U-M-Dearborn staff members take baseball rules in stride—or not

When Tom Hissong suited up in June for a second year of historic baseball, he figured it had to be easier than his rookie season. Last summer—his first playing as a member of Historic Base Ball at Greenfield Village—ended with his foot in a cast.

Lee Freeman (right) mans the position of catcher during a Lah-de-dahs Historic Base Ball game at Greenfield Village. (Photo by Kirste Moline)

"And it was the second-to-last game of the year," says Hissong, who broke a bone in his foot playing catcher. Hissong, a campus community-oriented patrol officer at U-M-Dearborn, committed himself to getting back into shape for another summer of old-time baseball. Then the rules changed.

"Now we can't step into the ball when swinging," says Hissong, who played softball during a 26-year career as a sergeant-detective with the Westland Police Department. "They didn't enforce it last year, but this year they are, and it is really messing up my swing. I am not thrilled with this at all," he chuckles.

Such is life on the grass field at Greenfield Village. Two teams—the Lah-de-dahs and the National Base Ball Club—play at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays during the summer at Walnut Grove on the Greenfield Village grounds. The teams also play games against clubs from other cities.

For Greenfield Village visitors and baseball fans alike, the contests provide an opportunity to see the sport as it was played in the mid-19th century—before the era of home-run hitters and 100 mph fastballs. All contests were considered "spirited matches for gentlemanly recreation and exercise" and are played today under the rules as they were written in 1867.

Hissong (Photo by Elaine Hissong)

Unfortunately for Hissong and his teammates, that marked the only year in which striding or stepping into a pitch was forbidden. It was changed in 1868, says Leo Landis, curator of agriculture and rural life at The Henry Ford. Landis is a player for the Lah-de-dahs and Nationals, and curator of sports and recreation collections.

"That was really a distinct change from last year," says Landis, adding that the striding or stepping rule was not enforced in Greenfield Village two years ago, but it is this summer. "The rule was abandoned in 1868, either because it was so largely ignored or caused so much frustration—or a combination of both."

Other rules of 1867, from "Haney's Base Ball Book of Reference":

• The job of the pitcher was to pitch the ball "fairly for the striker" close to the center of home base and where batsmen requested it.

• Foul balls caught on the fly or on one bounce counted as an out.

• Fielding gloves were uncommon in early baseball, but fielders who used them wore fingerless leather gloves on both hands.

• If strikers ran past first base, they were considered "live" and could be tagged out by fielders.

From "Haney's Base Ball Book of Reference" from 1867 by Henry Chadwick: The Model Baseball Player This is an individual not often seen on a ball ground, but he nevertheless exists; and as a description of his characteristics will prove advantageous, we give a pen photograph of him, in the hope that his example will be followed on all occasions, for if it were, an end would at once be put to many actions which now give rise to unpleasantness on our ball grounds. His moral attributes The principal rule of action of our model base ball player is, to comport himself like a gentleman on all occasions, but especially on match days, and in so doing he abstains from profanity and its twin and vile brother obscenity, leaving these vices to be alone cultivated by graduates of our penitentiaries. • He never censures errors of play made by a brother member or an opponent, as he is well aware that faultfinding not only leads to no improvement in the play of the one who blunders, but on the contrary is calculated to have the very reverse effect. • He was never known to dispute the decision of an Umpire, for knowing the peculiar position an Umpire is placed in, he is careful never to wound his feelings by implying that his judgment is weak. • He never takes an ungenerous advantage of his opponents, but acts towards them as he would wish them to act towards himself. His physical qualifications • To be able to throw a ball with accuracy of aim a dozen or a hundred yards. • To be fearless in facing and stopping a swiftly batted or thrown ball. • To be able to catch a ball either on the "fly" or bound, either within an inch or two of the ground, or eight or ten feet from it with either the right or left hand or both. • To be able to hit a swiftly pitched ball or a "slow twister" with equal skill, and also to command his bat so as to hit the ball either within six inches of the ground or as high as his shoulder, and either towards the right, centre or left fields. To conclude our description of a model base ball player, we have to say, that his conduct is as much marked by courtesy of demeanor and liberality of action as it is by excellence in a practical exemplification of the beauties of the game; and his highest aim is to characterize every contest in which he may be engaged, with conduct that will mark it as much as a trial as to which party excels in the moral attributes of the game, as it is one that decides any question of physical superiority.

The Lah-de-dahs were formed in 1994, Landis says, and are based on a team that played in Waterford, Mich., in the 1880s. The National Base Ball Club was added in 2003 and is based on a team from Parma, Mich., that competed in the first World's Base Ball Tournament, played in Detroit in 1867.

"We really do try to emphasize the gentlemanly aspect of the game," Landis says. "The spirit of camaraderie and collegiality really carried over after the game. It was typical when the game was over to have a shared meal sponsored by the host club."

Lee Freeman, assistant professor of management information systems at
U-M-Dearborn, had visited Greenfield Village numerous times since moving to Michigan four years ago. An avid softball player, he signed up to play this year.

"It gives me a chance to play baseball, first; and it is more fun than I thought it would be," Freeman says. "For true baseball fans, this is how it all got started."

Freeman also enjoys the program's place in the Greenfield Village experience. The games are competitive, he says, but also are true to the spirit of the day.

"They played it as a gentleman's game, and we try and mimic that," says Freeman, adding that the players stay in character before, during and after games.

The summer will culminate Aug. 27-29 when Greenfield Village hosts the second World's Tournament of Historic Base Ball. Sixteen teams from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Canada will compete.

The Greenfield Village teams will don either the white tops (which are cotton flannel) of the Lah-de-dahs, or blue uniforms (cotton, but long-sleeved) of the Nationals.

"Those uniforms are ungodly hot," Hissong says of the bib-front smocks, baggy pants, high socks and black leather shoes.

For more information on Historic Baseball at Greenfield Village, visit http://www.hfmgv.org/
calendar/baseball/default.asp.