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