By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
ARCADIA – Last Saturday afternoon, a nice crowd of fans spent the afternoon in Bishop’s Park with Scooter, Pokey and Hay Wagon.
They are all players on the White River Base Ball Club, a group of historians that play 19th century baseball, and enjoy sharing the history and tradition of it with others. The club hosted the Hamilton County Bicentennial Celebration Vintage Base Ball Game at the park, located in Arcadia.
The White River club hosted the McLean County Prairie Chickens from Normal, Ill., and 170 people turned out to watch the match.
“We are thrilled to be able to stage this game on behalf of Hamilton County and in celebration of the Hamilton County Bicentennial,” said Don Nicholls, Resource Development Specialist for Hamilton County Parks and Recreation. Nicholls called it “a great opportunity for folks today, young and old,” to see how baseball was played in the previous century, see some of the details and learn about the vintage game, and experience it the way it was back then.
Jessica Layman is the Bicentennial Coordinator, and she was happy to see the high turnout at the game, calling it “amazing.”
“We’re really happy to be able to spread the word about events all year long,” said Layman. That includes events that might have happened without the Bicentennial, and other events that would be bigger because of the Bicentennial year, “so we’re really happy that people new to the area or new to history get to learn some things,” said Layman.
The White River club and the Prairie Chickens played two games. The most notable part of the first game was that players did not use any sort of mitts – all the catches had to be made barehanded. Also, batters could choose their strike zone, either high or low.
Fortunately, there was an umpire on hand to explain the rules to the spectators between innings. His name is Hay Wagon, better known as Noel Fliss, who played on the White River club before turning to the umpire side.
“I started off in 2003 when we were still at Conner Prairie,” said Fliss. He became the captain of the team in 2004 and held that position for 17 years. After that, Fliss began following his son’s baseball games, so he turned captain duties over to John Williams, aka Sparrowhawk. Fliss then suffered a knee injury, which cemented his switch to umpire.
“I still come out and umpire when I can and when the schedule allows, but I still have to follow my son where he’s going,” said Fliss, whose son pitches for the North Central High School baseball team.
Fliss calls what the White River club is doing “historic baseball.” White River’s goal is to fully recreate what 19th century baseball is all about, including authentic period equipment and clothing. The White River club was dressed in wool uniforms for its game.
Fliss said the point of the club is to teach people about how baseball started, and just how big baseball was in Central Indiana in the 1880s.
“Every town had a community team that would play and bring the community out,” said Fliss. “It was a major event. It was the sport of the late 19th century.”
While some of the vintage/historic rules are different, Fliss pointed out that when one learns about “how the game evolved and where it started, it really makes some of the rules of today’s game make more sense.”
The White River club began in 2001, and still contains one original member: Steve Mattingly, aka Scooter. Mattingly said that while there are some new people on the team, “there’s still a number of people that been around for a long time.”
One of those newer members is Joel Hand, who goes by Pokey.
“I love the history of vintage baseball,” said Hand. “Always been very much into history, Civil War-era history and this really feeds right into that passion. But I also really enjoy the camaraderie and getting to know not only my own teammates, but players from other teams from around the other states.”
To learn more about the White River Base Ball Club, check out Facebook.com/WhiteRiverBaseBallClub.
Great opportunity to see how rules and style of play have changed in the past 175 years.
This is great. I hope you can schedule another game.