By Kim J. Harmon

The notion of vintage base ball might have seemed like only a quaint idea to most people a few months ago, but interest has been spreading and on Saturday, July 3, ESPN Classic will be broadcasting live a contest between the Hartford Senators and Pittsfield Hillies at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The game is part of the Hartford Senators Base Ball Invitational Tournament being held largely at Bushnell Park in Hartford as part of the cities Fourth of July Celebration. Ten teams, playing by 19th century rules and customs, will participate.

A fireworks display in Hartford (and Pittsfield, for that matter) will follow games on Saturday night.

In preparation for the Hartford-Pittsfield game on Saturday, Wahconah Park is undergoing a full 19th-century makeover. The broadcast itself will be in sepia tone color to accentuate the vintage angle. Costumed actors will mingle throughout the expected capacity crowd of around 4,000 while period characters such as vendors, shoe shiners, newsboys and megaphone announcers will be seen.

Veteran announcer Ron Thulin will provide the play-by-play with former Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee providing color commentary. Randy and Jason Sklar of Cheap Seats will provide additional reporting. Baseball historian John Thorn and National Baseball Hall of Fame curator Ted Spence will join the telecast to discuss the origins of baseball.

In the tournament, the five teams playing by 1871 rules (which include fielders playing with bare hands and batters being allowed to call their own pitch) include the Brooklyn Atlantics, Middletown Mansfields, Flemington Neshanock, Elizabeth Resolutes, and Providence Grays. Those playing by 1886 rules (which allowed for some form of gloves in the field and allowed the pitcher to throw what he wanted) include the Hartford Senators, Providence Grays, Simsbury Taverneers, Pittsfield Hillies, and Elizabeth Resolutes.

Games will be played Friday, July 2, through Sunday, July 4. Admission is free. Bushnell Park will include a 19th century inspired ball field, concessions and baseball card/memorabilia dealers.

It had been the accepted wisdom that Abner Doubleday invented the game of base ball back in 1839 after watching a group of kids playing a game of bat and ball in a field in upstate New York. But it was actually Alexander Cartwright and the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club that set down the first rules of the game in 1845 – setting the base paths at 90 feet, establishing foul territory, and formulating the basic tenets of the game.

In 1858, the National Association of Base-Ball Players was formed. Eleven years later, the Cincinnati Red Stockings – led by George and Harry Wright – became the first openly professional team and barnstormed the country.

In 1871, the National League (then known as the National Association) began play with teams in Philadelphia (21-7), Chicago (19-9), Boston (20-10), Washington (15-15), New York (16-17), Troy (13-15), Fort Wayne (7-12), Cleveland (10-19) and Rockford (4-21). James “Deacon” White of Cleveland doubled for the first hit in the first game of the first professional league and the rest – as they say – was history.

It is a bygone era – one that many people are hoping to recreate.

Like Ray Shaw of Newtown.

Mr Shaw, who pictorial accounts of vintage base ball games grace the web (one, in fact, is being used by ESPN Classic on its web site to promote the broadcast of the Hartford-Pittsfield game), is hoping to generate enough interest in vintage base ball to field a team in Newtown.

It won’t be to compete against Hartford or Simsbury or Providence on a regular basis (unless, of course, the interest is that high) but to put on a display for the Newtown Tercentennial Celebration in the summer of 2005.

Local players interested in the concept of vintage base ball can visit the Hartford Invitational this weekend, watch the game on ESPN Classic on Saturday night, or visit a number of web sites – including www.vbba.org, wwwhartfordvintagebaseball.com, www.vbbf.com and www.19thcenturyonly.com.

If you miss the Hartford Tournament, the National Silver Ball Tournament will be held Friday, July 30, through Sunday, August 1, in Mumford, New York. Hosted by the 1876 Silver Base Ball Park League, games will be held at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester and Silver Base Ball Park in Mumford. Some 16 men’s and four women’s clubs are expected to participate with a total of 38 games using the 1867, 1869, 1873, 1875, and 1876 rules. Games will be 12:30 pm to 5:45 pm on Friday, 9 am to 5:45 pm on Saturday, and championship game on Sunday at 1 pm. Visit www.gcv.org on the web.