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Mayer retired from the banking industry in 2005. Since then, he has researched the history of baseball in the Hudson Valley and the men who played it.
“When I retired I started looking into some items in my baseball collection and that kind of got me into this,” Mayer told The Daily Voice in 2011. “I’d take an old photograph and I’d start researching the team or the players and sometimes a story comes out of it.”
The event is sponsored by the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society and is free to the public. Mayer will illustrate the origins of baseball in the Hudson Valley with historical photos and baseball memorabilia and will talk about some of the early players and teams in Peekskill, including amateur, semi-pro and professional players.
Mayer will also discuss the Fleischmann family and their baseball interests. Fleischmann’s Standard Brands distillery factory complex at Charles Point was Peekskill’s largest employer for more than 60 years and funded its own baseball team.
The Putnam Valley resident has presented programs at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and at numerous sports museums, libraries and historical societies. He has also owned and managed Spring Fever, a vintage baseball memorabilia company for 19 years.
The Little Red Schoolhouse is located at 297 Locust Avenue next to Old Saint Peter’s Church and cemetery. For more information, visit: www.vancort.net or call 914-736-7868.
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