On a recent Saturday morning in Durham Athletic Park, ballplayers from around the country gathered to play at the former home of the Durham Bulls. As they tossed the ball in the damp outfield grass, grounds crew members raked the infield dirt and chalked the baselines. It was a common sight for a warm weekend; the ballpark frequently attracts little leaguers and travel clubs who compete on the field that once featured Kevin Costner in Bull Durham.
But on this Saturday, the scene was different. The balls they tossed had no red seams, and they weren’t wearing mitts. In fact, the sport they were about to play wasn’t technically called baseball.
This was “Vintage ‘Base Ball’ at the DAP,” an annual event showcasing America’s pastime as it appeared in the very distant past. On this day, teams from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina were playing the 1864 version of the game, with proceeds from ticket sales going to the Duke Homestead Historic Site. Mitts were not allowed, walks were not permitted, and there was no bunting.
“That was considered unmanly,” said event organizer Dale Coates, the former site manager of Duke Homestead and, for this event, the manager of the hometown Durham Station Lucky Strikes.
“The first [event] we did was in 2018,” he said. “It went off very well, so we did it again in 2019. And then the word got out in the Vintage Base Ball world that we were doing this, and everybody wanted to play.”
The Vintage Base Ball Association, founded in 1996, organizes events for over 120 vintage clubs across the country. According to the VBBA website, the teams must “wear period reproduction uniforms, use period authentic equipment and follow baseball rules from the 19th century in order to accurately present the history of baseball to the public.”
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The Durham Station Lucky Strikes — named for both the original railroad depot that became Durham and the famous cigarette brand manufactured in the city — compete only once a year for the Duke Homestead fundraiser. The teams they hosted, however, play year-round.
“Many of us are teachers, and almost everybody is part of a historical society,” said RJ Chadha, a 57 year-old retired teacher from Dearborn, Michigan, who started Detroit’s vintage club in 2009. His team, the Early Riser Base Ball Club, plays in fundraisers across the country, including places like Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa (another Kevin Costner baseball movie site).
“We just got to know other teams and said, ‘Hey, do you guys wanna play?’,” Chadha says. “Because that’s what they did back then.”
Before the game was set to begin, a man in an Ebenezer Scrooge-esque top hat made his way to foul territory to play the National Anthem. He pulled out a flute-like instrument called a fife and played a slightly longer version of the Star-Spangled Banner. The crowd applauded and the players took the field for the first game.
The first matchup featured the Wytheville (Virginia) Statesmen against the Addison Mountain Stars from Pennsylvania. The Statesman wore blue cotton button-downs stiff with starch, while the Mountain Stars opted for red, plaid-patterned shirts. Each team wore dark dress pants, leather belts, and striped flannel hats known as “pillbox caps.” In the 80 degree heat, sweat spots quickly formed on the backs of some shirts.
The first batter walks to the plate with a bat thinner in the barrel and thicker in the handle than the ones seen in the pros today. The pitcher lobs the ball in underhanded from a flat surface only 45 feet away, as prescribed by the 1864 “Beadles Rules.”
The Statesmen batter smacks a fly ball into left field. As the ball lands and the left fielder fields it off the bounce, the fans begin cheering for what looks like a hit. Not so fast — the PA Announcer informs the crowd that balls caught after one bounce are considered outs by the 1864 rules. The Statesmen player retires to the dugout.
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The vintage game features an interesting balance of old man’s softball and theater. There’s the typical yelling about where to throw the ball on defense, but also a fair amount of chatter to simulate the 19th century atmosphere. Almost every player has a nickname listed in the game program, and the players call them out frequently; “C’mon Sparky!” and “Let’s see it, Farm Boy!” echo from the dugouts.
The hollering is allowed to go only so far, however. There’s a 25 cent fine for cursing, payable to the umpire. But the Durham team, led by Coates, is not worried.
“I have a pocketful of quarters,” he says with a grin.
According to the program, the earliest known Durham baseball game took place in 1875 between the Durham Base Ball Club and the Eno Bottom Rangers of Hillsborough. Durham’s first professional club, the Tobacconists, was founded in 1902 before quickly disbanding, but the franchise was reestablished in 1913 as the Durham Bulls. In 1926, the Durham Athletic Park was built for the team under the name “El Toro Park.”
The 2024 Durham Station Lucky Strikes, featuring Coates’s sons and several former collegiate players, showed they earned their name in their game against Detroit, winning the 9-inning affair by a whopping 18-2.
The managers thanked the crowd for attending, and the teams left the field to get some rest before their afternoon games. At the encouragement of the announcer, fans showered the players with 19th century congratulations and chants of “hip hip huzzah!” ring out.
From the fans to the vintage players, to the 19th century doctors and farmhands who woke up early to play base ball, Chadha says the feeling has always remained the same:
“People just love the game.”
Photo at top: A player slides into second base. Photo by Abigail Bromberger – The 9th Street Journal