Sunday, March 1st, 2009
The Old Ball Game
By Erika Janik
The national pastime was a lot different 150 years ago.
Vintage base ball clubs look back to when the name of the game had two words and a strikeout took more than three pitches.
STANDING ON THE dusty field, hat pulled over his ears and striped socks stuffed in shoes that look more like wing-tips than Nikes, the hurler winds up and tosses the apple to the striker, who, only moments before, politely informed him where he wanted it pitched. The action is so close to the fans perched on the grassy hill at Old World Wisconsin (www.oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org) that they can count the lemon peel stitches on the ball.
This is definitely not the major leagues.
With more than 250 amateur clubs, vintage base ball (yes, that’s right, two words) is taking off in the U.S. in a big way. The old-fashioned game speaks to a yearning for the sport as it existed before it became a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s a game of manners, in which there is no showing off or trash talking, and the umpire is always addressed as “Sir.”
“This is baseball how it was meant to be—a gentle-man’s game, athletics with social graces. No batting gloves, helmets, elbow pads, arguing or charging the pitcher. Just base ball,” says Jim Bouton, a former Yankees pitcher, author of Ball Four and president of the Vintage Base Ball Federation (www.vintagebbf.com).
With charming names that recall the town boosterism and Barnum & Bailey-style hype of the 19th century—like the Greenbush Dead Citys, Santa Clara Stogies, Mighty River Hogs of Midland County and the Hoover Sweepers—vintage teams play using 19th-century rules. They also re-create the equipment and uniforms of the past to play games that are both educational and fun. Though historical in nature, the games aren’t staged reenactments; they’re full-speed-ahead athletic contests. The vintage game is recognizably baseball, it’s just baseball with a few twists. In some games, for example, foul balls don’t count as strikes. Drop the ball? No problem if it’s picked up before it hits the ground a second time. Bases can’t be stolen either—stealing isn’t gentlemanly. In some versions of the game, players are even entitled to four strikes, which makes for tittering in the crowd when “strike four!” is called. Umpires don’t call every play, either; they step in only to resolve disputes between the teams. Perhaps most unusual of all is that batters can request where they want the ball to be pitched.
And in keeping with the Victorian manners of the era, “Ballists must ask the ladies in attendance if it is okay for them to roll up their sleeves and expose a bare arm,” says Jeff Perkins, umpire and ballist for the Milwaukee Cream Citys.
The first vintage base ball games were played at Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Bethpage, N.Y., in 1980. Until recently, vintage base ball remained primarily a local phenomenon, with teams of 12 to 14 players, often affiliated with historical museums, playing exhibition games for family and friends. The game leapt to the national stage in 2004 when ESPN Classic broad cast an 1880s-style match-up between the Hartford Senators and the Pittsfield Hillies at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Mass.
Two national organizations have formed: The Vintage Base Ball Association (www.vbba.org), started in 1996, plays mostly by the rules used in the 1860s, while the Vintage Base Ball Federation, established in 2006, celebrates the 1880s game. The 1860s rules dictate underhand pitching and bare hands, while the 1880s style allows fielders to use gloves (though they resemble gardening gloves). The two eras also differed in attitude, as the gentlemanly behavior of the 1860s gave way to the increasingly competitive 1880s style of play. Some teams, like the New York Mutuals, are versatile enough to play by any rules their opponents wish.
The equipment, or lack thereof, make swollen hands and dislocated fingers the most common injuries, unlike the strained muscles and torn rotator cuffs of the major leagues. Even with the softer balls, Jeff Paige of the Milwaukee Cream Citys describes the barehanded catch as brutal.
NO ONE KNOWS for sure how baseball began, but it likely evolved from various bat-and-ball games in Europe. Russia had a version of baseball called lapta dating back to the 14th century, and the British games of cricket and rounders share many similarities. Immigrants brought these games with them to the United States, and clubs started forming in the 1840s and 1850s; the first one recorded was organized in 1823. Soldiers played during the Civil War, and the game grew immensely popular in the postwar era, with teams sprouting up in towns across the country.
