The history of baseball in Colorado extends well beyond the Rockies, and a group of players, or “ballists” as they would have called themselves in 1869, came to Wolff Run Park in Westminster on Saturday to showcase what the game might have looked like more than 100 years ago.
Sporting vintage red and white striped, collared shirts with blue pants and long red stockings, members of the Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association (CVBBA) took the field as the “Central City Freedom Stars” and beat the hometown Westminster Lightning Bolts, a scrappy group of amateur ballplayers wearing old-school, ragtag uniforms themselves, 6-5 in nine innings. The game, presented by the Westminster Historical Society every summer, was a combination of sport, theater and history lesson, all rolled into one three-hour throwback to yesteryear, complete with homemade ice cream served at the concession stand.
“We try to be authentic,” said Mark ‘Fearless’ Foster of Colorado Springs, who umpired the game and told jokes to the crowd of 100 or so folks about the current events of the time. “We kind of study up on the language and the politics that were going on, like we had the women who went on the field and demanded the right to vote, and of course we razzed them. We have a lot of fun with that kind of stuff.”
The game was played a little differently back then, with pitchers (or “hurlers” as they were called) throwing underhanded from a closer distance, base runners allowed to slap or kick the ball if it came across their path, fielders (“scouts”) allowed to catch balls hit off a bounce, and if a run was scored, the runner crossing home plate had to then ring a bell at the scorer’s table, requesting his tally be marked.
“It’s a gentleman’s game,” said James Humble of Westminster, hurler and manager of the Lightning Bolt squad for the last 7 years. “There’s no sliding, there’s no barreling into the catcher to knock the ball loose. It’s supposed to be played more gentlemanly like back in those days. It’s a lot of fun.”
Roger “Digger” Hadix of Colorado Springs, who used to listen to St. Louis Cardinals games on the AM radio with his brother, Steve, and has had an interest in history and theater since he was in high school, knew he had to join the CVBBA from the moment he saw a few of the guys wearing old uniforms while playing catch.
“They were throwing a ball around and they were so funny, and I thought, ‘This is great, I’ve got to get involved,’” said Hadix, who will travel to Gettysburg, Pa., this week with the group to play in a tournament as part of the 150th anniversary of the famous Civil War battle. “It’s the perfect fit for me. It gives us a chance to do more than just play ball; it’s a slice of life of what the whole era was like.”
Foster, 72, is a retired University of Colorado at Denver history professor who has written three books on the history of the sport in the state, which he said has a rich baseball tradition that is often overlooked.
“I think Colorado is underestimated as a baseball state,” said Foster, who played baseball in high school and still plays softball as well as taking part in about 20 to 25 vintage games every summer, usually playing the positions of catcher (called the “behind”) or second base, in addition to umpiring. “The sport was played actively and enthusiastically, even before Denver was settled. I found references to baseball with the pioneers coming over the plains in covered wagons. I think Colorado is a very enthusiastic state for baseball.
“It’s a rich tradition that we try to embrace and put out there.”