Over the years in New Jersey, I’ve seen re-enactments of George Washington crossing the Delaware and the battles of Monmouth, Trenton and Princeton. Today, I got to see something old as something new: two bare-handed teams in Civil-War-era-style uniforms using vintage bats and balls play a “base ball” game using 1864 rules.
The Newtown Strakes crossed the Delaware River to play the Flemington Neshanock at a park in Princeton. A nice crowd of “cranks” turned out, sitting in folding chairs and on blankets near the third-base line.
There is no joy in Flemington. The Strakes, designated as the home team, won by scoring a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth inning. I don’t know what the final score was, but the margin of victory was that one run. It closed out an entertaining, back-and-forth game that finished in under 90 minutes.
The 19th century rules played with the heads of us 21st century baseball fans. The umpire, in a stovepipe hat and holding a cane, stood beside the plate. The pitchers threw underhand, at a pace somewhat faster than slowpitch softball.
The old-time fielding rules also took some time to understand. Having outs called when the fielders caught the ball on the first bounce was the biggest difference between then and now.
Given that the players were not wearing mitts, getting the ball on the bounce often seemed a better strategy than catching it on the fly. Long flies seemed to be caught or dropped in equal measure, and there were some outstanding catches in between. The third baseman for the Strakes made a few, including a sprawling one-handed grab of a pop-up.
A couple of innings into the game, I got to thinking it would be fun to go with black-and-white images for this post. It is a rare day when I use the vignette function in Adobe Lightroom, and I applied it on most of the images in the post. I believe that better represents the spirit of the game.
Speaking of spirit, both teams exhibited plenty. I heard a few compliments from players to their teammates about “manly” play. The men spanned several decades in age, and I’m guessing that was between the 20s and maybe a few in their 60s.
One of my favorite parts of the game was a Keystone Cops-like rundown between first and second base. I was too busy firing my camera to notice how the rundown started, but the runner was chased back and forth before finally being tagged out.
The game was a treat. If old-time teams play in your area, I urge you to go. As the players tipped their caps to each other in a brief post-game ceremony, I tip mine to them (and the umpire) as well.
Well played, gentlemen. Hurrah! 🧢
The Ball Caps Blog 
Ah! Wonderful day and photos! Back in 2021, I photographed the Monmouth Furnace v. Hoboken 9 Baseball Club. It was fun to see them play “old-timey” baseball, rules and everything.
It’s great that we keep these traditons alive. And I must note: your B&W efforts inspired mine today. Thanks.
baseball…never been better. Great times. Glad you made it there and with a camera, as always. Keep up the great work.
thanks!
Looks lie a uniform that would make you hot in this weather. Cool to see the uniforms of past.
luckily, the game concluded before the heat kicked in.