By the time you’ve traversed through the 68 buildings that make up the circa 19th-century Genesee Country Village & Museum (GCVM) and made your way to the furthest point of the 600-acre grounds, your brain may be convinced you’ve traveled back in time. Especially once you step through a wooded tree line and beneath an arch donning the field’s name — Silver Base Ball Park — onto a 19th-century replica baseball field (think the 1919 Black Sox stepping through the corn in “Field of Dreams”), the first of its kind in the U.S.
On this field, America’s favorite pastime is kept to its purest form: teams outfitted in period woolen uniforms, wood benches instead of elaborately covered dugouts, brown balls, a simple fence lining the outfield and a single scorekeeper changing the games strikeouts and runs by hand over in left field.
GCVM is the largest living history museum in New York State and the third-largest in the United States. This year will mark its 50th anniversary, and the vintage base ball program is rounding 26 years. The volunteer league is made up of four teams: Rochester B.B.C, Flower City, Spring Creek, and Oatka B.B.C. At Silver Base Ball Park, they play by the official 1867 rulebook, with a sprinkle of house rules mixed in.
“Of course, the biggest thing people first notice is no gloves,” said Ryan “Doc” Becker, a member of Flower City and one of the original founding players of the league.
Add to that a no-strike zone, a rack of thick (sometimes double-knobbed) bats and running rules like a hard stop at first base. These are just some of the legacy styles of play, alongside a hurler (pitcher) that’s both exclusively underhand and is, by no means, looking to strike out the striker (batter).
The majority of the initial rules in place for vintage base ball were built around creating a respectable, gentlemanly environment that focuses more on fair play and sportsmanship — such as fines for inappropriate language — than gameplay itself.
“(The 19th-century) players made most of their calls,” said Michael “Whiskey” Williams, a founding player from the leagues’ inception and team member of the Rochesters B.B.C. “The umpire was not there to call the game, he was there to make sure that people played fairly.”
This ethos extends and amplifies when the ball leaves the diamond and makes its way to the ladies base ball program, where various versions are played. Co-captain Nancy Rhodes, who has been a part of the ladies program since its inception in 2002, is quick to point out the emphasis on representation, entertainment and, of course, fun.
“(The) ladies program is more of a historical drama than a competitive baseball game that everybody would relate to,” said Rhodes. “The 19th-century was a time when there was all sorts of upheaval and women were trying to get the right to vote. Suffrage is included in our program, so we’re playing for the fun of it, but we’re also trying to depict what ladies might have been doing in any spare moment that they had.”
It’s the same love of the game that brings people from different backgrounds and generations together — like the DeVito family, who now have three generations playing for the Rochester B.B.C. What began as a hobby for Steve “Stubby” DeVito became a family tradition that now includes his father and his sons. (The baseball teams range in age from late teens to mid-70s, all playing side-by-side.)
“Our teams are family oriented and continue from one generation to the next, so that when we’re gone they’re gonna be there and (pass it on),” said Williams.
As the players take the field for their 26th season, the parallels to the game and the nation that took hold of it as a beloved pastime are more present on this 250th anniversary: a focus on key principles and simplicity that once began as a one-page set of rules.
“I’d like to see people shake hands again,” said Williams. “That shows sportsmanship, and (with) the world we are in right now, we really could use some sportsmanship and compassion amongst people.”
Baseball is a game that brought working class people a space to escape and unwind; a game where the score was far from the most important part. A game that, today, hopes to inspire both its major league counterparts, fans and those who’ve yet to tune in to return to the roots that connected communities like the lines of chalk (or, in this case, flour) between bases. A game that spanned generations, healed post-war wounds and didn’t just break records and bats, but racial barriers on a national level. And at GCVM, that game lives on in its purest form, pitched underhand to a wool-wearing striker choked up on a double-knotted 19th-century bat — ready to “hit ‘em where they ain’t.”
The National Silver Ball Tournament, which includes eight teams from around the nation, takes place July 31 through August 2 at GCVM. gcv.org/historic-village/base-ball
Roberto Felipe Lagares is CITY’s multimedia reporter and has an unruly amount of film cameras on his person at all times. You can follow him @bertoscamera.
