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Vintage Base Ball Game Postponed Due to Rain - Rescheduled for April 25

Are you ready for some baseball? We're talking baseball as it was played a century ago, when local towns would literally shut down on a Sunday afternoon as residents formed caravans to spend the day watching their home team play a neighboring rival. The Sunday, April 18 game was cancelled due to rain, but on April 25 Rockwall area residents will get a chance to experience what it was like as the Rockwall County Historical Foundation hosts an exhibition game of baseball (or Base Ball, as it was spelled prior to the 1880's) played by 1860 rules.

At this month's Historical Society brown bag lunch presentation, longtime Rockwall residents shared their memories of the game from more recent times, in the 1940's and 50's. Jerry Wimpee, whose father was a member of a local minor league team, both as a player and later as a coach, fondly recalls watching those games. After the end of World War II, he said, because of baseball, "Men came back from war and became boys again."

Les Gray remembers the big role his hometown team played in the life of Heath. "In the 50's, it was a big event just to get out of Heath and go somewhere."

The first known major league player to come from Rockwall, according to Cliff Cardwell, was J. Walter Morris. Born in Rockwall in 1880, Morris played for the San Antonio Broncos (later to become the Padres) after coming up through the minor leagues. In 1908, he signed on with the St. Louis Cardinals where he played for a year. After managing a number of teams in the Texas League, Morris became the first president of the Big State League, a class B minor league consisting of teams based exclusively in Texas. He is also credited with inventing the "rain check", whereby a game attendee could come back and see a game that had been rescheduled due to rain, a response to the common practice of lining up for a refund, then going to the back of the line to collect again. Royse City produced Gus Ketchum, who pitched for the 1922 Philadelphia Athletics.

1860 Rules - If you're curious how the game rules differed from those of today, here is a quote from the Vintage Base Ball Association website:

"The mid-nineteenth century game was considerably different than today’s game. Most ballists played with bare hands until the mid-1880s, but starting in the late 1860s a few catchers with raw hands needed to wear thin buckskin gloves to keep on playing. Until 1865, fair or foul balls caught on one bound were outs. However, the more skilled players always attempted to catch it "on the fly" which eventually made the bound rule unnecessary. More and more vintage base ball clubs play the late 1860s style fly game. Balls are also considered fair by where the ball first touches the ground. That is, a ball hit in front of home plate that then spins into foul territory is still a fair ball. Talented vintage base ball strikers take advantage of this rule and use the bat to swat at the ball, creating what is known as a "fair-foul" ball, which first lands fair and spins foul, forcing either the first or third baseman off their base. Historically, this technique was abused forcing the fair ball rule to be changed for 1877. There are numerous other differences in the all-amateur games of baseball prior to 1869, but modern spectators would still recognize vintage version as base ball."

In addition to the vintage base ball exhibition game, there will be an antique car display and music by the Heritage Brass Band. The event starts at noon at the RISD Campbell Spring Sports Complex at 900 Yellow Jacket Lane. The game starts at 3:00. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12. Proceeds will benefit the Rockwall County Historical Foundation. For more information call 972-722-1507 or visit the foundation website at RockwallCountyHistoricalFoundation.com

Bob Lewis
Contributing Writer