The games were as varied as the communities that took to the sport. Rules were constantly in flux in the 19th century, changing from year to year, town to town—sometimes even in the middle of the game, according to Glenn Drinkwater, president of the VBBA.
“Even the rules that did exist were so sparse that it left a lot of room for local improvisation,” Drinkwater says. “Not to mention the discrepancy between what a rule says and what actually happened on the field.”
The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club began the process of formalizing the rules in 1845—setting bases equal distances apart (42 paces from home plate to second base, and 42 paces from first base to third base); establishing “fair” and “foul” areas; and creating codes of conduct. As the century progressed, the rules were integrated more fully and the Knickerbocker Club became the model for early clubs playing New York-style base ball, as opposed to a Boston-style version.
Many leagues are as meticulous about details as those who re-enact Civil War battles, carefully researching rules, team members and uniforms down to the number of buttons on a shirt. Others, particularly those associated with Bouton’s Vintage Base Ball Federation, pick from various rules to create the most interesting game.
“Capturing the spirit and feeling of the era is far more important to me than historical accuracy at a specific moment and place in time,” says Bouton, whose games feature almost as many theatrics off the field as on. At some VBBF games, spectators pass newsboys hawking programs, folksy string bands, Keystone Cops giving everyone a once-over and primly dressed suffragettes demanding the right to vote. By the time you arrive at the field, players in pillbox hats and knickers don’t seem so surprising.
Bouton’s populist approach to the game has occasionally rubbed the purist VBBA—which counts historical accuracy as part of its mission—the wrong way. Bouton, undeterred and ever the 19th-century huckster, spins the friction between the groups into a positive.
“We’re having the same arguments today as in the past,” he says. “The rules were always changing and those wanting to improve the game had to fight the purists.”
One of these modern-day purists, the Eagle Diamonds re-create the Waukesha Diamonds, who played in Waukesha, Wis., in 1868. They are a living history demonstration, like blacksmithing or spinning, at Old World Wisconsin, a museum of rural life. Marty Perkins, curator of research at the historic site, formed the team in 2004 after seeing another vintage team, the Milwaukee Cream Citys, play.
“Base ball was hugely popular in this part of the country in the 19th century, just as baseball still is today,” Perkins says. “The Diamonds demonstrate the relevancy of the past to our lives today in a way that’s hugely accessible.”
Perkins uses photographs and period newspapers to guide equipment decisions and actions on the field. Cell phones, sunglasses and other modern conveniences are kept out of sight. Players drink water from metal cups and watch the action from behind a chicken-wire backstop. Using an 1870s studio portrait of the team, Perkins had wool team uniforms created, authentic down to the blue diamond on the chest, blue knickers, knee-high socks and pancake hats. He also found players whose ages roughly approximate those on the original team.
Not every club can afford uniforms, though. At Wade House Historic Site in Greenbush, Wis., the Green-bush Dead Citys wear period street clothes instead, a concession to budgetary constraints that also lends historical authenticity, as many town teams couldn’t meet the expense of matching uniforms in the 19th century.
Authentic, too, are the fields of play. Pastures, fields and meadows with all their attendant obstacles—trees, fences, mole holes and barns—serve as ball fields for vintage matches. “The outfield was known as the ‘outer garden’ for good reason,” Perkins says. Balls bounce off trees and buildings, remaining in play as long as the obstacle is within the field. There’s usually only one ball, so if it becomes lost or stuck on a rooftop, games are delayed while players scale buildings and fans comb the bushes looking for it.
These little details denoting historical accuracy are certainly impressive, but what attracts most vintage base ball enthusiasts is good old-fashioned fun. “There’s camaraderie between the players and with the crowd. The fun is in fectious,” Paige says.
Judging from the number of programs popping up across the county, Paige is right. Even Canada and Japan are getting in on the act. And Bouton isn’t completely accurate in calling it a “gentleman’s game,” since women, too, have begun fielding teams. Their uniforms are usually quite different, though, consisting of frilly formal dresses.
