Outfitted in a red long-sleeved shirt a plain white painter?s cap and white

Outfitted in a red long-sleeved shirt, a plain white painter?s cap, and white baseball pants yanked high to show off red socks, I, and the eight other individuals who were dressed the same way, looked absolutely ridiculous It?s a good thing none of us were overly self-conscious. (I gave up on that after two summers interning with the Lake County Captains, having spent time both in fish suits and as the furry green mascot Skipper.)Why were we dressed this way, though? What could possibly make nine grown men give up their Sunday afternoons to look like something out of the 1870s?Uhh, actually, that was exactly it?we were playing a vintage baseball (or ?base ball?, as it was back then) game as members of the Delaware Lenapes versus the Ohio Village Muffins.The rules of the game, as we learned quickly, have changed quite a lot over 130 years. Here?s a sampling of some of the differences:1.  You can?t overrun first base?this one could not be stressed enough to us before the game.2.  Any ball fielded on one hop is an out. You could smoke a liner to the outfield, but if it was fielded on one hop, the hitter is out.

(Should probably mention here that there were no gloves back then. The balls were a little softer?kind of like a hard rubber?but it took a lot of getting used to; standing in the field with two bare hands).3.  Pitches were thrown underhand, like in slow-pitch softball. There were no balls or strikes called, but pitchers (?hurlers?) were trusted to make good pitches and batters (?strikers?) were trusted to swing at them. 4.  No swearing or spitting allowed?the two aspects of baseball that I was actually decent at when I played.(There were quite a few more differences, but I was so excited to play that I kind of zoned out for a few minutes while these were being explained.)The home team was determined by?and I kid you not?a stone toss. The umpire, or ?arbiter?, had a stone and spit on one side for ?wet?, while the other side was ?dry?, then tossed it like a coin. We won the toss and opted to be the home team.We went down quickly and took the field.

I played center field, because our captain, Jason, thought I was ?fleet of foot??his words, not mine. As members of Capital?s baseball team can attest, my skills in the outfield are somewhat limited, although it was a cloudy day so the chances of me losing a fly ball in the sun and catching it with my forehead, leaving me concussed and with 20-plus stitches in my forehead, were minimal.(Not that that, uhh, ever happened to me You know what, forget I said anything. Let?s just move on.)We got out of the first with a beautiful double play?apparently those were rare in the 1870s because the Muffins were very appreciative?and came to bat in the second. I was due third and stepped to the plate after the first two hitters were retired.I took a few practice cuts with the wood bat and stepped to the ?line??not a batters box, just a line that marked where you could stand next to the plate.