Yesterday's game was played at the Hartford Senator's new field which is at the location where Hartford's last minor league team ( The Hartford Laurels) last played a game in 1952. Our game was to be the first base ball game at that location since 1952.
The field is just that - a field. No infield dirt, no mound, no backstop, not a true hop anywhere. This is really going to be old school base ball. The Friends of Vintage Base Ball are there helping to lay out the field for the game. They've set up a clothes line on stakes approximately where a backstop might be but when I asked about ground rules they say everything is in play. Cranks (fans) and players are sitting on the field side of the clothes line so I'm not sure what the point of it was.
The game started just like last week. Buck won the toss again (?!) and we took the field. The first striker (batter) hit a routine daisy cutter (ground ball) to short and the ball was muffed (misplayed) and the striker reached safely.
The temperature was in the 80's for the first time since last fall sometime and everyone is wilting a little in the heat but it is nice not to have to put a warm up jacket between innings. Hartford scored 3 in the top of the first but we came back with 2 in the bottom and then 3 more in the bottom of the second to take a 2 run lead but Hartford tallied 2 in the top of the 3rd and we were tied again. In the bottom of the 4th we scored 4 runs to take what seem to me like a comfortable lead but Hartford came charging back again in the top of the 5th with 4 runs of their own - 3 of them coming on a home run. We were tied again at 9.
After 5 innings I was done hurling and gave way to Bullet. Unfortunately the Senators weren't done hitting. They tallied 6 runs in the top of the 6th to take a commanding lead and never looked back scoring 4 more in the final 3 innings. We were able score a few more to make the final score a respectable 19-14.
In our defense, we were without 3 key players (Turk, Pops and Connie) and had only 9 players on a hot day. We've got another game against the Senators on May 24th. It should be a good one.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Baseball memories
I grew up in New York City but my parents bought a 2nd home in Vermont when I was 3 that we would drive to almost every weekend when I was little. On the drive south when going through Hartford, CT there was a lighted baseball field that the elevated highway went right by. I loved looking out at that field and the players as we drove by on a spring night. Today's game is on a field ajacent to that field.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Hartford Senators at Whately Pioneers
Yesterday was opening day for the 2009 outdoor season. The field was in beautiful shape, groomed and lined to perfection by Buck (the Pioneers' captain) who started at 8:00 in the morning to have it ready by 11:30 for warm ups. The weather was a little chilly but not bad - mid to high 50's(?) with a north wind (blowing out to left). Cloudy with a chance of a few sprinkles late in the afternoon. Not bad for April 19th.
In Vintage base ball the home team is decided by a coin toss and Buck, who lost almost every call he made last season, was giddy after winning the coin toss. Was this a good omen?
Buck informed me I was to be the starting hurler (the vintage term for pitcher) and would go 4 innings, Slappy would go the next 2 and Bullet would go the last 3. Sounded sensible to me although my first thought was I'd rather go 5. I didn't tell Buck this. Modern baseball rules state the starting pitcher must go 5 innings in order to qualify for the win.
Since we were the home team we were in the field first. I went out a took my warm up pitches.
I've been playing all winter but this is the first "real" game of 2009. During the winter I play with about 20 other players in one of those inflated domes. We pick new teams every 2 or 3 weeks but I'm always facing more or less the same batters so I get to know how to pitch everyone pretty well. This only my second season playing vintage so I don't know many of the players on other teams. Position in the batting order tells me a little about a player but not a lot. The 1 and 2 hitter are usually pretty fast runners and generally hit for a high average or at least are good at getting on base. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are usually the power hitters. Numbers 6 on down are generally declining in average as you work your way down.
Another way I try to get a clue about hitters is taking a look at their practice swings when they're on deck or when they take a swing or two before they get into the batter's box. I figure when you take swings when you're on deck you are swinging at your ideal pitch. Is it a long swing (probably likes the ball out over the plate), a short compact swing (could be good at hitting inside pitches), a golf swing (likes the ball low)?
Anyway, I don't have much to go on with the Senator hitters. I'll just have to pitch my game and see what I can figure out as I go along. The first batter hit a fairly routine grounder to short but nothing is routine in vintage. The ball was bobbled and then dropped and the runner was on. He stole second a pitch or two later and eventually scored. 1-0 Senators going into the bottom of the first.
Our lead off batter, Turk, hit a long double and in our jubilation we forgot the first rule of baserunning in vintage baseball: always know were the ball is. While we were celebrating on the bench and Turk's back was turned the shortstop put the ball in his back pocket. The hurler took his position in the hurler's box and prepared for the next batter. Turk took his lead off second base and the shortstop calmly walked over, took the ball out of his pocket and tagged out Turk. All perfectly legal in vintage. Always know where the ball is. With the wind taken out of our sails we went down fairly easily in the first without scoring.
