Republished from the Belleville, IL News Democrat...
Team Celebrates Game's Early Days
- By Jennifer A. Bowen; published in the August 14, 2004 Issue
TRENTON - The 1890's newspaper ad was pretty clear: The Trenton Mains baseball team needed new players, and the manager was so disgusted with his current players he wouldn't consider letting them take the field again.
Bob "Squatter" Rieger stumbled across the ad while researching baseball in Trenton in the mid-1800s and thought, well, why not form a whole new team, 100 years later? Rieger took his idea to the city's sesquicentennial committee and pitched it: A vintage baseball team that played by the rules of the 1860s. The team could represent the city and be part of the city's 150th anniversary celebration. His idea was a winner with the committee, and plans to drum up funds for vintage uniforms, balls and bats were put into motion.
"It has really taken off and we are much farther ahead of the curve than I thought we would be," said Rieger, 47, of Trenton. "As the word spread, the circle got bigger and bigger as people got involved." The team had to scrounge together 10 players for its first game in May. The Mains now have 15 players, known as "ballists," with even more people interested in wrapping their hands around a historically replicated wooden bat and giving the ball a whack. Rieger is the team manager.
There are two vintage baseball teams in St. Louis, and the Mains have traveled to Decatur and across Illinois to play other vintage teams. The Vintage Base Ball Association has registered more than 200 clubs throughout the U.S. and Canada, with more teams forming every year.
'It's in my blood...'
Rich "Boomer" Ritzheimer is the Mains' oldest player. At 73 years old, he is local icon. A hometown boy, Ritzheimer grew up playing sports, especially baseball. After he graduated from college, he played professional baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for two years before returning to the metro-east. He eventually came home and continued his love of the sport by coaching baseball and softball teams in Trenton and coached teams at Wesclin High School. He still plays slow-pitch senior softball.
"Vintage baseball intrigued me and I was interested from the start," Ritzheimer said. "I love the game, it's in my blood. It has really been enjoyable, it sure has, and a lot of the spectators really enjoy it, too.
"I love the camaraderie between the players and the fans. We're all in it for fun, we don't get in feuds or arguments during the games. We just have a good time."
Ballists play with their bare hands; no gloves will be seen on the field during a Mains game. Fortunately, the leather ball gradually softens up during the game and the smack of the ball on a bare hand doesn't sting quite so much. Dislocated fingers are one of the biggest hazards of playing without gloves, Rieger said.
Sportsmanship and gentlemanly manners are a key component of vintage base ball. (Yes, baseball was two words in the 1860s). Players congratulate the other team on good plays, and the cranks (also known as fans) shout encouragement to both teams. And absolutely, positively, no arguing with the umpire about a call, and no cursing. Ever.
"Bad behavior just doesn't happen in vintage baseball," Rieger said. This is more about honoring the history of the game and good sportsmanship, and trying to do things from a historical, and almost a theatrical point of view. We want people to come and watch the game and feel like they are actually at a ball game in 1860."
The old-fashioned way...
The Trenton Mains' home plate is a slice of oak tree, painted white, something that would have been used more than a century ago. Their equipment bag is a burlap sack that once held peanuts. They play the game in open fields -- no meticulously manicured ball diamonds or clear outfields.
"We played a game in a field with a willow tree in the outfield," Rieger said. "That was fun, watching the guys disappear into the branches to chase a ball and pop out again and continue playing. It was kind of a rough setting, but that's the setting they would have played in back then."
Learning the rules took a bit of studying, and the first practice was amusing as the players became accustomed to playing ball 1860s style.
"We are trying to do it with the types of things they would have used in 1860," Rieger said. "People will recognize it as baseball, but there are a lot of rules that are a bit different.
"Our first game was really nerve-wracking because you think you are going to screw up."
Some differences between 1860s baseball and the modern game can immediately be seen. The umpire doesn't call balls or strikes and the pitcher throws the ball underhanded.
"The pitcher had to lay it in there like the player wanted it," Rieger said. "The player could wait in there as long as he wanted until he got a throw he wanted to swing at." The runner also has to stop at first base; he or she can't run through it like modern players do.
Balls caught on one bounce were outs, and balls are considered fair by where the ball first touches the ground. If the ball hits in front of home plate and spins into foul territory, it is still a fair ball. Stealing bases wasn't as common as it is now.
"We are having a lot of fun," Rieger said. "The best thing about vintage baseball is even us old guys can get out there and still play a sport we truly love."