The Twenty-First Century Townball Podcast

For the last interview not only of this chapter but of the whole series, we’re gonna hear from a brand new townball player from northern Washington state, Aaron Gibbs! Aaron has played a total of three townball games, so of all the guests we’ve had he is the most new to the game. Aaron is a good friend of Rylan Schubkegel who we had on in Chapter 2, if you’ll remember. Aaron is getting a master’s...

Daniel Jones is back but this time he is joined by his wife Adina! Adina has been along for the ride from the beginning and was the principal seamstress in making jerseys for the Newberg Quakers last year as well as other townball jerseys. Adina could not have done this without the help of Veritas alumna Olivia Veeman. Olivia was an avid townball player at Veritas and has since joined the Newberg...

Before there was townball at UHS, there was cricket. We get to hear about that at length for the first time in this series from repeat guest Jimmy Sanborn and newcomer to the podcast Josh "JT" Treisman. Jimmy and JT go way back as friends at UHS and were there to witness the transformation from the cricket season to the townball season at UHS, year in and year out in the early to mid 201...

Roshan and Artashes are the captains of the California Golden Bears. As of January 1, 2024, Roshan will be the new West Coast Townball League Commissioner and Artashes just took a position in the motherboard which is a group of 8 that oversees the sport in general. They are both finishing up their studies at Berkeley College this year and they’re on a mission to keep townball growing! Like others...

You stuck around to the end! Chapter 4 is more or less the chapter we’re using for episodes that aren’t as concerned with a particular period in time. Since these conversations didn’t fit as well into the other chapters, they ended up in the miscellaneous chapter if you will. However, that’s not to say that these conversations are super random. In fact, they cover more of what’s going on in Califo...

In this chapter called Townball in the Midwest we are closing with some very important and wonderful people that have put their stamp on townball in Hillsdale, MI most notably at Hillsdale College. My other brother Jacob will help bridge the gap between townball out west to how townball has expanded out here in Michigan, you’ll hear from our friend Gabe Kottkamp (the current townball club presiden...

Guess what? There are more Mores! We get to hear from Grant's brother Nathan talk about how he introduced Grant to townball back in Newberg in 2019 and how Nathan has been along for the ride ever since, witnessing townball's expansion into the Midwest. You'll hear Nathan start by recounting his time as a student at Veritas, meeting Daniel Jones, and then describing the state of townbal...

Get to know four players from the only (so far) townball team east of California, the Hillsdale People: Ezra and Silas Hutchinson, and Felipe and Artur Siimes. This is the first time we get to hear from the younger player’s perspective, and they were very glad to do this episode in person. They passed a single mic around the table so everyone got equal opportunities to speak, so you’ll notice that...

Dr. Paul Moreno is the Dean of Social Sciences at Hillsdale College and faculty advisor for the college's townball club. We get to listen to him take a deep dive into what made baseball appealing in its early stages all the way until its golden era in the mid 20th century, and what lessons can be learned from history when it comes to how to shape the culture and growth of Twenty-First Century...

Corky "Goose" Gaskell is a well-known name within the vintage base ball (VBB) community, and he is our guest on the inaugural episode of Chapter 3! Corky has been involved with VBB for almost fifteen years, dedicating his time to his home team the Roosters Base Ball Club of Rochester, MN, the Vintage Base Ball Association (VBBA), umpiring games around the country during the summer, handm...

Listen as Grant gives a brief description of the Chapter 3 episodes. You can support the Thai Village Fundraiser here !

In our first "bonus" episode, we hear from Joshua "Chuck" Jones about how statistics are measured in townball and why they are the way they are, given the very unique rules and field design of the game. Chuck also talks about his yearlong hiatus from townball and why reading a nearly 1500-year-old book by a guy named Boethius brought him back to the game and rejuvenated his lif...

Here we are at the end of Chapter 2: The Newberg Years! In this episode, Jones distills and differentiates the main conversations that took place over this chapter, most notably the 1) scalability of townball, 2) the new player experience, and 3) what kind of environment makes townball thrive. The sequence of these Chapter 2 episodes was very intentional, highlighting both sides of the debate on d...

Ben Drury and Ethan & Cana Whitted are three of Grant's friends from college who eventually became townball players near the end of the "Newberg Years", starting to play around early 2021. They shared a lot of similar experiences as Brent, Zak, and Rylan, but also some different initial experiences that have yet to be represented on the podcast. It's worth mentioning that Eth...

This is the first multi-guest episode of the series and it just might be the most "clip-able" one so far, with so many excellent insights and funny stories about townball from three of Grant's college friends: Brent Townley, Zak Buckles, and Rylan Schubkegel. Grant introduced them to townball and they fell in love with it! Starting in 2019, they were a part of the first group of peop...

Lucian Himes is a Veritas alum who got to witness townball's introduction to Veritas in his senior year of high school, 2018-19. He has a lot of perspective to bring to the game having been a serious baseball player his whole life, and he had a lot to say on this episode on what he thinks is possible with townball given the current bat-and-ball world we live in. Listen to Lucian's insight...

Who better to kick off talking about the Newberg years than the current Portland-area point person for townball, Tristan Rickert? Tristan was a student at Veritas School in Newberg, OR, starting his freshman year when Jones moved up from Fresno to take a math teaching position at Veritas. Tristan was one of the first Veritas students to get really involved in the game. As Jones was ushering in a n...

Listen as Grant details the narrative structure of the podcast going forward in this new chapter focusing on "the Newberg era" of townball from 2018-2023.

We finally made it to the first of many Daniel Jones episodes! Daniel Jones is the founding father of Twenty-First Century Townball and started it all in his January 2012 elective "Origins of the American Pastime" at University High School in Fresno, CA. Growing up as a missionary kid in Taiwan, he would occasionally return back home to the Midwest where, as he described it, "the sp...

Get ready to hear from townball's unofficial "CUO", chief umpiring officer Jimmy Sanborn! Like the others in Chapter 1, Jimmy attended University High School where he started playing townball. His unique contribution to the sport has been (and is still today) umpiring countless games of townball, sharpening his skills in a brand new game with a unique arrangement of rules. If Brad Vi...

The third UHS alum on the podcast is Brad Visacki. Brad is known as the "Babe Ruth" of townball: partly because he always wore a Yankees cap, partly because of his baby face, and partly because he played just like Ruth---especially by hitting homeruns! As captain of the New York Mutuals townball team his senior year, he led the league in homeruns, RBIs, and slugging percentage. Listen to...

Just like our first guest Tommy Sanchez, Mason Mullanax was a high school student at University High School (UHS), Fresno, CA when he got caught up in townball. Though after he graduated, he never really got back into the game---especially once he left California for the Midwest. It wasn't until Daniel Jones heard Mason had moved that he put him in touch with me, your host Grant More. Mason an...

Tommy Sanchez joined the sport in his early high school years at University High School in Fresno, CA, and quickly became a team captain. He has since led regional townball teams in the Central Valley of California and held leadership roles within the growth of the sport itself. Tommy loves to describe townball as "organized chaos"---a befitting description! Listen to the episode to lear...