Vintage Baseball: Old school summer entertainment
Baseball has long been America’s pastime, but televised games and major league power plays make it difficult to imagine what the origins of baseball were really like. Vintage baseball leagues help bring that sports history to life, using the rules, equipment, even uniforms of the 1860’s to demonstrate where baseball began, and how far it’s come.
What originally started as a small-scale hobby has become one of the fastest growing sports in the country, with more than 225 vintage baseball clubs in 32 states. Old World Wisconsin’s own Eagle Diamonds play opponents from throughout the state, including the Milwaukee Grays, Greenbush Dead Citys and Milwaukee Cream Citys, all members of the 19th-Century Base Ball Clubs of Wisconsin.
While a ball and bat are used, vintage baseball is very different from its modern counterpart. Local players wear historically accurate uniforms, use fat-handled bats and lemon peel-stitched balls. There are no strike zones, no one wears gloves, and if the ball bounces just once before being caught, the batter is out.
Even the lingo of the game is different in vintage baseball, harkening back to a time when the sport was a gentleman’s game and few women attended. There is no taunting, the umpire is called “Sir,” and nearly everything has a different name. A ball is an “apple,” a bat an “ash, willow or timber.” The batter is a “striker,” the catcher “behind,” a fly ball a “cloud hunter” and the pitcher a “hurler.”
It might sound complicated with so many different terms and rules, but visitors to vintage baseball games delight in the familiar sport with a historic twist. As the costumed players aim for the fences with their heavy bats, the crowd is directed to cry “Huzzah!” in true 1860’s fashion, and cheers erupt every time a run is added to the score chalkboard.
With no commercial breaks and rules that make outs pretty easy to obtain, a vintage baseball game tends to pass more quickly and takes about an hour from start to finish. But it’s an exhilarating hour indeed for guests of all ages, and everyone leaves with a smile after seeing a little piece of history played out before their eyes.
The Diamond Eagle’s 2009 Summer Season:
July 26, 2009
Vs. Greenbush Dead Citys, 1:30 p.m. at Wade House
August 15, 2009
Vs. Greenbush Dead City’s, 1:30 p.m. at Old World Wisconsin
August 16, 2009
Cream City Festival, 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Big Bend, Wisconsin
September 13, 2009
Vs. Milwaukee Grays, 1:30 p.m. at Doctors’ Park in Fox Po
- by D.J. Siegel, Milwaukee Reporter for HelloMetro
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