They itch to play

For these Grays and Cadets, re-creating a 19th-century version of their favorite pastime is seriously fun

June 19, 2011|By Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe Correspondents

Friends, family, and fans watch the Olneyville Cadets at bat. After the… (DAVID LYON FOR THE BOSTON…)

WARWICK, R.I. — It is the bottom of the fourth at the Hen House, and the Providence Grays are in trouble. An inning-ending pop-up strands a man on third and the Grays trail the Olneyville Cadets, 21-0.

And their woolen uniforms are getting itchy.

In fairness to the Grays, it is the most lopsided thumping this team of vintage baseball fanatics has absorbed since first taking the field in 1998, the start of the longest uninterrupted run of any vintage team in New England.

Club president Tim Norton and a few others founded the team as a tribute to the original Providence Grays, who played in the National League from 1878 to 1885 and won the first “baseball championship of America’’ in 1884, when they swept a three-game series from the New York Metropolitans, champions of the rival American Association. (The second-place team in the National League that year was the Boston Red Stockings.)

A lifelong fan whose love affair with Major League Baseball had soured during the 1994-95 strike, Norton was inspired by an article in the Globe about amateur baseball teams in New York. He has since become somewhat of an evangelist for vintage baseball as the legacy of a more innocent age. Although teams often play in obscure parks, spectators are more than welcome and most teams post schedules on their websites. “We’re living in a cynical age,’’ Norton says. “But when people see this throwback activity, they’re charmed.’’

And probably a little confused.

Vintage teams play by 19th-century rules as they evolved from the early 1860s (when a ball caught on one bounce was an out) to 1897, the dawn of “modern’’ baseball. Most teams are conversant with the various editions of the rules. The Grays generally play by 1884 rules; the Cadets by 1886 rules, which allow overhand pitching and require seven balls for a walk. Pitchers throw from a flat box only 50 feet from home plate. Teams agree on the year of the rules for their matches, and since most players are students of baseball arcana, they seek to exploit the rules. Arguments resemble closely fought court cases.

But whatever the year, vintage teams strive for authenticity. They use balls made to 19th-century specifications and swing hefty bats that weigh up to 40 ounces. The Grays wear coarse woolen uniforms that grow heavier as the game progresses, since they absorb perspiration rather than wicking it away. There are no batting gloves or helmets. Most players field with their bare hands, or use small, barely padded gloves. Players contend that their palms can absorb a lot of punishment, but broken fingers are commonplace. Hard-hit line drives are rarely infield outs.