My 3rd inning of pitching was a long one. I believe we had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd but an error to start the inning and few hits and another error later led to 4 Senator runs and a lot of pitches for me. Foul balls count as nothing in vintage - not a ball, not a strike - unless they are caught. Essentially they are a "do over". A batter who can foul off a lot of pitches can really wear a pitcher down. There we a lot of foul balls in the 3rd inning. Finally we got the 3rd out after the final batter had fouled of perhaps 8 or 10 pitches. He hit a ball to short that was thrown low to first but, miraculously, Hammer dug it out of the dirt. Picks like that in vintage are very dangerous - a good way to break a finger.
As I walked off the field after the 3rd inning Buck came up to me and I thought he was going to say he was going to bring Slappie in an inning early or remind me that I had only one more inning to pitch but instead he told me I'd be going 5 innings rather than 4. Be careful what you wish for! Of course I said "fine".
We scored a bunch of runs in the 4th and 5th innings and only gave up only 1 more. My last 2 innings went pretty easily and I handed the ball over to Slappie with an 11-7 lead and the chance to pick up a win. Slappie pitched a good 6th and Bullet came on to finish the job. The final score was 15-11 Pioneers.
The first game of the 2009 season is in the books but the Pioneeers will be visiting Hartford next Saturday and I'm sure they'll be looking to avenge the loss. I'm looking forward to it.
Please pass the Advil.
In Vintage base ball the home team is decided by a coin toss and Buck, who lost almost every call he made last season, was giddy after winning the coin toss. Was this a good omen?
Buck informed me I was to be the starting hurler (the vintage term for pitcher) and would go 4 innings, Slappy would go the next 2 and Bullet would go the last 3. Sounded sensible to me although my first thought was I'd rather go 5. I didn't tell Buck this. Modern baseball rules state the starting pitcher must go 5 innings in order to qualify for the win.
Since we were the home team we were in the field first. I went out a took my warm up pitches.
I've been playing all winter but this is the first "real" game of 2009. During the winter I play with about 20 other players in one of those inflated domes. We pick new teams every 2 or 3 weeks but I'm always facing more or less the same batters so I get to know how to pitch everyone pretty well. This only my second season playing vintage so I don't know many of the players on other teams. Position in the batting order tells me a little about a player but not a lot. The 1 and 2 hitter are usually pretty fast runners and generally hit for a high average or at least are good at getting on base. Numbers 3, 4 and 5 are usually the power hitters. Numbers 6 on down are generally declining in average as you work your way down.
Another way I try to get a clue about hitters is taking a look at their practice swings when they're on deck or when they take a swing or two before they get into the batter's box. I figure when you take swings when you're on deck you are swinging at your ideal pitch. Is it a long swing (probably likes the ball out over the plate), a short compact swing (could be good at hitting inside pitches), a golf swing (likes the ball low)?
Anyway, I don't have much to go on with the Senator hitters. I'll just have to pitch my game and see what I can figure out as I go along. The first batter hit a fairly routine grounder to short but nothing is routine in vintage. The ball was bobbled and then dropped and the runner was on. He stole second a pitch or two later and eventually scored. 1-0 Senators going into the bottom of the first.
Our lead off batter, Turk, hit a long double and in our jubilation we forgot the first rule of baserunning in vintage baseball: always know were the ball is. While we were celebrating on the bench and Turk's back was turned the shortstop put the ball in his back pocket. The hurler took his position in the hurler's box and prepared for the next batter. Turk took his lead off second base and the shortstop calmly walked over, took the ball out of his pocket and tagged out Turk. All perfectly legal in vintage. Always know where the ball is. With the wind taken out of our sails we went down fairly easily in the first without scoring.
My 3rd inning of pitching was a long one. I believe we had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd but an error to start the inning and few hits and another error later led to 4 Senator runs and a lot of pitches for me. Foul balls count as nothing in vintage - not a ball, not a strike - unless they are caught. Essentially they are a "do over". A batter who can foul off a lot of pitches can really wear a pitcher down. There we a lot of foul balls in the 3rd inning. Finally we got the 3rd out after the final batter had fouled of perhaps 8 or 10 pitches. He hit a ball to short that was thrown low to first but, miraculously, Hammer dug it out of the dirt. Picks like that in vintage are very dangerous - a good way to break a finger.
As I walked off the field after the 3rd inning Buck came up to me and I thought he was going to say he was going to bring Slappie in an inning early or remind me that I had only one more inning to pitch but instead he told me I'd be going 5 innings rather than 4. Be careful what you wish for! Of course I said "fine".
We scored a bunch of runs in the 4th and 5th innings and only gave up only 1 more. My last 2 innings went pretty easily and I handed the ball over to Slappie with an 11-7 lead and the chance to pick up a win. Slappie pitched a good 6th and Bullet came on to finish the job. The final score was 15-11 Pioneers.
The first game of the 2009 season is in the books but the Pioneeers will be visiting Hartford next Saturday and I'm sure they'll be looking to avenge the loss. I'm looking forward to it.
