1880s Vintage Base Ball Opening Day | Golden Gate Park

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Come on out to Big Rec in Golden Gate Park (7th Ave and Irving) and see base ball played by 1880s rules, using vintage style uniforms and equipment. Additional vintage base ball games will be played in Dublin on opening day.

Bay Area Vintage Base Ball is the first and longest running vintage base ball league in the Bay Area. This year, they are celebrating 10 years of vintage base ball in the Bay Area. They play by the rules of 1886 with small gloves, large wooden bats, old style uniforms, umpires in fancy hats (who must be addressed as “sir”), and strive for historical accuracy. You won’t even see high fives; they are banned because they weren’t invented until the last 20th century.

1880s Vintage Base Ball Opening Day
Sunday, March 1, 2020 | Noon (From 2019)
Golden Gate Park FREE

March 1, 2020: Opening Day Home vs. Away – Time – Field

• San Francisco Pelicans vs Berkeley Clarions – 3 pm – Memorial Park, Albany
• Barbary Coast vs Oakland Colonels – Noon – Mosswood
• Haywards Journals vs San Francisco Pacifics – , Noon – Big Rec, Graham
• San Francisco Sea Lions vs San Jose Dukes – 10 am – De anza Park, San Jose
• San Francisco Eagles vs Dublin Aces – 10 am – Dublin Sports Ground, field 3

Hurlers (don’t call them pitchers) work not from a mound, but from a box 50 feet from the plate. They cannot employ knuckleballs or split-fingered fastballs or any other delivery that was developed post-1886. Spitballs? Why not? They were legal back then. 

Read more at sfgate.com

• Aces = Runs
• Baller, Ballist = Player
• Behind = Catcher
• Blind, Blinder = No score
• Bound = Bounce
• Bounder = A bouncing ball that doesn’t go out of the infield
• Capital = The best, first rate. (ie.”capital play!”)
• Captain = Manager
• Cranks = Base ball fans
• Daisy Cutter = A sharply hit ground ball
• Garden = Outfield
• Ginger = Determination, quick fierce play
• Hand = An out. “Three hands down” ends an inning.
• Hurler = Pitcher
• Match, match game = A game between two clubs, as opposed to intra-club games
• Muff = A muffed ball is a missed catch or grounder
• Muffin = A less talented player on a club. Also called a “scrub.”
• Picked Nine = An early type of all star team. The best local players picked to play a specific club passing through the area.
• Safety = A safe hit
• Sky ball = Pop-up
• Short Field = An early name for a shortstop
• Striker = Batter
• “Striker to the line” = Batter Up
• Tally = To score a run; score

You may hear phrases during the game such as:

• “Nice ginger!”
• “Let’s get a daisy cutter.”
• “We’ve got two hands down.”
• “Sounds like the cranks are restless.”
• “Ducks on the pond for ya.”

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.