BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As the Philadelphia Phillies make their road debut Thursday and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Friday, another couple of ball clubs will travel to Bethlehem this weekend for a throwback showdown that may seem a little unfamiliar right off the bat.
- Catch ball clubs from Brandywine and Philadelphia squaring off in a vintage baseball game this weekend at Burnside Plantation
- Tickets are $5 for those under 18, $10 for HBMS members and $12 for non-members; spectators are advised to bring a lawn chair
- The event could be moved to Sunday due to inclement weather
The Brandywine Base Ball Club of West Chester and the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia are scheduled to go toe-to-toe at 11 a.m. Sunday at Burnside Plantation.
It will be a vintage baseball game, played by the rules as they were in 1864, with players dressed as they were in that era.
It's part of a vintage baseball scene that includes about 300 clubs nationwide.
Athletic’s team President Matt Albertson said it combines two longtime loves for him: history and baseball.
Pursuing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and working in the curating department of a national historical park, Albertson said he turned to baseball as a way to educate others on the pre-20th century era in America.
“When I found vintage baseball immediately after graduating from grad school, I realized there was a way to promote and teach baseball history as it relates to the 19th century: through activity, through playing the games and showing people how to look more than just in a book or through pictures.”Matt Albertson, president of Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia
“When I found vintage baseball immediately after graduating from grad school, I realized there was a way to promote and teach baseball history as it relates to the 19th century — through activity, through playing the games and showing people how to look more than just in a book or through pictures,” Albertson said.
Notice some differences
Albertson said most spectators will notice some immediate differences with vintage baseball as compared with the modern sport:
- Players wearing all-wool uniforms from head to toe
- A leather-covered ball with a “lemon peel” stitch pattern, unlike modern Figure-8 stitching
- No gloves used, as those weren’t introduced until the late 1870s and early 1880s
- Balls being caught on one bounce for an out as well as fly balls
- Fair and foul balls determined by where the ball hits the ground first, unrelated to the first- and third-base bags
- No pitcher’s mound
- Only underhanded pitching
- Not every pitch is called a ball or strike necessarily
- Nine-inning games, and the “home” team still gets its last at-bat, even if it's winning
- Batting first determined by the flip of a coin or bat, as the “home team bats second” rule only dates to 1950
In addition, not all teams even play by the same era of rules.
Athletic refers to the 1864 rules since that’s what was popular on the East Coast, whereas folks out west commonly jump back and forth between 1864 and 1880 rules.
“A lot of that has to do with if you’re trying to honor a club from the past that was created in the 1880s, where you want to play by the rules that club played by, or when baseball got really popular in a particular region, you play by those specific rules.”Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia team President Matt Albertson
“A lot of that has to do with if you’re trying to honor a club from the past that was created in the 1880s, where you want to play by the rules that club played by,” Albertson said. “Or when baseball got really popular in a particular region, you play by those specific rules.”
For love of the game
Athletic’s team members work in a variety of fields during the day, including lighting sales, human resources, graphic design, editorial and publishing, as well as historic candy and chocolate-making.
But they all love the history of baseball.
“There are some teams out there whose rosters are filled with guys who come from a softball background,” Albertson said.
“A lot of people join vintage baseball from softball and find the nuance to the game interesting, and another way to play baseball in a different way.
“But for us, it’s the history that’s the major draw.”Matt Albertson, president of Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia
“But for us, it’s the history that’s the major draw.”
Following the face-off at Burnside Plantation, Athletic will travel to Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and a handful of other locations in Pennsylvania during its season from April to September.
The club from Brandywine will travel to Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Maryland and a few other locations in the Keystone State.
The venue, the mission
Craig Larimer, director of marketing with event host Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites, said that while Burnside Plantation has a lot going for it both culturally and aesthetically, the property can sometimes go unnoticed — even by lifelong Bethlehem natives.
Larimer said Historic Bethlehem is trying to change that with events such as the ball game.
“It’s a great, great spot with rustic barns, colonial garden with vegetables, flowers and herbs,” Larimer said. “We have a number of marquee events there — our Blueberry Festival, which is in July, and then our Apple Days Festival, which is in September — and we’re just looking to get people to check it out.
“We want to give [people] the opportunity to see it, experience it and hopefully come back and be a part of our story."Craig Larimer, director of marketing with Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites
“We want to give [people] the opportunity to see it, experience it and hopefully come back and be a part of our story. And hopefully they get involved and choose to become volunteers or more than that.”
Larimer said people typically know that modern baseball is said to have originated from a European game called “rounders,” and even may have somewhat derived from cricket.
Bringing the vintage ball game to town goes hand-in-hand with the mission of Historic Bethlehem, he said.
“We want to take a look at the origins of the sport, and since our organization is about preserving the past and bringing history to life, it seemed like a natural way to do that,” Larimer said.
The event will go on through lunchtime, so traditional baseball snack foods will be available: Cracker Jack, peanuts, hot dogs and soft drinks.
Larimer suggested bringing a lawn chair, as spectators will be set up along the foul lines.
Tickets are $10 for Historic Bethlehem members, $12 for non-members and $5 under age 18.