Please pass the Advil.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Anticipation
The first outside game of the 2009 season is tomorrow. We (The Whately Pioneers) are playing the Hartford (CT) Senators. The Pioneers are a Vintage base ball team which means we play according to a set of rules that approximates rules that were in use in 1886.
The rules for pitching in Vintage makes pitching in these games very different from pitching in modern baseball. Rather than 4 balls and 3 strikes there are 7 balls, and 3 strikes. However, foul balls are not strikes so the batter could foul of the first 3 (or 20) pitches and the count would still be 0-0. This makes for very high pitch counts.
If the rule changes stopped here I'd say the advantage goes to the batter but there are more changes. The pitcher throws from a box that is 6 feet long and 4 feet wide with the front of the box at 50 feet from home plate. Since you must be in the box when you throw the ball this amounts to about 56 feet from the rubber (except there isn't one) to the plate. That's 4'6" closer than in modern baseball. In addition if the batter foul tips the ball and the catcher catches it it's an out. Also all check swings are strikes. Another hugh rule is that a pitch that hits a batter is just a ball. The batter is not awarded first, the ball is dead and no runners may advance. Ouch!
If that isn't enough changes for you try this: it's almost impossible to balk. The only balk is when the pitcher starts to pitch to the batter then stops and makes a pick off throw to a base. Anything else is allowed -fake a throw to a base then throw to the plate, quick pitch, hidden ball trick while in the pitching box and pretending to have the ball. No set position require, just throw the ball however you want whenever you want after doing pretty much whatever you want. It's pretty wild!
The hard part is making the transition from Vintage pitching to modern pitching. Since I pitch in both modern and Vintage games every week I really have to remind myself of which rules I'm playing by.
The other main difference between Vintage and modern baseball is that in Vintage the fielders use gloves that resemble leather work gloves - basically a leather work glove with an extra layer of leather in a few spots, with no webbing. The catcher's glove is a little bit larger and has a little bit more padding but still no webbing. And the catcher gets no shin guards - just a mask and a chest protector.
If you ever get the chance watch (or, better yet, play in) a vintage game don't pass it up. It's a whole different game and yet exactly the same.
The rules for pitching in Vintage makes pitching in these games very different from pitching in modern baseball. Rather than 4 balls and 3 strikes there are 7 balls, and 3 strikes. However, foul balls are not strikes so the batter could foul of the first 3 (or 20) pitches and the count would still be 0-0. This makes for very high pitch counts.
If the rule changes stopped here I'd say the advantage goes to the batter but there are more changes. The pitcher throws from a box that is 6 feet long and 4 feet wide with the front of the box at 50 feet from home plate. Since you must be in the box when you throw the ball this amounts to about 56 feet from the rubber (except there isn't one) to the plate. That's 4'6" closer than in modern baseball. In addition if the batter foul tips the ball and the catcher catches it it's an out. Also all check swings are strikes. Another hugh rule is that a pitch that hits a batter is just a ball. The batter is not awarded first, the ball is dead and no runners may advance. Ouch!
If that isn't enough changes for you try this: it's almost impossible to balk. The only balk is when the pitcher starts to pitch to the batter then stops and makes a pick off throw to a base. Anything else is allowed -fake a throw to a base then throw to the plate, quick pitch, hidden ball trick while in the pitching box and pretending to have the ball. No set position require, just throw the ball however you want whenever you want after doing pretty much whatever you want. It's pretty wild!
The hard part is making the transition from Vintage pitching to modern pitching. Since I pitch in both modern and Vintage games every week I really have to remind myself of which rules I'm playing by.
The other main difference between Vintage and modern baseball is that in Vintage the fielders use gloves that resemble leather work gloves - basically a leather work glove with an extra layer of leather in a few spots, with no webbing. The catcher's glove is a little bit larger and has a little bit more padding but still no webbing. And the catcher gets no shin guards - just a mask and a chest protector.
If you ever get the chance watch (or, better yet, play in) a vintage game don't pass it up. It's a whole different game and yet exactly the same.
Monday, April 13, 2009
About Terminator
Terminator has been pitching in adult baseball leagues in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire since 1995. Since 2003, when an indoor baseball league was formed in Bernardston, MA., he has played year round. It was while pitching in this league that Terminator earned his nickname. Terminator has a rubber arm. In 2008 he pitched for 3 teams during the outdoor season in addition to playing indoor baseball during the winter months and racked up 314 1/3 innings. Terminator's won/lost record since 1999 (when he started keeping track) is 125 - 82 with 1623 2/3 innings pitched. During the 2008-09 winter season Terminator pitched 54 innings giving up only 3 earned runs for an era of 0.50.
For the 2009 outdoor season Terminator will again playing on 3 teams in 3 leagues: The Mustangs of the PVOTB, The Fossils of the CRVBL and the Whately Pioneers a vintage base ball club. This blog will follow Terminator throughout the season.
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