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10:45:39 pm Vintage Base Ball Club Recalls 'Past Time' in Mattapoisett

Categories: Mattapoisett

Dateline Mattapoisett, August 1861 - The Bristol Blues defeated a combined team consisting of the Essex Base Ball Club and the Ironsides Base Ball Club in the field beside the School in Old Hammondtown. The game was a well-played contest and included many fine athletic plays. The results were very satisfactory to the one hundred or so cranks, or spectators, who were in attendance. The final tally for the game was Bristol four runs and Essex/Ironsides three runs. A hearty round of huzzahs was given to each team by their opponent following the match.

This is what the newspapers of the day may have reported following a Ball Game in the early 1860s, the time that was the setting for an exhibition of antique baseball organized by Kyle DeCicco-Carey of Mattapoisett in conjunction with the town's Sesquicentennial Celebrations being held throughout the week of August 4 through August 12. Mr. DeCicco-Carey has been attempting to organize an antique baseball club on the South Coast over the past year with a secondary goal of staging a base ball game (as it was spelled in the mid-nineteenth century) as part of the Sesquicentennial. Sunday's match proved to be both a significant lesson in the history of the game and very entertaining sporting event.

The two teams that were invited by the Ironsides Vintage Base Ball Club are part of a nationwide network of enthusiasts who play a number of different versions of the game we all know as baseball. In its early days the games rules changed as the game migrated from the northeastern United States to other parts of the country. Though the game is similar and very recognizable to today's baseball fan, the differences are noticeable enough that one could say the game played by the clubs gathered at the Old Hammondtown School grounds on Sunday, August 5 was exactly the same as our modern game while remaining completely different. Using a set of rules from the New York version of the game circa 1861, the two teams played a fast paced contest before over 100 curious spectators.

The first thing one might notice is that the players in the field wore no gloves or catcher's gear. This might seem dangerous at first glance but the early inventors of the game had several ways in which they were able to compensate, namely, being able to field a batted ball on its first hop to record an out, or hand, as it was known in 1861. Also, the ball itself was a very different tool than the ball that is in use in today's game. Base Balls from the mid-nineteenth century were slightly bigger and much softer than then hardball we know. The ball was one piece of leather with four sets of stitches that come together like the segments of a quartered orange. The pitcher, standing about 45 feet from the batter tossed the ball under hand and the umpire only called strikes, there were no balls or walks, when the batter, or striker, failed to swing at hittable pitches. The object of the game was not to deceive the hitter but for the hitter to put the ball in play and challenge the fielders to make an out.

Other noticeable differences in the game shed light on the origins of many baseball terms that are a part of the game's lexicon. The bases, which were 90 feet from one another in a diamond-shaped pattern, were actually canvas bags, hence the origin of terms such as covering the bag or calling a double a two bagger. Home plate was a round steel plate that had a metal post on its underside to anchor it in place.

The people who participate in vintage baseball are not limited to those who play in the games. Fred Ivor-Campbell and his wife were among the people in the crowd for Sunday's game who follow the game as fans of this brand of baseball. The couple, who are natives of Marion but now reside in Rhode Island, said that they had just returned from the Society for American Baseball Research Conference in Saint Louis where teams from all over the country played vintage baseball under the Gateway Arch. This organization has a membership of about 7,000 people who share a love for the true history of baseball.

Mr. DeCicco-Carey and his Ironsides Vintage Baseball Club will be holding something of an open house on Thursday, August 9 at approximately 5:30 pm. This gathering will give anyone who is interested in trying his or her hand at vintage baseball the opportunity to do so. Mr. DeCicco-Carey hopes that he will be able to field a team that will play other clubs in the area several times each month.

For further information on the Ironsides Vintage Base Ball Club, you can find them on the web at www.ironsidesbbc.org. Mr. DeCicco-Carey also suggests the following sites for anyone who is interested in baseball and its origins, www.newenglandvintagebaseball.com, www.vbba.org and www.19cbaseball.com.

By Robert Chiarito

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