Monday, July 13, 2009

Vintage Baseball with the Ohio Village Muffins

I stepped back in time on Sunday and went to Ohio Village to see Vintage baseball - 1860s style. The Ohio Village Muffins play vintage baseball all spring/summer.

The Muffins had a decent crowd gathered for Sunday's double-header.

EDIT: FlickR photos.

Following the customs of the 1860s, the players do not use gloves, bats are not bigger than 2.5 inches in diameter and the ball is 10 inches in circumference with a single piece of leather covering them.

They follow rules from 1860 as originally recorded by the New York Knickerbockers. Some of the rules include:

  • The ball is pitched underhanded from anywhere behind the pitcher's line.
  • The batsman must stand on or straddle a line through home plate.
  • The pitcher must deliver the ball as requested by the batsman, who holds out the bat to indicate where the ball is to be sent.
  • Pitches are not judged as balls or strikes, but the umpire may call a strike if the batsman persists in not swinging at well-pitched balls.
  • An out is declared if - a hit ball is caught on the fly or the first bound, including foul ticks to the catcher.
  • After scoring an ace, a base runner must report to the tallykeeper for the run to count.
  • There is no bunting or sliding.
Labor Day Weekend has the "Ohio Cub Base Ball Festival" with 19 gentlemen's and 3 ladies' vintage teams.

2 comments:

Captain Canuck said...

sounds pretty neat. any more pics?

James said...

Cpt. Canuk - Thanks. Here's a Flickr group with the photos. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1197767@N22/