Disaster Strikes Saint Louis

In late May of 1896, a mile-wide F4 tornado ripped through the southern portion of Saint Louis, Missouri.  This event still stands as the third-most deadly tornado in US history, taking 255 lives (although some estimate as many as 400) and causing over $2 billion in inflation-adjusted property damage.

How does this apply to the story that I tell in this blog? Because the path of the tornado went right through one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Saint Louis at the time, and the park where the current Perfectos play our home games: Lafayette Square Park.

1896:  The destruction in Lafayette Square Park.

The mansions on Lafayette Square were once home to such Saint Louis luminaries as the beer baron Busch family, US Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, famed civil engineer and bridge builder James Eads, US Solicitor General Frederick Lehman, and Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. No lightweights there. Clearly, Lafayette Square was once an elegant and important neighborhood in the history of this city and our nation. But, following the afternoon of May 27, 1896, Lafayette Square was in national headlines for a terrible reason:

Taken from a New York newspaper reporting on
the disaster.

It is difficult to imagine just how devastating this storm was to the neighborhood. This horrible storm sparked a decline in the neighborhood over the next 50 years that would see the once stately mansions become flop houses, drug dens, and whorehouses. Rather than rebuild the neighborhood, the luminaries deserted Saint Louis for the outlying counties or other locales. The transformation would be nearly complete during World War II, as the neighborhood became known simply as "Slum D."

Slum D in the "not so glory" days.

But in the 1970's something remarkable began to happen.  A somewhat scraggly (and visionary) band of Missourians began to buy up the dilapidated mansions and painstakingly restore them, and the neighborhood, to its former glory. They formed the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee (LSRC) and fought developers and city hall, who wanted to raze the old houses and remake Lafayette Square. Through the LSRC's efforts, in 1972, Lafayette Square was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites and the restoration took off in earnest. Earlier this year, Sweet Tea and I became the lucky beneficiaries of the hard work and determination of the LSRC when we bought a lovely 125-year-old house on the Square.

Built in 1888, we have named her
"Josephine"

One of the great things about living in a historic neighborhood is digging up old photos and interesting facts about the place and its history. On the corner of our street stands a towering and magnificent structure known as "Abbey on the Park." The Abbey was built in 1883 as a Presbyterian church but sustained significant damage from the cyclone of 1896.

1896: Note the horse-drawn carriage across the street and the
people standing next to the fence in the foreground.

The Abbey today has been restored to its original exterior, but the interior has been converted into eight beautiful condos.

2013: The Abbey and mansion next door fully restored.

The below view of the Abbey displays more of the damage but also a view of our house, third one down on the right.

1896:  Viewing old photos like this is both
tragic and interesting.

...and the same view of the Abbey today, with our house in the background.

...and another view of the neighborhood showing the stately elegance of some the mansions on the park, lovingly restored to their original conditions.

Given this context, you can see how perfect Lafayette Square is for hosting a vintage base ball team. In fact it is the home park to two vintage teams: the Saint Louis Perfectos and the aptly named Lafayette Square Cyclone.

...but speaking of tragedies:

Giving up nine aces in the last two innings will do you in...

We took one to the chin on the road in Belleville, Illinois.  A series of "muffs" in the last two innings gave the Stags nine "aces" and the victory.

Perfectos (l-r): Danger, Dixie, Walnuts, Hands, Cyclone,
King, Pitchfork, Chatterbox, Turnpike, and Stoney.

The Stags are a gentlemanly group of ballists who have been friendly rivals to the Perfectos for over a decade.

It's a great day for base ball; let's play two!

We did play two that day and salvaged the second game by the score of 16-7, evening our record at 2-2 for the young season.

Stylin'!

Say what you will about vintage base ball, but it's a lot of fun...and catching a base ball barehanded takes a lot of concentration!

Until next time...and watch out for those cyclones!

Dixie

First Match...Huzzah!

What a difference a week makes in the midwest.  After having the season-opener postponed last weekend by 12 inches of snow, we finally had our first match under partly cloudy skies (and somewhat blustery winds) on Saturday.  How blustery were the winds?:

Tell me the truth, how's my hair look?

It was quite an eventful day actually.  The truck driver delivering my furniture was supposed to deliver on Friday morning (at his request, by the way) but called Thursday evening to say he wouldn't be there until Saturday.  Hey, man, no problem...we only had our Saturday all planned out with no time for a household goods shipment, but since you have my stuff and I need it, I guess I'm at your mercy.  Then, when said truck driver (who shall remain nameless *cough* Marshall *cough*) showed up at 8 am Saturday morning, her showed up alone...solo...all by his lonesome...to unload my stuff.  So...having just two hours before I needed to get to the game, guess who became a mover for the day?  We got everything off the truck just in time for me to change and jog over to the park for the 11 am first pitch.

