Flashback, July 1859: Amherst Crushes Williams in First Intercollegiate Baseball Game

The national pastime notched a milestone indicating its growing appeal, as Amherst pulverized Williams College in what seems more like a basketball score (albeit a lopsided one) than the first intercollegiate baseball game: 73-32.

Nearly two months ago, The New York Times ran an account of a reenactment of the game, occurring at Wacomah Stadium in Pittsfield, Mass., within walking distance of the original site on North and Maplewood Streets.

Before this, all I knew about Pittsfield was that at one time it housed the home of Moby Dick author Herman Melville. Little did I realize that it has become known as “Baseball’s Garden of Eden”—the place offering the greatest amount of documentation for the very early origins of the game. (A 1791 ordinance forbade the playing of baseball within 80 yards of the new Meeting House "for the Preservation of the Windows.”)

Longtime baseball fans fed up with a number of aspects of the modern game—the designated hitter, the closer, the umpteenth middle relievers, the starters that have to be yanked after 100 pitches lest their arms fall off or they turn into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight, the rock-show antics (and I didn’t even mention steroids!)—would have been interested in that reenactment.

Actually, in another sense, it’s becoming extremely likely that they’re going to do so soon, if you haven’t already, because an entire league exists with rules similar to how the game was played in 1859.

It’s something called the Vintage Base Ball Federation (no, the two words for “baseball” are not a misprint—that’s how it was spelled in the 19th century). The league has been around for 13 years, but it first came to my attention because of a former New York Yankee who had helped organize its first two regional playoffs and World Series: Jim Bouton.

The pitcher earned a reputation, in a Village Voice headline which captured the spirit of a feeling more than the reality of the situation, as a “Baseball Bolshevik" with the publication of Ball Four in 1970. It turns out, however, that when it comes to what’s on the diamond as opposed to what happens in the dugout, Bouton is as much, maybe even more (perish the thought!) of an advocate of “original intent,” than Antonin Scalia.

Earlier this year, Bouton announced that, because businesses have been devastated by the recession, the regional playoffs and World Series would go on hiatus this year. Nevertheless, the game is so unique—and sounds like such fun—that I think it’ll return stronger than ever.

The following were features of the 1859 intercollegiate game—and, in reading recent accounts of the VBBF, it struck me that players in this new league would find much congenial about the earlier contest, which were played under rules that were labeled “Boston Base Ball” or “Massachusetts Base Ball”:

* Hurlers (not pitchers) tossed the ball underhanded while only 35 feet away from batters.
* Thirteen men were on the field.
* Innings lasted for only one out.
* There was no such thing as a foul ball.
* The rectangular infield was marked not with bases but with four four-foot poles.
* Players caught the ball barehanded—no gloves.
* The ball was heavier.
* Batters stood halfway between first and home—a distance of only 30 feet.
* The sartorial style consisted of short-billed caps and long-sleeved jerseys.
* The tonsorial style consisted of waxed moustaches and flamboyant flaring sideburns.

Oh, by the way, at the same time Williams was losing on the diamond, they dropped a chess match, too, to Amherst. Obviously, it wasn’t their day.