Vintage Base Ball: No Bunting, Stealing Bases, Wagering, Spitting or Cursing

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Milwaukee River

As the Brewers prepare for another run into the playoffs, it is best to remember the roots of the game. Those roots are before lights for night games, pitch clocks, the Manfred man (a runner starting from second base in extra innings), “Make Some Noise” graphics on video screens, as well as video screens at all. 

Bill Veeck Jr. said, “(It) must be a great game, the owners haven’t found a way to kill it yet.”  

On any given weekend, from spring to fall, Civil War-Era Base Ball (two words) clubs will find a place to play. Those places include fields that are open, have trees or boulders in the way, as well as fences and possibly hay bales to conveniently lose balls for ground rule doubles. 

For our purposes, we will confine ourselves to the rules to 1858-1860. The Columbus, OH-based Vintage Base Ball Association sanctions and oversees more than 200 such clubs nationwide. Founded in 1996, the year marked the first recorded game between organized clubs. 

Milwaukee Grays 

Practitioners of this living art form are all over the Midwest, and nearby at bucolic sites like Estabrook Park. This is the home of the Milwaukee Grays, named for the town’s first major league team, the National League’s Grays, and a nod to their only season in 1878. 

“They didn’t have stadiums back then, so they found fields, empty lots…and we have Estabrook Park,” said David “Night Owl” Heller, the team’s historian and former committee member. “What better way to celebrate 19th century base ball and Milwaukee than play on an open field, next to a beer garden.” 

The Grays are a great draw to the park with its Milwaukee River Trail, and famed beer garden with authentic German music on a Sunday afternoon. Milwaukee also has another vintage base ball club, the Cream Citys. 

The Chicago Salmon are technically a traveling team with its own rich history, celebrating their 30th season “playing for the love of the game.”  

“It’s all about spending time with like-minded ball players who are passionate about demonstrating how the game of base ball was meant to be played,” said Brennan “Sketch” Probst. “Playing at Estabrook is always a treat for everyone on the Salmon, especially in the fall. A crisp October day with a pint of local beer and live polka, is tough to beat, even if we’re down by 12 runs.” 

Salmon Spectator 

“Sketch” runs the Salmon Spectator, a newsletter with Katie “Flapjack” Baer. Nicknames are important for players, used solely for identification, as in the mid-1800s.  

“People in small towns were known by nicknames, not their real names,” said Jenny Ashley, a fan, or “crank” in base ball terms. “If someone was told, go see John Smith, they wouldn’t know who. If you said, ‘go see Smitty’…they knew right away.” 

The rules, as codified by the VBBA, are more basic and a distinct template for what the game has evolved into, some say for the worst. The original incarnation was a gentlemen’s game, while competitive, and a game of fielding.  

Adherence to decorum, such as period uniforms, is just as important as the rules. There is no bunting, no stealing bases, no leading off bases, wagering, spitting, or cursing. There are ladies present watching the match and playing as teammates too.  

For instance: foul tics are not considered strikes, a batted ball is determined fair or foul by the arbiter (umpire), the pitcher delivers the ball where the striker (batter) requests it, the pitcher must also stand with legs crossed and one hand behind the other with the ball in front.  

Fair or Foul 

The striker is out when the ball is caught on the fly or on one bounce, fair or foul. The catcher plays not farther than 45 feet behind home plate. The shortstop may position himself anywhere on the field. The ball itself is a different texture from modern-era style, and the most glaring feature: no gloves. 

Night Owl has written five baseball books and is aware of how the rules have evolved. 

“I don’t know if I find no gloves the most interesting but it stands out to the average person, and provides a little curiosity,” he said. “It evolves, from the style of pitching, to mound distance, the use of umpires … we could go on for hours about that. As far as equating it with modern baseball, that’s where we’re handicapped, in a sense. 

“We all grew up playing or watching baseball, and that wasn’t the case in 1858 or 1860,” he continued. “They didn’t swing from the heels or understand the intricacies of defense, among other things. So, in a way, we have a little modern baseball intermixed, but only because we can’t help it.” 

However, the modern era is largely eschewed. “Elizabeth “Boss Lady” Carlson, David “Midway” Rader, and Jacob “Buck” Pomrenke of the Chicago Salmon proffered a newspaper account as would have appeared in the 1858 Chicago Tribune about an upcoming match with the Grays. 

It read, in part: “At the conclusion of the match, the clubs retired … all took part of a collation and adjourned at a late hour, the time being spent in speech-making, pleasant repartee, merry jokes, and tales of valor on the field.  

“We were glad to note the good feeling envinced by the members of each club on this occasion, and trust that our citizens will take more interest in this truly and healthy entertaining game.” 

The Milwaukee Grays will play the Chicago Salmon noon on Sunday, Oct. 5, in Estabrook Park, 4500 N. Estabrook Drive. Take the Hampton Road access, as opposed to the southern entrance, for a quick route to the northern parking lot and the field. 

It’s one last chance for this season to spend a nice afternoon and see base ball as it was meant to be played.