1800s Baseball

Papa, Matteo, and AJ traveled down I-25 about 25 miles and back in time over a hundred years to 1800s "living history" baseball as part of Heritage Days at the Rock Ledge Ranch (shares an entrance road with Garden of the Gods). Same spot we saw some Shakepeare plays earlier this summer; in fact, today's baseball field is where the tent theatre stood only weeks ago. The 1800s Camp Creek Cloud Busters (CCCB) played the 1882 Denver & Rio Grande Reds. Three balls drew a walk. You're "dead" when you're out. A fly ball could be caught on one bounce for an out (no mitts or gloves). Players scoring a run rang the cow bell at the scorekeeper's table on the way back to the bench (bails of hay). Quite fun! All the photos are here.

50 cents each. Pretty cheap today, a might
expensive for 1800s.

Teddy and Abe were there. Abe played catcher and batted at one point.
Don't try to do the math on the dates of things; you'll miss out on the fun.

$1 root beer.

The game was interrupted by a women's suffrage rally.

The guy with the cane was the ump, calling the "hurls" from off to the side
(not directly behind the batter/catcher).

Players and the cranks (the crowd) could influence the call with enough noise.

1882 Denver & Rio Grande Reds' bench.