The boys of summer are back on the field at Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita. But this feels more like a scene from the summer of 1879.
Vintage base ball – spelled with two words in the 1800s – looks somewhat different than the modern game.
Players wear baggy, long-sleeved uniforms on a warm July day. After crossing home plate, they ring a triangle to signal a run. And every player goes by a nickname on the field.
“This combines two things I love – history and baseball,” said volunteer coordinator Gary “Dixie” Lee. “Baseball is so well documented, the history of the game, the stats, newspaper articles, the Hall of Fame. So if you love history and you love baseball, this is a perfect sport.”
The Cowtown Vintage Base Ball Club started in 2004. Volunteer players represent two 1879 Wichita teams, the Red Stockings and the Bull Dozers.
Lee said businessmen formed the Bull Dozers to defeat the Topeka Westerns, the best team in the state. Back then, the term “bull-dose” meant administering a large dose of medicine or punishment.
“But they lost that one game, and then the Red Stockings formed,” Lee said. “The Red Stockings were much more competitive. They did not beat the Westerns, but they had a winning record that year. The Red Stockings lasted until about 1883 (or) 1884.”
Tickets to those games at the old Wichita fairgrounds cost a dollar. Around 1,000 people attended the games at a time when Wichita had a population of 5,000. Visiting teams arrived by train and stayed at the Occidental Hotel. The home team hosted a dinner and a dance following the game.
“This was a gentleman's game, and they were well attended by the community,” Lee said.
The Cowtown vintage team plays by 1860 base ball rules. Pitchers deliver the ball underhanded, 45 feet from home plate. Fielders can catch the ball after one bounce and have it count as an out. There’s no base stealing and no gloves, which weren’t used until around 1880.
At Cowtown, these rules are enforced by umpire Toby Ortstadt. Dressed head to toe in a black suit, Ortstadt strikes an authoritative presence on the field. He punctuates calls with a wave of a red handkerchief.
“Balls and strikes were very inconsistently called, so things are different, but we can see a lot of the rules of the game today,” Ortstadt said. “Once you understand the rules from the 1860s, you can see how they evolved, and you can see where some of the rules came from.”
Ortstadt also serves as a ringmaster of the game, chatting with players and explaining the 1860s rules to the crowd. He tries to emphasize the roots of the game, connecting it to the modern baseball the crowd is familiar with.
“To me, that is something that I wish people would connect with, to see that there's that continuity over the centuries,” Ortstadt said. “I think that's pretty cool.”
Garrett “G-Money” Brummett played his first game with the club on the Fourth of July. He previously played college baseball at Wichita State and Emporia. Starting out at shortstop, he said everyone was welcoming during this new experience.
“I learned some things today that I had no clue about vintage base ball,” Brummett said. “Just to be able to hang out with some other gentlemen and have a good game, it was perfect.”
Brummett said the main difference is that the vintage game is much slower, likening it to the pace of soccer, with moments of peak action. It also favors sportsmanship and playing together as a team.
He has a 3-year-old son, whom he hopes to coach in a few years. Brummett said the vintage game is another good way to stay connected to the pastime he loves.
Greg Hoss goes by just “Hoss” on the field. Playing for the Red Stockings, he was joined by his son, “Little Hoss.”
“Honestly, it’s a baseball dad's dream to be able to play on the same team as your son, and he's done well this year,” Hoss said. “It's fun to say that he's hit me in a couple of times, and it's been awesome being able to see him play.”
Big Hoss started out by attending the games at Cowtown, before Lee pulled him out of the bleachers to play. He said he likes playing at the museum, where you can occasionally hear cowboys re-enact gunfights in the background.
There’s also a diversity of players on the field, who are all doing something they love.
“We have my son, who's 13, up to 70-year-old players out here,” Hoss said. “It's all skill levels, from people who've maybe played once before, to never, to former college players. It's an opportunity to see all sorts of different levels of skills. Everybody's out here playing because they love to play.”
For Ortstadt, the vintage uniforms, rules and players go beyond the history of baseball. It’s about a connection.
People can watch the players at Cowtown, or turn on the television and watch a modern game in Kansas City or St. Louis, he said. The vintage game connects us to our past as a country, playing the same game of base ball or baseball.
“To me, that is something that I wish people would connect with, to see that there's that continuity over the centuries,” Ortstadt said. “This game is uniquely American, and it's something that can transcend some of the difficulties we are having today. Anybody can enjoy baseball. It doesn't need to be divisive.”
“If it's a ball or a strike or out or safe, those are the arguments that we have,” he said. “And that's much more refreshing than other arguments you could be having.”
The Cowtown Vintage Base Ball Club will play an exhibition game during the NBC World Series at Eck Stadium July 26. Their next regular game at Old Cowtown Museum is Aug. 8. Anyone interested in participating is invited to come out and give the game a try.
