As some of you may know, I am of Filipino descent. So, I naturally have a strong interest in learning anything I can about Baseball in the Philippines.
Unfortunately, the game is barely on the radar today. Basketball and boxing has taken over the islands as its most popular sports. Although, there is a league called Baseball Philippines that started up in 2007, and they did field a team for the WBC last year (but didn't get to the qualifying rounds).
The lack of Baseballs popularity in the Philippines has not always been the case, however. In fact, the little research I've been able to do points to the islands as once being an Asian powerhouse for much of the early part of the 20th century. Their national team had won the inaugural Asian Baseball Championship in 1954 against Japan.
In celebration of my heritage, I often search eBay in hopes of finding vintage Baseball memorabilia from the Philippines. This is often a fruitless endeavor, but I am happy to declare that I recently won something that I want to share with you today.
Featured here is an early 20th Century (likely the late 1910's) postcard of the Cebu Island Baseball Team. The caption at the bottom indicates that this team was the Champion Native Team of the Philippines.
I love seeing the old Baseball equipment; including the vintage gloves and uniforms. I especially love the ties these lads are wearing. It's so old school!
On the reverse, it shows that it was mailed from a Russell in the Philippines to a Ralph Fuller in Indiana. The postage used is a circa 1917 Jose Rizal (a National hero of the Philippines) Philippines Islands/USA issued stamp. The cancellation on the reverse is a bit confusing to me. It appears to indicate a cancel date of 1913, but that can't be right. Can it? It's a bit smudged, so maybe my eyes are deceiving me. All my research shows that the Rizal stamp was issues in 1917, not 1913.
Anyway, I wanted to share this with all of you. If anyone happens to know anything about Baseball in the Philippines or have any sources I can peruse, please let me know. My thirst for knowledge is rather insatiable.
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the Jose rizal postage stamp they first issued that in 1907
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