The 2013 St. Louis Perfectos

We were short a few players for the opener, so despite having just spent two hours off-loading furniture and lugging it up a flight of stairs, I was ready to go.  As with the culture of the game in the 19th century, all of us play under nicknames.  The Perfectos were represented this day by: Pitchfork, Molasses, Cyclone, Hammer, Chatterbox, Hands, Stoney, Walnuts, Mute, King, and (yours truly) Dixie.  Our opponents for the double-header were long-time crosstown rivals, the Saint Louis Unions.

Scorekeepers desk and bell

In those days the home team did not automatically bat last, but a coin toss determined the team which would choose when to bat.  In the first game, the Unions would bat last despite playing on our home field.

The Unions bat in the bottom of the first against Perfectos
hurler  "King"

The Unions monstrous first baseman "Mayhem" steps in
against "King" with men on second and third and just
"one hand down" (one out).

"Mayhem" plates "Noodles" with the first "Ace" of the match.

The Unions drew first blood in the match as their first baseman "Mayhem" drove a ball deep to rightfield which was caught for an out (or hand down) but plated "Noodles" from third on a sacrifice fly.  The most important aspect of statistics back then was "making your ace" (scoring a run).  The premium was placed on the player that scored, rather than the player that drove in the run.  So, in the box score, Noodles would get credit for scoring the run but Mayhem would get no credit since he made an out.  When you scored you went over to the ring the bell next the scorekeepers desk to ensure the scorekeeper tallied the run and to let the fans (or "cranks" as they were called) know a tally had been registered.

The Unions ring the bell first

Lafayette Park: "Where Base Ball Began In St. Louis"

*Note the flag in the photo above, which was a version of the US Flag used between 1859 - 1861.

The Unions would lead for most of the first game, and would take a 4-2 lead into the top of the seventh inning, but we broke through for three aces in the seventh and then held the Unions scoreless to take the first game 5-4.  I rotated at first base with "Cyclone" in the first game, and had one hit in two times to the plate but did not score any runs.

Playing first base in game 1 where I had several put-outs.
Note the lack of a glove.

In the second game I played rightfield and again had several put-outs but I also had one "muff" as I took a fly ball off the middle finger of my right hand.  We played to a scoreless draw through five innings of the second game, but my muff led to an ace for the Unions who then went on to win the second game 4-0.

I had 3 hits in 5 at-bats on the day but
did not score a single ace.

I did have some success batting in the second game, adding two more hits.  In my last at bat I drove a ball deep into the alley between left and center field which should have resulted in at least a double.  However, the first base bag, which were not secured to the field back then, slid out from under me as I rounded first and I nearly tumbled to the ground.  Sheepishly I retreated to first base rather than get thrown out at second and look even more like a "green-horn."

At the end of the match, the team's gather on the base line and each captain addresses the cranks, thanking them for attending and providing a short synopsis of the match.  Each player also introduces themselves to the crowd and each team cheers their opponent.

The aptly nicknamed "Chatterbox" addresses the cranks
after the match.

I had a great time playing; part athletic endeavor and part theatrical performance.  I can't wait for more!

Requisite injury photo...
jammed middle finger.

Dixie

Postponed on account of...

So last weekend, March 30th, 2013, the Perfectos were scheduled to take on the Saint Louis Brown Stockings.  This would have been my first "official" match of vintage base ball and I was really looking forward to it.  A funny thing happened on the march towards the first game of the season, however:

That would be snow.  And lots of it.  About a foot in some areas.  That photo shows the good folks of Lafayette Square taking their sleds out to enjoy the snow in what would otherwise be our base ball field.  So, there you have it.  Postponed on account of...snow.  At the end of March.  At any rate, our first match will now be against the Saint Louis Unions, this coming Saturday, April 6th.

In the meantime, I thought I'd talk a little base ball.  Specifically the base ball.  In 1860 a book was published by the title of Beadles Dime Base-Ball Player, by Henry Chadwick.  This book is thought to be the first published rules of the game of base ball and Mr. Chadwick is well known as an early documenter of the game.  The Beadles Dime book called for the following rules regarding the ball itself:

"The rule states that the ball must be composed of India rubber and yarn, covered with leather, the proper weight being five and three-quarter ounces avoirdupois, and its circumference nine and three-quarter inches. The balls are easily made, but it would be advisable to obtain them from some well-known maker, as there will then be no chance of their being wrong in size or weight. The covering is usually sheepskin, and on a turf ground this covering will last some time."

Which would make it look something like this:

A somewhat "Frankenstein-esque" ball, sliced in four even parts and stitched in the simplest of patterns.

Compare that to today's ball which we're more familiar with...the two cowhide, figure eight-shaped halves sewn together by exactly 216 stitches.  Today's ball is slightly smaller (between 9 and 9.25 inches in circumference), slightly lighter (between 5 and 5.25 ounces), and slightly harder (with a cork center rather than a rubber center, and more tightly wound yarn).

Today's design with the stitching and lighter weight allows the pitcher to get more action on the ball and thus make it harder to hit, although because it is harder, when it is hit it flies faster and farther than the vintage balls...and chicks dig the long ball.

Just one of the many differences in the game over the last century-and-a-half.

Dixie