More History Lessons

Often times when we head out to the kickball field, we will get questions as to why we are the “pink team” and why do you have a giant pink elephant as a mascot. For the real reasons, we once again turn to team historian, Will, for the real story of the BCBs...

The Ballad of Drinky Von Hamerstein also "Hammersteen," "Hammerstein"

Although the exact origins of the name Drinky Von Hamerstein are unclear, many trace the name of the now well known mascot to Dirk "The Hammer" Steenhoek, a mid 17th century Dutch Count who first brought kickball to the lowlands, playing a version that involved a keg at each of two windmills in the outfield, and the baselines being lined with tulips. However, after The Hammer and his team of Dutch mercenaries crushed the North London Tigerlilies in an invitational tournament championship, famously ending in the bottom of the seventh with a thunderous home run off the top of the left field windmill by none other than The Hammer himself, Dutch-English relations began to deteriorate. The English King, devastated that his favorite team was humiliated not only on the kickball field, but also in the ensuing game of flip-stein (a precursor to the modern game of flip-cup), declared war on the Dutch soon thereafter, resulting in the first Anglo-Dutch War. Fearing for his life, Dirk Steenhoek fled to the nearby German principality of Hesse, adopting the name Dirky Von Hammersteen, and purchasing a small castle overlooking a river. With enough excitement to last a lifetime under his belt and over 20 million guilders in prize money earned over his successful kickball career, Von Hamersteen retired, managing a local semi-pro kickball team, capturing and raising elephants in his free time, and working on a new form of kickball, made from a tanned elephant bladder.
Dirky, dubbed "Drinky" by his drinking buddies who were astounded by his unparalleled drinking ability, died under mysterious circumstances shortly before the beginning of the 18th century. Although he was found crushed to death, all of his famous elephants were still locked in their stables. He was buried at nearby Pink Mountain, where a statue of him riding an elephant, kickball in one hand, trophy in the other, was erected, and stands to this day. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, August 30, his descendants replace the pink tulip clenched between the statue's teeth, and play a game of kickball in his memory.