Vintage base ball is

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

presented as if being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and

uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...

s from the 19th century. Vintage base ball is not only a competitive game, but also a reenactment of

life similar to American Civil War reenactment. Players dress in uniforms appropriate to the time period, and many teams appear to be direct copies of teams that existed in the late 19th century. The styles and

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

of the 19th century are also used while playing vintage base ball. The game's name is typically written "base ball" rather than "baseball", as that was the spelling used before the 1880s.

Rules and game play

Although rules differ according to which playing year is being used, there are some mostly common rules differences between the modern game and vintage base ball. In rules of years prior to the 1880s, the pitcher's role was to initiate the action by offering an underhanded throw to the batter, or "striker", in much the same way that a basketball referee offers up a jump ball to begin play. Since this type of pitching often caused the batter to hit lazy, foul pop-ups,

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

s played their position approximately twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter, and wore no protective equipment. There are typically no fences as base ball is mostly played in fields and green spaces. However, obstacles (e.g. trees, building, etc.) often come into play. In many of the rules sets the ball can be played off of one bounce to get a striker out. Catching the ball can be very difficult because no

gloves A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves usually have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb. If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless glo ...

are used. The lack of gloves, underhand pitching and other rules make vintage base ball similar to the sport of

Welsh baseball Welsh baseball ( cy, Pêl Fas Gymreig), is a bat-and-ball game played in Wales. It is closely related to the game of rounders. In the tradition of bat-and-ball games, baseball has roots going back centuries, and there are references to "b ...

Women playing base ball

Women competing against each other in base ball dates back to at least 1875 when the first female professional baseball players were recruited to play on teams according to their hair color. The "National Amusement Association", created by Illinois businessman Frank Myers, advertised the novelty of women playing baseball and promoted the sport as family entertainment, suitable for women and children. To garner interest, he divided the teams into "blondes" and "brunettes". Myers's attempt to profit from the novelty event failed in less than a year, but the concept of women playing baseball, divided into teams of blondes and brunettes, continued well into the 20th century as a popular event to stage at picnics and fairs.

References

External links

Friends of Vintage Base Ball
Baseball genres Reenactment of the late modern period {{baseball-stub

Rules and game play

Women playing base ball

See also

References

External links