Bring sneakers but no gloves to Sunday's baseball fun on Fort Pulaski parade ground

(NPS photos)

The old ball game won’t cost you a dime Sunday at Fort Pulaski National Monument outside Savannah, Ga.

The Civil War site is marking the National Park Service’s centennial through a celebration of 19th-century baseball. Participants, with a focus on youth, will learn how to hurl (pitch) and strike (bat) on the old parade ground that saw baseball games way back in 1862.

“They’ll be learning the rules and taking a crack at it,” said interpretive ranger Andrew Miller. Games are planned at the end of two sessions (11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2 p.m.-4 p.m.).

A bonus is that admission to Pulaski, as it is at all NPS units, is free during National Park Week, April 16-24.

Visitors will get a history lesson on baseball at Fort Pulaski. In 1862, months after the fort fell to Union forces, Henry P. Moore took one of the earliest surviving photos of a baseball game.

In the photograph, members of Company G, 48th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment proudly stand at attention on the Fort Pulaski parade ground.

Behind them, other soldiers play a game that transcends geography and stations in life.

Miller is quick to point out that Sunday’s action will be less competitive. The main idea is to promote health and fitness, particularly among youngsters. He expects a good crowd.

Of course, many visitors to Fort Pulaski won’t be taking part in the baseball fun. “We’ll be trying to keep as many foul balls as possible corralled," said Miller.

And because the parade ground isn’t quite level and has some dips, “We want to emphasize safety. Do not try to run as fast as you can.”

Union soldiers, many from Brooklyn, followed the New York, or Knickerbocker rules. They are the basis for the modern game, and featured bases, the foul line and diamond shape of the infield.

There are no gloves or called balls. Hurlers throw the ball underhanded. A striker (batter) is called out if the ball is caught in the air or on one bounce.

The baseballs and bats to be used Sunday are reproductions of 19^th century equipment. 

The Fort Pulaski staff a few years ago played in a “Rumble on the River” annual series against Old Fort Jackson, a Confederate defensive fortification operated by the Coastal Heritage Society.

Baseball got its start in the Northeast, with several variations and sets of rules adopted before and during the Civil War. Southern troops had little familiarity with the sport and there is no evidence it was played at Fort Jackson.

Mustered in Brooklyn, the 48th New York served more than a year at Pulaski before being sent to Hilton Head, S.C., and on to the bloody fighting at Battery Wagner near Charleston, where it suffered heavy casualties. While at Pulaski, they were protected by Union gunboats and other troops, allowing them to enjoy some entertainment.

Brigade commander Col. William Barton is remembered for the Barton Dramatic Association, a theater group that entertained the troops.

Among the patrons who saw productions outside the walls were Union officers and enlisted men stationed at Hilton Head and Port Royal, S.C.

Soldiers at the garrison in Fort Pulaski traveled to those locations to play baseball. Miller said his research showed the men were competitive and likely played against fellow New Yorkers.

While baseball hadn’t yet caught on in the South, Confederate prisoners (including Georgians captured at Fort Pulaski) that were held at Castle Williams on New York’s Governors Island were known to occasionally play baseball.

Miller said he will probably umpire Sunday’s games. “I am going to be very lenient.”

A grudge match -- with 1860s rules

On the lawn of the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday evening, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers banded together in a common goal: to defeat the Ohio Village Muffins. For the past three years, the Muffins, a vintage baseball team, had triumphed over the legislators’ team, the Capitol Cannons. But this year, the lawmakers vowed, things would be different. • Photos

Vintage baseball team honors Civil War soldiers, traditions of the game

• Part 1: Georgia fort teams square off Sunday

Gib "Judge" Young can't quite see second base when he's umpiring for the Huntington Champion Hill Toppers, a group of guys who play old-timey baseball in Indiana.

Not to worry.

Sometimes he all ask fans, cranks as their known in the parlance, whether a ball was caught for an out or if a player was tagged in time.

He might even call a vote.

"The players accept that. There is no arguing," said Young. "Only a ruffian or a common laborer would argue with an umpire."

Welcome to this Indiana town's version of vintage baseball.

The Hill Toppers play by 1862 rules, used during the Civil War and used by ballists (players) in the Union Army. Popular in New York and parts of the Northeast before the war, baseball spread like wildfire after it, with amateur and community teams forming in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states.

The Hill Toppers follow Vintage Base Ball Association rules, but there are some allowances for their graying ranks when they play at home -- virtually no stealing or sliding. Nine-inning games seldom last longer than 75 minutes.

