The Lightfoot Club of Chattanooga and the Mountain City Club of Chattanooga will begin the 2024 season of vintage base ball (yep, two words) on the historic 6th Calvary polo field (6 Barnhardt Circle, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.) on Saturday, April 6 at noon.
Opening Day will feature a cannon fire demonstration at 11:30 a.m., a food truck and live music, while the first pitch will be thrown by Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame inductee and retired Navy Captain Mickey McCamish.
Admission to the game is free.
Spectators are encouraged to bring blankets or other personal seating as there are no permanent seats or bleachers available at the field.
This will mark the 10th anniversary for each of the two teams, who are part of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball (TAoVBB).
This season, a total of nine teams will compete from early April until late August in the regular season before the season-ending Sulphur Dell Cup Tournament, which is scheduled for September at The Hermitage in Nashville.
The TAoVBB was established in 2012 to entertain and educate communities by recreating the civility of 19th century base ball.
The association promotes living history by bringing the 19th century to life through base ball events that use the rules, equipment, costumes and culture of the 1860s.
According to the TAoVBB website, the association provides "cultural enrichment and education programs and activities to youth and adults that emphasize honor, team play, respectful conduct and community pride." The goal, the website adds, "is to exemplify to youth and adults alike the values that are lacking in modern-day athletic programs, and encourage a sense of belonging regardless of race, gender, religious conviction or physical ability."
In addition to monthly living history events during the playing season, teams are also involved in demonstrations and workshops for youth and senior groups, museums, historical societies, corporations and others year-round, including exhibition games.
In addition to the two Chattanooga teams, the others set to begin play for the 2024 season include the Cumberlanders (Nashville), the Farriers (Franklin), the Maroons (Nashville), the Phoenix (East Nashville), the Quicksteps (Spring Hill) and the Scouts (Stones River), along with the Knoxville Vintage Base Ball Club. The teams (mostly) play by the rules contained in the 1864 edition of Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player.
Some of the major differences from the modern game include bare-handed fielders (as gloves weren't invented until the mid-1870's and not widely used until the following decade) and the "bound rule", which means that any batted ball, be it fair or foul, can be caught on the first bounce (or "bound") for an out. Runners on base do not have to tag up on balls caught on the bound, but do have to tag up on balls caught on the fly.
Pitchers (or "hurlers" as they are known) also deliver the ball underhanded from 45 feet away and it is his or her job to deliver the batter ("striker") a hittable ball. Called balls and strikes were introduced gradually throughout the 1860's in order to increase the pace of play, though they are only called in the TAoVBB at the discretion of the umpire ("arbiter").
Runners may not run through the bag at first base and the team that bats last is not determined by home field advantage, but rather by a game of chance, generally the old-fashioned, hand-over-hand bat toss.
Games are played to nine full innings with extra innings being employed if the game is still tied.
There are currently over 400 vintage base ball teams in the United States and Canada. Many of the teams are associated with historic villages or living history programs and the TAoVBB is no exception.
In addition to the 6th Calvary polo field, other historic sites that will see TAoVBB games this season include Oaklands Mansion (Murfreesboro), Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park (Nashville), Rippavilla (Spring Hill), the Ramsey House (Knoxville) and The Hermitage.
Other sites where association games will be played this season include Rugby, Tenn., Greenback, Tenn., Carson-Newman College and Heinie Manush Field in Tuscumbia, Al.
Vintage base ball began in Bethpage, New York on Long Island in 1979, while the Vintage Base Ball Association (vbba.org) was founded in Ohio in 1996. Its goal is to preserve and perpetuate the game as it was played during its formative years. The TAoVBB teams are members of the VBBA.
For more information on the TAoVBB, log on to tennesseevintagebaseball.com.