Base ball, which is baseball defined by the rules of 1861, is coming to Georgetown's Perley School on North Street on Saturday, June 23.
For students of the game, team members will explain the rules before the 1 p.m. first pitch. But even casual fans can appreciate the uniforms, style of play and baseball lingo from a different era. "It's like sitting through history class without the textbook" explains Brian Sheehy, an organizer of the Essex Base Ball Organization.
Two games will pit the Lynn Live Oaks against the Ironsides Baseball Team of New Bedford, two teams affiliated with the Essex Organization, which also includes the Boston Beaneaters, who play by 1886 rules. Admission is free, but the Georgetown Historical Society will pass a hat for donations during the game, according to board member Beverly Knapp.
That baseball rules were in flux all through the 19th century is part of what attracts vintage players to the old styles. In a vintage game, part of what you see, in addition to the action on the field, is history in motion. "I love playing the games," Sheehy said, "but it's also fun to see why things change."
As an example, Sheehy explains that, under 1861 rules, "If someone hits the ball well, and it goes 400 feet," that batter is out whether the fielder catches it on the fly or after one bounce. The rule eventually changed to today's standard, which records an out only when a fielder catches the ball on the fly, because a good hit should only be erased by an equally good defensive play. Watching 1861 rules, you can see that the batter "deserves that hit," Sheehy says, and that the rules were changed to honor that perception.
Some of the differences between the 1861 game and today's are more obvious. The players wore no gloves. The pitcher threw underhand, from 45 feet away, instead of firing it overhand from 60 feet, 6 inches. Strikes were not called, unless the umpire felt the batter was taking too many hittable pitches | then he would start calling and recording them.
The balls were different. Though made with a leather cover, they could be stuffed with anything. It was therefore legal to "doctor" a ball to suit your style. Good defense? Make a soft, dead ball that would always be in play. Good offense? A hard ball flies farther. Sheehy, a teacher who studied history at Merrimack College, used to make balls for Essex Organization games. Now that they play every weekend all summer, he buys them from a vintage manufacturer. One of the Essex players makes bats, which are tapered less than the modern one.
The language of old games was different as well. A baseball player was a "ballist," runs were "aces" and a pitcher was a "hurler," which sportswriters sometimes still use for archaic effect. A catcher was a "behind." Fans could be "bugs" or "cranks," and a slow pitch was poetically called a "dew drop." These terms, and other facts about vintage baseball, can be studied through Essex Base Ball's Web site, www.essexbaseball.com.
