Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Many years ago, while rummaging through boxes at my mother's house, I found an old paperback novel mixed in with some of the things my father had left behind when he and my mother divorced.  The book had a photo of a baseball and an old sandlot on the cover, and was entitled "If I Never Get Back," a lyrical reference to the old time anthem, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  I put the book in with my things, deciding that I would read it later.  When I finally did decide to read it, I was so enthralled with the story by Darryl Brock that I could not put it down.

The story is about a modern day man, down on his luck, who finds himself transported back in time to 1869 where he manages to get himself mixed in with the Cincinnati Red Stockings - the first all professional baseball team.  The parts of the story that were so enchanting to me were the descriptions of the game as it was played back then: no gloves, catching the ball on one hop for an out, the pitcher (or hurler) standing just 45 feet from home plate.  I immediately wanted to know more, and more...and forever that book has been one of my favorite reads.

Fast forward about 20 years or so...I find myself moving to St. Louis, Missouri (of all places); somewhere I have never been but quickly fell in love with.  One day I was perusing the website of the neighborhood where I live and, low and behold, I stumble upon photographs from a vintage baseball team (or base ball -- two words) that plays a regular weekend schedule in the park down the street from my house.  I couldn't believe it.  At first I thought, "How great it will be to go watch some games during the summer."  And then I thought, "Wait.  I wonder if I can play?"

So here I am, as winter turns to spring, the newest member of the Saint Louis Perfectos.  We (if I can be so bold as to refer to the team as "we" already) play the game according to the rules of baseball in 1860.  I started this blog then, to both document my first year of playing vintage base ball, and to document my new adventures in "The Diamond of the Midwest," Saint Louis.

Hope you enjoy!

Dixie