Baseball fans recall game between New York Yankees and Delco amateur team

It's the baseball game you never heard about. The time the New York Yankees played an amateur team in Delaware County. 

Michael Ciach, Upland’s Borough Manager, recognized the commemoration of the baseball game a century ago when the Yankees played an exhibition game against the semi-pro team from Upland.

"Upland went up 3-2 for most of the game," he said. "The Yankees kind of tried to mount something and couldn’t quite make it and the game ended 4-3."

In Borough Hall, the story of this game was printed years later in the former "Chester Times" and is one of few documentations of the game played in October of 1920.

In the 1920s it was common for major league teams to play exhibition games for extra money. During that time, amateur baseball in Delaware County was also popular on weekends.

One of the most famous New York Yankees of all time never made the roster that day. Despite receiving an offer to play, Babe Ruth mysteriously never showed up for the game, according to Ciach.

"Rumor has it he was on his way down when he ran into a politician's daughter from another town. Somehow, there was an accident involved and he was threatened by the Mayor of the town and he went home," he said.

Lieutenant Carl Kraft of the Aston Fire Department accounts differently that Babe Ruth got drunk that night and never made the trip. 

Though the participants of the celebration are not major leaguers, they can now say they’ve played on a real field of dreams.

Borough leaders are now working to have the game recognized by the Phillies and Yankees during next month’s series. To participants in Delaware County, this nostalgic event is significant and could mean a lot to baseball lovers everywhere.

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