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WELCOME TO THE FUN and felicity of Vintage Base Ball, the nineteenth-century forerunner of the modern sport. It’s played all over the U.S. and Canada, and history buffs can catch a match in a growing number of Texas locales. Or even get into the action, learning to appreciate firsthand the ways baseball has evolved over time. At historic Fort Concho in San Angelo, for instance, or at Farmers Branch Historical Park in Farmers Branch, you’ll find staff and reenactors pitching in to recreate the game as it was played in the 1860s and ’70s. Competing clubs in period flannels take the field as the bowler steps up to the pitcher’s point and hurls the apple across the dish. The striker hits a dew drop out into the garden and legs it out for a four- baser. The talleykeeper chalks one up for the side. The cranks on the sidelines urge their team on with spirited cries of “Huzzah!”
Vintage Base Ball is played by the original nineteenth-century rules, too. Balls were wound more
opportunities for competition. Soldiers would also engage civilian teams in adjacent communi- ties. And, contrary to the segregated nature of most post–Civil War social activities, in many cases on the military frontier black and white units played one another.
Baseball’s professional roots in Texas go as far back as 1861 with the Houston Base Ball Club. Although organizing efforts were slowed by the Civil War, by the mid–1880s the game had spread throughout Texas. Teams were springing up in almost every town. Most of the state’s forts had teams, and soldiers who hailed from the eastern part of the country, where the sport was already popular, soon taught others how to play as well.
VINTAGE BASE BALL LINGO
APPLE, PILL, HORSEHIDE, ONION – ball ARTIST – proficient player BALLER, BALLIST – player
BENCH – manager or coach BLIND – no score
loosely and were less resilient back then, not as hard as modern- day baseballs, so long fly balls were rare. Fielders — including “basetend- ers,” “midfielders” and “scouts” — employed no gloves to stop hits. Fly balls and pop-ups could bounce once and still be considered an out. And since there were rarely any fences, the term “outta here” hadn’t come into currency. The era of Babe Ruth–style out-of- the-park homers, in fact, was still some 40 years away.
“Playing baseball — or base ball — as sol- diers played it at Texas’ frontier forts,” explains Bob Bluthardt, direc- tor of Fort Concho, “is a great way to educate
BOODLER – ungentlemanly maneuver BOUND – bounce
BOWLER, HURLER, THROWER, FEEDER – pitcher CRANKS (OR THRONG) – fans DISH – home plate FOUL TIC – foul ball FOUR BASER – home run HUZZAH! - Hooray! LEG IT – run swiftly
MIDFIELDER – center fielder
PITCHER’S POINT – pitcher’s mound or rubber SCOUTS – outfielders
SHOW A LITTLE GINGER – play harder or smarter SKY BALL, SKYER – flyball SKY SCRAPER – A high pop fly STINGER – hard hit ball
STIR YOUR STUMPS – run fast/hustle STRIKER – hitter
STRIKER TO THE LINE – batter up TALLEYKEEPER – scorekeeper WILLOW – bat
source: Wikipedia
players and fans alike about both the game’s heritage as well as mid–19th century Texans’ interests and lifestyles.”
It’s fitting that vintage base ball finds some of its most dedicated adherents today at Texas’ restored forts. The 19th–century army saw base ball as a perfect group exercise that provided a healthy alternative to gambling, alcohol and other less salutary pursuits. The natural rivalries between and among different units and branches (artillery, infantry, cavalry) offered plenty of
34 AUTHENTIC TEXAS
Abner Doubleday himself may have partici- pated in baseball in Texas. Word is that Doubleday, who’d commanded the Union gun that returned fire at Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War, later commanded Fort McKavett near Menard, Texas, where he acquired baseball equipment for his soldiers. In 1876 McKavett’s troops played a game on the nation’s July 4 centennial, with prize money of $10 — nearly a month’s salary for a pri- vate back then — going to the winning team. As these soldiers and amateurs spread their love for the game, towns- men and businesses began fielding hometown teams. The game evolved, with players starting to modify work gloves bol- stered with extra padding, more to guard against injury than aid in catching the ball. Protective gear like catchers’ masks and chest protectors caught on as rules changed and pitchers began throw- ing the ball sidearm and
overhand. Bats, often repurposed wagon wheel spokes, were being turned on a lathe crafted specifically to strike a ball.
By 1869 professional baseball was in place in the northeastern United States, and it was soon on its way to Texas. In 1888 the Texas State Base Ball League was formed with charter fran- chises in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston and San Antonio; the league continued on to become one of the most storied and recog- nized baseball leagues in the country.
ENDURING INSTITUTION: Though the vintage game sports some noteworthy differences, the national pastime has remained remarkably con- sistent.
FORT CONCHO and Fort Davis can take some credit for Texas’ resurrection of vin- tage base ball in the 1980s as John Sutton, chief ranger at Fort Davis, proposed to Fort Concho director of education Bob Bluthardt that they put on a contest at their annual fes- tival on Labor Day weekend. Bluthardt recalls that Fort Concho won 4-3, but a year later Sutton surprised the Concho team when the Fort Davis club appeared in new replica baseball uniforms, not the generic 1880s replica military outfits that Concho was wear- ing. “Just before game time a period wagon rumbled across the field and out popped their starting team in those blue and white outfits. I think we lost big-time that day.” Fast forward 30 years and Fort Concho, under curator of history Cory Robinson, now fields two teams in period uniforms that play opponents home and away on the circuit. “The game offers so many participatory aspects to our ongoing site programs and interpretation,” Robinson says. “I encourage the volunteers to pick a nickname, adapt and use the lingo and sayings of the day, and really get into the spirit of the age.” Hundreds of guests have crowded the baselines at the site’s Christmas at Old Fort Concho and Frontier Day events, when games are held. A stickler for details, Robinson even tries to locate the games on the exact spots of the Parade Ground where late 1880s photos document the game.
COURTESY OF FORT CONCHO NHL
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