GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — Two games of 19th century-style base ball will be held at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds on State Rte. 55 at 12 noon on Sunday, September 8.

The Mountain Athletic Club of Fleischmanns, NY faces off with the Connecticut Base Ball Club of Hartford, CT for a double-header of 1864- and 1895-rules base ball. 

Before each game, a brief talk will be given describing the differences between the rules in 1864 or 1895 and the rules today. “These are no ordinary ball games,” said Collin Miller, captain of the Mountain Athletic Club. “More than likely, the players and the style of play will resemble what your great-, or great-great-grandparents, would’ve seen over 150 years ago.” 

The first game will be played by the rules and customs of base ball (spelled this way in the 1800s) from 1864. Fielders do not wear gloves; gloves would not come around until the 1880s. The base balls are also stitched differently—the style is often called a “lemon peel”—and are made slightly larger than the modern “horseshoe” ball. 

A batted ball caught on a “bound” or one bounce is an out. 

Pitches are tossed underhand from a pitcher’s box 45 feet from home plate—a round metal dish 10 inches in diameter. 

Umpires do not call a ball or strike on the batter until they issue a warning: either to a pitcher for not serving up a hittable pitch, or to the batter for being too choosy about what to swing at.

The second game will be played by 1895 rules. “Base ball in 1895 had subtle differences to the modern game. For example,” said Miller, “the only balls landing in foul territory that are considered a strike on the batter are those that were bunted; they were referred to as a ‘foul strike.’ The gloves were quite different as well.”

The games are sponsored by the Time and the Valleys Museum.

Admission costs $5 per person and there is no charge for children under age 10. You must bring your own chairs.

Traditional base ball refreshments will be available for purchase at the concession stand. 

 About the Mountain Athletic Club: From 1895 through the early 1900s, Julius and Max Fleischmann, the young sons of yeast magnate Charles Flesichmann, maintained a semi-professional ball club near their summer estate on the west end of what was then the village of Griffin Corners (the name was changed to Fleischmanns in 1914 following the donation of the private baseball park to the community). 

Over a dozen future and former major and minor league and collegiate players joined with the Fleischmann brothers to form a powerhouse of talent in the fledgling days of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad—which enabled players from the many towns along the rail lines to meet throughout the summer. 

The current team was reborn in 2007 after over 100 years of dormancy through the efforts of Fleischmanns resident and player Todd Pascarella. The team plays a dozen or more games each season throughout the Northeast, playing by the different rules and customs of the 19th century. 

About the Connecticut Base Ball Club of Hartford: A tribute to the flurry of baseball teams that originated in the Greater Hartford area during the mid-to-late 19th century, the Connecticut Base Ball Club of Hartford (also known as “The Hartfords”) has been in operation since 2017 and went undefeated in 2023. 

For more information about this program, call 845/985-7700 or email info@timeandthevalleysmuseum.org.

‘Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks’

So what is traditional base ball food?

The song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” dates back to 1908, and so does the base ball food it mentions. What were people eating at ballgames before then? 

Baseball history site protoball.org has a list—with footnotes.

Start with a three-course meal, including a pasta dish, documented at Brooklyn’s Union Grounds in 1862. (A little historical context—the Civil War was raging at the time.)

Apples were spotted on an 1867 lithograph. Add peanuts and pie. A game near Cleveland, also in 1867, offered “a stock of pop, soda water, ice-cream, fruit, etc., to the great delectation of the large juvenile element in the crowd.”

Popcorn turns up in 1870. There’s chowder and “cocoanut candy” according to Protoball. And fruit, sandwiches, lemonade, candy and peanuts. 

Cracker Jacks, though, didn’t turn up till after 1896, the site points out. 

—Annemarie Schuetz