He might be the brains behind the organization, but Vintage Joe is certainly no slouch on the field or at the strikers line either. He has been seen on the field, holding down catching duties, covering first sack and even patrolling the outfield. He's gritty, enthusiastic, and a good will ambassador to the vintage game. So let's cut the hyperbole and get right to it. We had the chance to sit down with Lord Orator himself and get serious to know what makes a vintage gent tick.
KEEP IT VINTAGE: Some have said, and when i say some I mean me, that you started the modern Orators just so you can add another jersey to your already staggering collection. Care to comment?
JOE V: Actually it's more of knicker fetish for me more than anything else. You just don't see enough mens knee length pants anymore. This was a great opportunity to bring'em back. I do have a jersey addiction and it is a fair observation on your part. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was a motivating factor. I've gone to great lengths to get my hands on a new prized jersey I've fancied. This would be right up there: An opportunity to create my own! Unfortunately my creative license was suspended with my intent to recreate the original Orators Jersey. That said, there has been rumblings of alternates.
KIV: Speaking of any new jerseys in your collection?
JV: Yes, I've recently added an authentic Johan Santana Mets home jersey and my most recent addition is a game worn Bridgeport SoundTigers away Mathew Spiller Jersey I won in an auction. Pretty sweet but I'm swimming in it. Spiller is a 6'6" defensemen. Bad jersey calculation on my part. That's it. For now.
KIV: Obviously the history has a lot to do with Jim O'rourke - the Orator himself. Let's be honest, do you think you and Jim would get along? Or do you think he feels you're kind of riding his coattails as the quintessential vintage Bridgeporter? (what might you guys talk about or do if you met?)
JV: Good question, I struggle with this daily. What does this say about me? I couldn't even come up with my own team. O'Rourke would probably enjoy what I am doing and applaud the effort. However, after all the pleasantries were over, I can see him suing me for copyright infringements etc. He was a talented lawyer you know. Last time I checked, I didn't sign any paper work to use his and his team's name. Guess we'd just have to start form scratch and that means...new jerseys!
KIV: You've said in the past the roots of the team were planted when you looked into joining the Newtown Sandy Hooks last year. Tell us the story, but if you could add gnomes and maybe fairies to it. I like gnomes...
JV: When I was just a young little gnome, a fairy came to me in the middle of the night while I was holidaying in Belize. What the fairy said was not really important. What was important was the the replenthentic Orators jersey she was wearing over her fairy dress and wings. It was at that moment that I realized, I needed to go back to bed and this little gnome may have hit the sauce too hard that night while hitting the streets of Belize!
Years later, after I had grown out of my gnome stage, I was introduced to vintage and the [Newtown] Sandy Hooks. As I was about to join the Hooks, suddenly my memory of that warm Belizean night came back to me. I remembered the jersey the fairy was wearing and suddenly I realized it was my time - time to get vintage in Bridgeport. Hence the Orators came to be.
KIV: You obviously spend a lot of time practicing, playing, organizing games, and of course sending your team a lot of e-mails every day. Let me ask you - what is more important to you - keeping it vintage or your family?
JV: At risk of losing my marriage, I'll keep this short. What is most important to me is keeping my family vintage and my vintage family. My wife and I just bought a home that was built in 1914 - pretty vintage huh?
KIV: As the guy who got this team off the ground and runs things behind the scenes, it's probably pretty gratifying to see the team together, playing, having fun. When did you hit that pinnacle and say all this work is worth it? And be honest did you think you were pretty cool for orchestrating it all?
JV: I think I felt my most gratified when we held our first group team meeting at The Field [restaurant]last year. When people hand over $175 bucks for a uniform and sign up for baseball without gloves - sigh unseen - you feel pretty good. I guess what rivaled that was our first game against the [Hartford] Dark Blues and our game at Harbor Yard last July. I though I was pretty cool before I got vintage, however I think my coolness increased one or two levels on the coolness barometer since I've starting Oratin. I maybe approaching the coolness level of my holiday taking, jet setting gnome days.
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