As I approach the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything (more on that later this week), I figured I’d share a new hobby.
Sometime last year I came across an article about Vintage Base Ball. In short, it’s playing baseball using the rules of the 1860s, dressed in the fashion of the day, and all the attitude around it (including spelling base ball as two words, not one). It looked like a lot of fun, athletic but laid back and an emphasis on sportsmanship. A little hunting around and I found a couple of teams about an hour away. Plus it was the off season anyway so I put that on the shelf.
Fast forward to this spring and an article popped up in one of the local news sites – someone looking to form a vintage base ball team here in town. I signed up, along with a bunch of others, and we formed ourselves a team – the Decorah Driftless Dodgers. The rules of 1860s are a bit different from the modern era. To list a few – the ball can be caught off one bounce for an out, the pitcher doesn’t try to throw strikes (and in fact, strikes only count if you swing), there is no leading off of bases, there are technically no home runs so if a ball goes over a fence, you can retrieve it and throw home for the out, and a few other things. It’s interesting and a nice history lesson.
This past weekend, we played our first official game as a team. We beat the Highland Prairie Hayseeds, 10-9, and I personally went 2 for 4 with a couple of RBIs and good plays in the outfield. I later joined the Hayseeds in their second game against the Lanesoro Excelsiors as they were down a man and I was having fun.
So a good start I have to say. I’m not sure how many more games this year the Driftless Dodgers will play. Hopefully a few but it’s early so we’ll see what happens.
Moose and Ink 