"We play for the spirit of the game and camraderie and the aim of nobody getting hurt," says Dennis "Pops" Wiegmann, 33, a hurler (pitcher) for the Hill Toppers. (photo, above)

The team, formed in 2005, was named in honor of a pivotal Mississippi battle in May 16, 1863. The Battle of Champion Hill occurred during Ulysses S. Grant’s operations against Vicksburg. The bloody clash ended in a full Confederate retreat.

Seventeen boys from Huntington County, southwest of Fort Wayne, were killed or mortally wounded in the engagement.

Young, who had several ancestors who fought for the Union, said Huntington has one of the few remaining Grand Army of the Republic room's in the state, on the second floor of the courthouse.

The GAR, the largest Union veterans group, was hugely influential in Indiana and other states for a few decades after the war.

"If you were Republican and wanted to be elected, you wanted to have the GAR on your side," he said.

The Vintage Base Ball Association (VBBA), with about 115 teams, posts several 19th-century rules on its website and provides a history of the game, which has evolved over 150 years.

Vintage teams pitch the ball underhanded and can get a player out by catching a fly ball or the ball on one bounce. Ballists use no gloves. Strikes and balls are not called as they are today, because it's a hitter's game. Walks are not issued.

"Before the Civil War there was a contest between the Massachusetts game (rounders) and the New York game, like it is today. The New York game was more popular and competitive and won out," said Young.

The farther west it traveled, the game became more community-oriented, rather than the focus on the club.

One St. Louis team, became an artillery unit during the Civil War, according to Young.

"There were games played in various camps," he said. "By the time the war ended, there probably wasn't a county in the North where someone wasn't exposed to or played in the game of baseball."

Last year, the modern-day Hoosiers traveled to Gettysburg, Pa., to play the game (photo, right).

Wiegmann, a school teacher, says the game of that era -- before it became more professional -- was focused on gentlemanly conduct and getting the ball over the plate, so the striker (batter) could hit it.

"You cheer a guy (even on the other team) when they make a good play," said Wiegmann.

The VBBA is most popular in the Northeast and Midwest, with Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Massachusetts leading the way. There are only a handful of teams in the South and West.

Observers say VBBA teams in the East are more competitive and strictly adhere to the rules.

For the VBBA's Hill Toppers, a game is as much a social event as an athletic enterprise.

After every match, the host team hosts a meal for the opposing teams, with names like the Deep River Grinders, Cincinnati Buckeyes and the Cleveland Blues.

That doesn't mean the Hill Toppers don't try to come out with a win -- but it's how they play the game that matters as much as the score.

"When I hurl I try to get it to a place where they swing. I don't put it right where they want it," said Wiegmann.

Getting new players and fans is not easy at a time when social media means more than group participation.

Without sponsorship, players on the team must pay for uniforms, postgame meals and other expenses.

"Eighteen-year-old old boys have a hard time spending money that way," said Young. The average age of the Hill Toppers roster is about 50.

Interaction with the fans is an important part of vintage baseball. The umpire and ballists have a lot of fun with it.

The Hill Toppers lead a team song at the end of the seventh inning.

"When we do get them (fans), the judge issues finds for spitting and cussing," said Wiegmann. "When a lady wears shorts, he might admonish players for looking at a lady's ankles. They have to play a quarter fine."

Young, 63, is a State Farm agent with many interests, including membership in the Sons of Union Veterans. He also makes appearances as President Theodore Roosevelt.

A founder of the Hill Toppers, Young (photo, left) said baseball is a romantic and historic game that grew during the Industrial Age.

The umpire's main role is ensuring decorum and good sportsmanship on the field.

"We are gentlemen ballists first. We are sportsmen," said Young. "Arguing is beneath us. Our guys like that part of the game. Winning or losing does not matter. When we get new people, we tell them, what matters is we have a good time."

All photos courtesy of Dennis Wiegmann, except for photo of Gib Young.

• Huntington Champion Hill Toppers
• Vintage Base Ball Association

Striker up! Baseball tradition still takes the field at two Savannah-area forts

First of two parts

In the photograph, members of Company G, 48th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment proudly stand at attention on the Fort Pulaski parade ground.

Behind them, almost serving as a backdrop, other soldiers play a game that transcends geography and stations in life.

In 1862, months after the Savannah, Ga., fort fell to Union forces, Henry P. Moore took one of the earliest surviving photos of a baseball game.

Three images of regimental companies and ballplayers (ballists) are the most remarkable of the many photos taken of the 48th during its yearlong garrison duty at Pulaski.



