The Herts Falcons were formed as the Bushey Falcons in 1996. The team was formed by Dominic Black and David Hibbert. Dominic had previous experience of the game playing at Totteridge, David had discovered a passion for the game whilst watching it on late night TV. Both felt that there was plenty of scope to create and develop a team in Hertfordshire.
The founder members of the Falcons are Simon Clarke, Aaron Walker, Eddie Sierocinski, Kevin Freeman, Sean Young, James Tucker, Rich Johnson, Steve Timmons, Tony Rooney, Dominic Black and David Hibbert.
Whilst David’s enthusiasm quickly faded, Dominic (with some help from his friend Tony Rooney) set about building a baseball team from absolute beginners. They dedicated the summer of 1996 to teaching the game and to developing the legendary falcons team spirit. To prepare for the 1997 BBF season the Falcons spent 1996 playing a series of friendlies against other established teams.
Their ignominious start was a crushing 51 – 6 loss against those veterans of British baseball the Old Timers on 17th July 1996. The Falcons went on to lose more games over the summer, but all the time learning from their opponents and developing skills, friendships and rivalries. Their hard work began to pay off when they faced the Old Timers again on 28th September 1996. They still lost this outing by 14 runs but this was clearly a vast improvement on the previous 45 run difference just two months earlier. Baseball in November is pushing a summer sport even in sunnier climes than ours, but braving the elements proved worth it for the Falcons. On 3rd November 1996 they recorded their first ever victory; winning 4 – 9 against the Southend Peers. This was a buoyant way to finish the club’s first season.