In Memoriam: Al "Old Dutch" Dieckmann

rom the very first time he encountered vintage base ball, "Old Dutch" knew he had to be an active participant. He knew all about the origin of base ball, and about the rules of the early years. "Home plate should be round", he said. He informed us of the things we were doing wrong and helped us correct them so that we were presenting the vintage game properly. Then he put on a uniform. "Old Dutch was the consummate vintage base ball player. He looked the part. He knew all the vintage rules, and taught us all how to look at the rules to properly understand them. He was probably the leading expert on vintage base ball rules in the country. And he just loved to talk about the game. His utmost joy was playing in a vintage game with his kids- John, Rob, and Candice.

Al was a trustee of the VBBA, a member of SABR, and President of the HBBA. He engineered the HBBA Festival '98, in which teams from all over the country gathered to play base ball by the rules of 7 different eras. It was all his wonderful idea to exhibit the early years of base ball in this unique manner. Al was one of the founders of the Atlantics, and one of the captains. From the beginning, he primarily was the Atlantic pitcher, and occasionally played second base. He was the master of the fair/foul hit. In his last game with Atlantic he had 5 hits, and stole a bunch of bases. Old Dutch missed playing many games because he would fill the role of umpire. He enjoyed umpiring as much as he enjoyed playing.

Al brought the concept to us that playing the game was the important part, and if you enjoyed the game, and had fun playing it, then you won. It shall never be "Win one for Old Dutch", but rather "Enjoy one for Old Dutch". There is no doubt that he is smiling down on us from that great base ball field in the sky. "Old Dutch" will be missed, and remembered, for all he did for our re-creation of vintage base ball.