History Center brings vintage base ball to county

On Sunday, a pair of baseball games were played at Taughannock Falls State Park between the Delhi Polecats and Bovina Dairymen. This was not baseball as we know it, though. There were hay bales instead of dugouts, players in suspenders instead of the uniforms we are accustomed to and barehanded catches instead of gloves in the field.

It was vintage base ball (written with a space in between “base” and “ball”), which was brought to the area by The History Center in Tompkins County. The two teams play for a traveling circuit known as the Delaware County Vintage Base Ball Association, making its first-ever stop in Tompkins County on Sunday. Ben Sandberg, executive director of The History Center, talked about what sparked the idea.

“This has been a little bit of a pet project of mine,” Sandberg said. “From my viewpoint, it brings an audience who maybe isn’t as interested in history, and it opens it up. It sort of shows and illustrates that whatever you’re passionate about, whatever you’re interested in, there’s a history to that. We at The History Center want to be inspiring our community to be connecting to the local history, whatever that passion is that you individually have.”

Sandberg stated that The History Center started noticing more and more local stories in its archives of baseball being played in Tompkins County (read more about baseball’s history in Freeville at bit.ly/3HU8RxE). The connection to sports can be used to bring more people to the area.

“If you look at the Tompkins County tourism plan, one of the areas that we’re hoping to grow over the next five to 10 years is sports tourism,” Sandberg said. “This was a unique way for us at The History Center to be supporting that effort and that initiative coming from Tompkins County and coming from our visitors bureau.”

There are certainly plenty of areas in Tompkins County that could have hosted Sunday’s games, but in Sandberg’s mind, Taughannock Falls State Park was the perfect location.

“It’s the backdrops,” Sandberg said. “We’re right down there by the water. One of the perks of vintage base ball is that you don’t need a baseball diamond. We sort of had the ability to say, ‘Where do we have a nice expanse of grass? Where is there suitable parking for an audience to come? What would really provide a unique experience here in Tompkins County to sort of set this program up for success?’ Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep doing it in years to come.”

Sandberg also touched on the educational opportunity that was present at Sunday’s games, which also aired a screening of “Play Ball,” a 1916 short film that was produced by The Wharton Studio in Ithaca.

“It’s just to contextualize it whatever age you are,” Sandberg said. “If you have a passion for baseball, or really for sports in general, the way you understand it and play that game today is not how it has always been played, or it is not how it has always been approached. I’m hoping that folks are able to see and be able to compare and understand the evolution here.”

Sandberg is hoping to have more vintage base ball games in the future in Tompkins County. Sunday’s games drew in a sizable crowd that only grew as more passersby stopped to watch.

“We’re hoping the teams we had coming in were excited by being able to play here in Ithaca, in sort of the unparalleled environment that we have here with our natural resources,” Sandberg said. “If the audience was excited about this, then we’ll respond to that in the future and hopefully grow this to attract more teams. Maybe it will inspire some community members to pick up and start their own local vintage base ball team.”

Beyond just hosting games, expect more baseball-related content from The History Center in the future.

“I think there would be a lot of enthusiasm in the future to be able to do clinics and workshops about how to play without a glove, with massive bats, the differences in live ball and dead ball rules,” Sandberg said. “The 1860 game, in particular, is wildly different than what you would expect from a baseball game today. That’s the case for everything that we approach in our life today.”

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