By Karen Bloom
Teams are recreated from actual ball clubs that played on Long Island way back when. Visitors have an opportunity to experience base ball (it was two words back then) as it was played in its infancy (on real grass). Games are played competitively, without a script, in actual contests. Players wear recreated period uniforms and use period equipment (that means no gloves, since most fielders were barehanded in those days).
This weekend's tournament features 11 teams, including local teams affiliated with OBVR, teams from elsewhere in New York, and teams from New Jersey and New England. They’ll compete in a weekend celebration of base ball played according to the rules in effect between 1860 and 1899. There will be six to eight games each day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“This is a wonderful event showcasing the roots of our nation’s pastime, as interpreted by very skilled and experienced players,” said Jim McKenna, OBVR site director and curator. “We also invite parents and children to join in games of ‘rounders’ between scheduled base ball matches. Rounders, which was an English children’s game, as well as an adult version of the same game and cricket, were all early influences on baseball, which experienced ongoing rule changes as it evolved.”
Old time baseball, which has developed a national following, has its roots here at Old Bethpage Village. “Old Bethpage Village Restoration is the home of vintage baseball,” McKenna explained. “It was reborn in 1979 as part of a Civil War Encampment and became part of our regular program with two teams in 1980. In 1990, it became a much bigger program.”
For baseball fans, the tournament is a real slice of Americana. “The historic baseball tournament is definitely a way to recapture the American baseball spirit,” McKenna said. “It’s baseball on grass fields in its infancy, when the sport started out as an amateur game among friends.”
And for a young baseball fan, it’s a great opportunity to see how it all began.
