OK, I already started this blog off wrong. I wanted to tell you about this cool event in Boerne, typed the title and found out that Base Ball according to 1886 Style Vintage Ball is always spelled as two words. OK, I fixed it. Now I want to tell you about it. It looks so fun!
There are two teams from Boerne. They are the Boerne White Sox and The Tusculum Freethinkers (for those of you who don't know, Tusculum was the name of a community just north of Boerne back in the 1800's). The White Sox were first organized in the early 1900's traveling by buggie to games. The team consisted of local farmers and merchants.
Rules for Vintage Base Ball:
- No protective equipment including no baseball gloves (ouch)
- A struck ball caught after one bounce is still counted as an out.
- The umpire can levy fines (25 shillings to 1 dollar) for ungentlemanly conduct: arguing or swearing.
- The umpire does not call balls and may call strikes, if he thinks the striker is intentially delaying the game.
- A batted ball is determined fair or foul by where it first hits the ground.
- The umpire may ask the players and spectators for assistance
- The ball must be pitched underhand and delivered to the center of home plate
- Foul balls are not counted as strikes
- Sliding into base is discouraged and is ungentlemanly.
- No person engaged ina match may bet on the game.
- When a run is made, the ballist rings a bell and asks permission to score a tally
- No over-running first base or player may get tagged out.
- Only the umpire is allowed to carry a flast.
If you decide to go to the game, please know that there is a particular vocabulary that you might need to know to understand what is going on. :)
Ace: run
Apple, pill, horsehide, onion: ball
Base Tenders: basemen
Behind: catcher
Blooper, banjo hit: weak fly ball
Bowler, hurler: pitcher
Break one off: to throw a curve
Club, nine: team
Daisy cutter: ground ball
Dew Drop: slow pitch
Dead: put out
Dish: home plate
Duff, muff: an error
Huzzah: to congratulate
Leg it: run hard
Muffin: a player of lesser talent
Make your first: single
Match: game
Player dead: out
Show some ginger: to play with gusto
Sky Ball: High pop-up
Stinger: a hard hit ball
Tally: a run score
Willow: bat
Come on over to Boerne on November 5th for the game. It starts at Noon and admission is free. The Boerne Village Band will be appearing and there will be hot dogs, peanuts and Tootie Pie!! They play the games at Boerne City Lake Park. For more information go to www.facebook.com/vintagebaseball.
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