 2024, over 80 games were played by teams ranging from nine-year-olds to 40 somethings. The players, coaches and spectators span generations of over 75 years. Our goal is to act as a living museum of baseball, be a reminder of a past era, and to meet the needs of those yet to come.”
Just as sure as there will be the sweet song of birds in spring and the new growth of corn in the farm fields of Deltaville, the Deltas will be playing at the Deltaville Ballpark.
Donations to the Deltaville Ballpark can be mailed to P.O. Box 616, Deltaville, VA 23043. Prints of the Joseph Burroughs painting are also available. Visit www.DeltavilleBallpark.com.