Staff members and volunteers at Fort Pulaski National Monument keep that baseball tradition alive with pickup games and the recently inaugurated "Rumble on the River" (above) between Pulaski and Old Fort Jackson, a Confederate defensive fortification operated by the Coastal Heritage Society.

The Fort Pulaski Nine won last year's game 1-0 and hope to keep that tiny streak going July 1 when they again host Fort Jackson's squad, playing as the Savannah Republican Blues, a militia unit.

Park ranger Joel Cadoff is a hurler (pitcher) and outfielder for the Pulaski team, which competes on the very parade ground where members of the 48th New York drilled and played the game.

"The hardest thing is forgetting modern baseball," said Cadoff, 35, a Massachusetts native and Boston Red Sox fan. "It almost seems like a sandlot game. There are certain rules that are very different."

There are no gloves or called balls. Hurlers throw the ball underhanded. A striker (batter) is called out if the ball is caught in the air or on one bounce.

For purposes of discussion and good-natured bantering, the Pulaski team is aligned with the North, while Old Fort Jackson represents the South.

Not that the uniforms make it easy to pick out the sides. The Savannah Republican Blues and other Confederates units, particularly early in the conflict, also wore blue.

Allowances will be made for steamy summer weather and field conditions.

"We will wear sky blue trousers and our blue forage caps. Especially in July we won't wear the blue sack coats," said Cadoff. "We are not wearing brogans. We are wearing modern footwear. The parade ground is not even, with dips and ruts."

Brian Lee, site administrator and hurler-catcher for Old Fort Jackson, recently wrote "Baseball in Savannah," a pictorial history of teams and athletes that have played in the city since the Civil War. The current minor league team, the Sand Gnats, are affiliated with the New York Mets.

Baseball got its start in the Northeast, with several variations and sets of rules adopted before and during the Civil War. Southern troops had little familiarity with the sport and there is no evidence it was played at Fort Jackson.

"You would have seen Union troops in down time entertaining themselves," said Lee (photo, left). "They had the upper hand. They weren't the ones being besieged. They had a little more free time."

The rivalry provides an opportunity for both venues to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War and educate patrons about soldiers' and sailors' lives. The game is played with decorum, and participants of both genders are expected to behave like gentlemen.

"We are part of the same story," Lee, 34, said.

Old Fort Jackson's squad last year portrayed the Irish Volunteers.

Unlike Pulaski, the game at Old Fort Jackson is played outside fortifications on an old rice field. The grass is cut shorter, ideal for scoring runs.

Old Fort Jackson is close to downtown Savannah but a bit off the beaten path. The submerged wreckage of the Rebel ironclad CSS Georgia lies nearby in the Savannah River.

Attendance has been up the past couple years, said Lee, averaging between 40,000 and 50,000 annual visitors. Fort Jackson has a longer history than Pulaski, including service during the War of 1812.

Mustered in Brooklyn, the 48th New York served more than a year at Pulaski before being sent to Hilton Head, S.C., and on to the bloody fighting at Battery Wagner near Charleston, where it suffered heavy casualties.

Brigade commander Col. William Barton is remembered for the Barton Dramatic Association, a theater group that entertained the troops at Fort Pulaski.

"They had professional actors who are in the army and they put on some well-received productions," said Cadoff.

Among the patrons who saw productions outside the walls were Union officers and enlisted men stationed at Hilton Head and Port Royal, S.C.

The 48th contingent included a marching band (photo, below).

"The photos are being taken of individual companies," Cadoff said of the three images that contain the baseball players. "These guys aren't thinking guys will be paid millions of dollars (in later years) to play this game."

Both Cadoff and Lee are confident of victory on July 1.

"I like Fort Jackson's chances," said the latter. "Pulaski fell 150 years ago. They might fall again."

"We're 1,000. We haven't been defeated yet," bragged Cadoff. "They have to bring their A game."

1862 parade ground photo and game photos courtesy of Fort Pulaski National Monument; 48th New York marching band photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

Coming soon: A closer look at the Vintage Base Ball Association and one of its teams, the Huntington (Indiana) Champion Hill Toppers, named for a Civil War battle.

• Fort Pulaski National Monument | • Old Fort Jackson

Baseball game in 1862 drew 10,000

The score of what might have been one of the largest sporting events of the 19th century — and played on Hilton Head Island — is still a mystery. The Hilton Head Baseball Championship took place Christmas Day 1862, with about 10,000 Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners watching, according to regimental records at the New York State Military Museum. • Article