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HISTORY OF THE HOOVER SWEEPERS

VINTAGE BALL CLUB
NORTH CANTON, OHIO

The Hoover Sweepers ball club performs the game of base ball (originally spelled as two words) as a "gentleman's game" and honors the rules of the 1860s. Sponsored by the Hoover Historical Center, the club was organized as an official "club nine" with 16 members clad in their own Currier & Ives, vintage-style uniforms at seven games in the 1995 season. Previously from 1992-94, team players experienced vintage base ball by meeting one adversary annually, the Ohio Village Muffins.

The Hoover Sweepers' organization is a charter member of The Vintage Base Ball Association, founded in 1996. The Association serves as a link for vintage base ball clubs throughout the nation, preserving and promoting the game of base ball as it was played during its formative years, stressing the high standards of sportsmanship, courtesy, gentlemanly behavior, and respect for others. These values are practiced by the Sweepers' organization in addition to fulfilling the Association's requirements which include a club must:

be formally organized and have at least nine members;
agree to support and embrace the mission of the Association;
present itself on the field of play in appropriate uniforms authentic to mid-nineteenth century period;
play a minimum of six matches in the season prior to joining the Association and continue such during each season of membership.

Love of this sport and the curiosity to observe the game in its original form gives spectators the pleasure and enjoyment which was typical of the past lifestyle reflecting 1860s simplicity, the time period in which the Sweepers role-play. Playing their home matches in an open grassy field at Hoover Park in North Canton completes the observers' illusion they've stepped back in time. Admission to all home matches is free.

Hoover Park is located at 1901 East Maple Street in North Canton, Ohio. Hoover Park and the Hoover Historical Center are owned and operated by Walsh University.

Tours of the Hoover family's Victorian home are conducted hourly from 1-4 p.m., Wednesday - Saturday, March - December, Wednesday - Friday in February. Admission is $3, and children 12 & under are free. The Center is closed Sunday - Tuesday and on holidays. Groups of 8 or more require advance reservations, morning reservations are available.

The Center's permanent "Sweeping Changes" display preserves the history of the Hoover family, the Hoover Company and the evolution of the vacuum cleaner within the Victorian boyhood home of Company founder William H. "Boss" Hoover.

For more information on the Hoover Sweepers Vintage Base Ball Club, phone the Hoover Historical Center at (330) 499-0287 or email ahaines@walsh.edu.