Author Archives: McD

Vintage Baseball, Classic Rain

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“Vintage Baseball, Classic Rain” – Rita Christopher/The Day

“In the end, the weather won, but not before the spectators at the tri-town vintage baseball game had a chance to cheer for their teams and the players had a chance to take some impressive cuts at the soft, brown, lemon-size sphere that mid-l9th century teams played with.

It was baseball, even if the correct spelling in the 1857 rules, by which the games were played, was two words: base ball. But base ball was baseball with a difference. Players didn’t use gloves; outs could be made both by catching a fly ball or by catching the ball on one bounce. No stealing bases, no taking leads, no laying down bunts.”

Baseball: It Ain’t What It Used To Be

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“Baseball: It Ain’t What It Used To Be” – Rita Christopher/The Day

“Don’t look for a designated hitter-that’s a 1973 innovation. And don’t look for some of the other moves that are traditionally part of a ball game-no stealing, no bunting, no runners taking leads off the bases. This is 1857 baseball, and it is a different game, even written differently, as two words: base ball.

And base ball is making a comeback at Devitt Field in Deep River, on Sunday, Sept. 21. The historical societies of Essex, Chester, and Deep River are sponsoring a tri-town vintage baseball challenge. In the round robin, each town will play a two- or three-inning game against both the others…”

Base Ball as Mark Twain Knew It

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HARTFORD, Conn. — The Mark Twain House & Museum is pleased to present five leading experts from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR), who will engage in a lively panel discussion of “base ball” during the 19th century. The moderator will be the Mark Twain House & Museums’s Education Manager, Craig Hotchkiss, who is a former vintage “base ball” player and frequent presenter of the museum’s community outreach program, Base Ball as Mark Twain Knew It.

This fascinating–and free–discussion on the national pastime will take place on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the Mark Twain Museum Center. Panelists include John Thorn, David Arcidiacono, Gary O’Maxfield, Joe Williams, and Bill Ryczek.

Time will be reserved for questions from the audience, and following the program, the authors will sign copies of their books for the public. Copies of their books will be available for sale in the Mark Twain House bookstore.

Base Ball in Twain’s Time: A Panel Discussion by Five Leading Experts from the Society of American Baseball Research (20 Aug 2014)

Just call the ump ‘Sir’: 1890s-style baseball game coming to Ansonia

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“Just call the ump ‘Sir’: 1890s-style baseball game coming to Ansonia” – Michael P. Mayko/Connecticut Post

“…Michel, Buono, Gura and French were among the first to get a feeling of what’s expected of their play July 19 in a baseball game using 1890 rules and equipment at Nolan Field.

The game will pit the Ansonia Coppermen, in honor of its historic factories, against the rival Derby Osborndales, named for that city’s philanthropic family…”

The Ivoryton Nine Take the Field

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“The Ivoryton Nine Take the Field” – Rita Christopher/The Day

“ESSEX – It was a perfect day for baseball-sunny, not too hot, a bit of an afternoon breeze. In New York, the Yankees were playing their traditional rivals, the Boston Red Sox. In Ivoryton, there was a ball game, too, but not the one that the major leaguers were playing. The Ivoryton Nine were taking on the Lyme Taverners in a game governed by the rules of 1864, when base ball, as it was then spelled, was a different game…”