Umpire Like It's 1864 at the Vintage Baseball World Series

I recently enjoyed watching several games in the Vintage Baseball World Series at French Lick, Indiana, only a short hour and a half drive from here.

The games I observed, occurred July 10-11, and were played, fittingly, on the lazy lawn of the historic West Baden hotel.

Part Civil War style re-enactment and part competitive sport, 6 teams or clubs including the Cincinnati Buckeyes, Indianapolis Blues, Batesville Lumbermen and St. Louis Unions competed for the yearly Vintage World Series Base Ball crown while kids and adults alike licked ice cream cones and between innings a small brass band could be heard playing tunes such as "Good Ole Summertime", "Sweet Georgia Brown" and, of course, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Vintage Base Ball Overview
So what is vintage baseball? It's "base ball" played by 1864 rules, customs and terminology. Yes, baseball was spelled with two words then, and I will pay homage to the baseball gods by doing so for the remainder of this post.

Markedly different than today's game as we know it, the players, or ballists as they were called, dawned old-style uniforms, wore no gloves and pitched underhanded. Besides these obvious differences, outs could also be recorded by simply catching a ball hit off of one bounce in addition to in the air.

And any field would do even those that might have an obstacle or two in it as defenders or fieldsmen could play a ball off any; such as a tree as happened often, and in interesting fashion, in far left field of the World Series played over the weekend.


Base ball in the mid-nineteenth century was considered a gentleman's sport. During that time and at the matches I attended, captains would introduce the ballists on their club before each match as well as deliver parting words after. In one match, the losing captain of the local Indiana club thanked the opposing team for "the fine lesson in baseball they were given today." (see below)


The Vintage Base Ball Umpire
In relation to the umpire, or arbitrator as they were referred to then, their role was diminished in comparison to today's more authoritarian standards.

Ballists would often make their own calls while the arbitrator, and typically there was only one, would step in only to resolve a dispute or to announce a mutually decided upon call to the cranks (or fans) through a simple "the striker is dead" (or out) or in a more thorough manner if the call warranted it. In that way in addition to introducing the captains before the game and by announcing the score after each inning to the fans, the umpire of 1864 served as sort of an on-field Master of Ceremonies in addition to his role as arbitrator.


(Umpire or arbitrator turns to announce score to fans)

The base ball arbitrator during the mid-nineteenth century did not need to wear protective gear and merely stood to the side instead of behind the plate. Typically, they would dress in formal attire. See Dan Lion of Cincinnati here in long sleeve shirt, vest and pants with a top hat. No, we do not plan on adding a category to our umpire caps for top hats anytime soon.


I spoke after the game with Mr. Lion, who only umpires vintage base ball and just started doing so, about what he knew of umpiring in the early days. He reiterated their role as basically a facilitator in a game with high standards of sportsmanship and congenial play. He added that in some instances, arbitrators, if no one was sure, might even "be inclined to ask the spectators what they thought if he felt they had a better view of the play". What a refreshing (or scary) idea!

He also mentioned that often umpires during that time period would wear tuxedos complete with a long tail. We have certainly come a long way in nearly 150 years with our performance apparel of today at least as far as comfort is concerned.


(Lion uses his hand as an indicator for outs or hands down)

Other Things a mid-1800s Arbitrator Might Say

• "Striker to the Line" to start a game (or half-inning) instead of "Play Ball"
• "2 Hands Down" meaning two outs
• "The St Louis Unions have recorded an ace" indicating to the tallykeeper (scorekeeper) that a run had scored.

Other Interesting 1864 Rules Differences

• Balls were fair or foul based on where the ball first hit the ground.
  
• A runner could risk being tagged out if overrunning first base.
• Strikes or balls were not normally called.
• The striker received three swings and misses before being called dead with foul balls not counting toward strikes.
• Should the arbitrator determine the striker was not swinging at reachable pitches or if the hurler was not throwing fair pitches, the arbitrator could then warn either the striker or hurler and begin calling balls and strikes.
• After a warning, the strike zone was between the striker's shoulders to one foot off the ground.

So what do you think? Could you imagine yourself as an umpire in 1864? Are there any facets of mid 1800s game rules or customs that should be integrated back into modern baseball? Feel free to comment or simply ponder on your own.

For more information about vintage baseball, visit these sources for this article:
Vintage Base Ball Association
Wikipedia