The game can hook whole families, too. Because there’s no age discrimination in vintage base ball, fathers often play with sons, and people who’ve always loved the game can get their chance on the field. “Long on interest and short on talent” is how Paige describes the involvement.
For Betsy Urven, team manager of the Greenbush Dead Citys, the game is a family affair, with her husband and sons sharing the infield. At Old World Wisconsin, Perkins’ son plays, and his wife generously takes care of the team’s wool uniforms between games.
“Vintage base ball is for everyone. There aren’t many places where an overweight guy in his 50s would not only be welcome, but also encouraged to play,” Drink-water says.
Round the Bases
CATCH ONE OF THESE TEAMS IN ACTION:
BOSTON Boston Colonials and Boston Beaneaters (www.newenglandvintagebaseball.com)
CLEVELAND Cleveland Blues Base Ball Club (www.cbbbc.webs.com)
COLUMBUS, OHIO Ohio Village Muffins/Diamonds (www.sites.google.com/site/muffinsbaseball)
DALLAS/FT. WORTH Cedar Hill Cartwrights Base Ball Club (www.vbbtexas.org)
DAYTON, OHIO Clod Buster Base Ball Club, Kettering (www.clodbusters.org)
DENVER Denver Bluestockings (www.cvbba.org)
FLINT, MICH. Saginaw Old Golds Base Ball Club (www.saginawoldgolds.com);
Mighty River Hogs of Midland County, Saginaw (www.midlandbaseball.org)
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Douglas Dutchers (www.douglasdutchers.org);
Kent Base Ball Club (www.kentbaseball.com)
INDIANAPOLIS Indianapolis Blues (www.indyblues.org)
MILWAUKEE Milwaukee Cream Citys (www.milwaukeecreamcitys.org);
Eagle Diamonds, Eagle (www.oldworldwisconsin.wisconsinhistory.org);
Greenbush Dead Citys, Greenbush (www.wadehouse.wisconsinhistory.org);
Milwaukee Grays (www.milwaukeegrays.org)
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL St. Croix Base Ball Club, Stillwater (www.wchsmn.org);
Quicksteps Base Ball Club, Columbia Heights (www.halseyhall.org)
NEW YORK Atlantic Base Ball Club, Smithtown (www.geocities.com/atlanticbbc);
New York Gothams (www.1864gothams.com)
NEWARK, N.J. Elizabeth Athletic Club, Elizabeth (www.eaclub.org);
Flemington Neshanock, Flemington (www.neshanock.org)
OMAHA, NEB. Stuhr Museum Vintage Base Ball League, Grand Island (www.stuhrmuseum.org)
PITTSBURGH Frosty Sons of Thunder, Somerset (www.frostysons.com)
SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco Pacifics, Oakland Colonels and Santa Clara Stogies (www.eteamz.com/bavbb)
TAMPA, FLA. Dunedin Railers, Largo Crackers and Tampa Tarpons (www.dunedinmuseum.org)
WASHINGTON, D.C. Chesapeake and Potomac Base Ball Club (www.chesapeakeandpotomac.org)
… AND NO STEALING!
Some rules from Beadle’s Dime Base Ball Player, published in 1860:
“The player is out if the ball is in the hands of a base tender before the runner steps on the base.”
“If two ballists are already out, no player running home at the time the ball is struck can make ace if the striker is put out.”
“The hurler must pitch, not jerk or throw to the bat.”
“The hurler must deliver the ball as near as possible over the center of home for the striker.”
“No person engaged in a match, either as umpire, scorer or player, shall be, either directly or indirectly, interested in any bet upon the game.”
‘SCOUTS’ IN THE ‘GARDEN’
Talk the talk with some 19th-century base ball terms.
Apple: Ball
Ballist: Player
Behind: Catcher
Cranks: Fans
(also called throng)
Daisy cutter: Ground ball
Dead or hand dead: Out
Foul tick: Foul ball
Garden: Outfield
Leg it: Run to base
Match: Game
Muff: Error
Scouts: Outfielders
Striker: Batter
Tally: Run
Willow: Base ball bat
