It may never come into vogue, but vintage baseball lends a reality to the history of the sport that probably is lost to most baseball fans. In the late 1800s, as the sport was becoming the “national pastime,” they didn’t play baseball exactly the way they do now.
Today, around the country, baseball history projects are promoting the return (or at least the remembrance) of vintage baseball. Check out, for example, the Vintage Base Ball Association. Among other historical artifacts, it posts several sets of professional baseball rules going back a century and a half.
Baseball Rules, Circa 1887
The “Rules of 1887,” as adopted by the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, was an extensive document. It contained 67 baseball rules (with multiple subsections) plus a long list of amendments (so soon!). Among them:
* “The pitcher shall take his position facing the batsman, with both feet squarely on the ground, the right foot on the rear line of the ‘box,’ his left foot in advance of the right, and to the left of an imaginary line from his right foot to the center of the home base. He shall not raise his foot, unless in the act of delivering the ball, nor make more than one step in such delivery. He shall hold the ball, before delivery, fairly in front of his body, and in sight of the Umpire. In the case of a left-handed pitcher the above words ‘left’ and ‘right’ are to be reversed. When the pitcher feigns to throw the ball to a base he must resume the above position and pause momentarily before delivering the ball to the bat.”
* “[The Bat] must be made wholly of wood, except that the handle may be wound with twine, or a granulated substance applied, not to exceed eighteen inches from the end. It must be round except that a portion of the surface may be flat on one side, must not exceed two forty-two inches in length.”
* “No Club shall allow open betting or pool selling upon its grounds, nor in any building owned or occupied by it.”
* “Every Club shall furnish sufficient police force upon its own grounds to preserve order, and in the event of a crowd entering the field during the progress of a game, and interfering with the play in any manner, the Visiting Club may refuse to play further until the field be cleared. If the ground be not cleared within fifteen minutes thereafter, the Visiting Club may claim, and shall be entitled to, the game by a score of nine runs to none (no matter what number of innings have been played).”
* “If the Umpire calls “Game” on account of darkness or rain at any time after five innings have been completed by both sides, the score shall be that of the last equal innings played unless the side second at bat shall have scored one or more runs than the side first at bat, in which case the score of the game shall be the total number of runs made.”
Vintage Baseball Games Today
In 2009, the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Library in South Carolina and the Ty Cobb Museum in Georgia held a vintage game, playing by 1860s rules. Peggy Cobb Schug, Ty Cobb’s granddaughter, threw the first pitch to Allison Kate Jackson, “Shoeless Joe” Jackson’s great-great-great niece. The “Shoeless Joes” won the first game of the double-header, the “Georgia Peaches” the second. There will be a return competition 23 October 2010 in Royston, Georgia, Ty Cobb’s town.
Other vintage baseball games are being held around the country.
SOURCES
Vintage Base Ball Association.
Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and Baseball Library.
Daniel Harmon - Author of more than 70 books, mainly grade-level educational works for the library market. Topics include histories, biographies, ...
