Report

A U.S. County Court Judge, Arthur O’Dea, whose grandparents were from Woodford, Co. Galway, arranged the first ever exhibition match of Baseball in Galway in August 1970. The match took place at Parkmore, Tuam, and involved teenagers from the locality, some of whom picked up the game fairly quickly. The Judge had hoped to have set up a League by the time he travelled back to Berger County, New Jersey, where he was from.

He left a set of Baseball bats with the Christian Brothers in Tuam and by September the boys in the Youth Club were playing regularly. He had also hoped to organise a match in New Jersey the following year between Irish and American teams, and had promised the boys if they were championship standard he would bring them to the United States in 1971 for the match.

References:

Sources:

[1] Anon. (1970) “The Judge socks it to them!” Evening Herald. Tuesday, August 18, 1970. pg. 18

[2] Anon. (1970) “U.S. judge brings Baseball to Galway”. Tuam Herald. Saturday, August 15, 1970. pg. 1.

[3] Anon. (1970) “Tuam Youth Club”. Tuam Herald. Saturday, September 19, 1970. pg. 6.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Glenamaddy Tully’s.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 31 May 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021

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