by Andy Loigu

A Vintage Baseball Game has been scheduled for 11 a.m., August 10, at Washington Borough Park.

The event will also entertain visitors with a car show, featuring cars about a half-century old that have been kept in mint condition.

For more information visit WashingtonBID.org online.

Vintage baseball, played with rules and equipment from the formative years of the sport in the 19th century, has been a popular activity at Warren County summer festivals. The first game this writer recalls watching was at the Belvidere Victorian Days in 2003, at the Belvidere High field. Many local athletes have dedicated themselves to playing  this version of the sport well and are out there to win. There are various vintage baseball tournaments around the USA. It is a big deal.

I learned that the hitters, in the 1870s, could request that the pitcher either throw the pitch high or low, depending on the batter’s liking. Well, the ball was much softer than the hardballs they use today and nobody had fielders’ gloves.

Anyway, what column called Sports Chatter would be complete without a few “by the way” tidbits of information?

The ground-rule double is believed to have been put into the rule books due to the following play, which happened in Baltimore around the time that Babe Ruth was born in “Charm City.” 

The outfield at old Oriole Park on Guilford Ave. had an equipment shed located in fair territory in the leftfield corner. One afternoon, as a worker stood next to said shed, an Orioles’ player hit a bounder that headed toward the shed. The worker quickly opened the door to the shed to let the ball in, then shut it just before the pursuing outfielder arrived.

Needless to say, a mighty brouhaha of an argument follows. 

Reminds me of a corny joke: if a pig runs onto fair territory and eats the ball before anyone can field it, what is the ruling? An inside the PORK home run.

***

A few of the longtime Washington Borough residents I’ve gotten to know have told me about the time a New York Yankees’ farm club played the old Washington Bombers town team in an exhibition game at Borough Park over 60 years ago. Joe Pepitone, soon to be a Yankees’ slugger in the big leagues, hit a blast that cleared the distant right field fence and kept flying, eventually coming to earth on the other side of Route 31. The length of the drive was estimated to be between 570 to 600 feet.

Too bad nobody had cell phone video cameras in those days!

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.