Albany Queer Baseball (The Chasers) began in June of 2025 with an open catch meetup. Since then, we have had a successful first season, practicing on weeknights from June to October and playing four games, including one against a visiting team from Philadelphia!

We play full field, overhand pitch baseball as they did in the good ol days, with a mix of metal and wood bats. Some gear is provided for those without a bat or a glove. In games, we play as many innings as everyone is interested in, with no called balls or strikes besides three swinging strikes. The idea is to put the ball in play. When we practice, we may do soft toss batting practice, work on ground balls, or develop basics, like how to throw and catch, if needed. Practices tend to run for a couple of hours.

We owe much of our existence to the nationwide sandlot revolution and the Dock Ellis League. (sandlotrevolution.org). We are also proud to follow earlier and ongoing queer baseball teams such as the Quaker City Cryptids, the Durham Fruits and Palouse Gay Baseball, as well as the many closeted or dissuaded queer people of the past who did not or could not play sports in this way openly.

The Chasers don't acknowledge gendered division in sports and have no rules based on gender. Baseball is for women, nonbinary people and men of all kinds. The people in power may lead you to believe that queer sports, especially transgender sports, are an aberration, a joke, or a cheat. Unfortunately for them, transgender sports are as vitally human and as increasingly common as any other.