Civil War Baseball Rules

[Eark]

Artist: Otto Botticher or Boetticher, Lithographic firm: Sarony, Major, & Knapp, Publisher: Goupil & Co., date drawn: mid 1862, published date: 1863, catalog no.: 60.3741

Do many here participate in early baseball rules games? It is period relevant. Popular in Midwest
Fun youth book A Pitch In Time by Robert Lytle includes 1864 rules.

 

[TnFed]

Saw a civil war era game in Mackinac Michigan.

 

[captaindrew]

We've had a couple, I think, period baseball games at events up in New England. There's a guy who gives us the rules that seems to know what he's talking about. It's a bunch of fun but running the bases in brogans for a fluffy old guy is a killer. Wish I had some photos of it to share.

 

[General Casey]

In the 1850s, there were actually 2 sets of rules in use for the game of base-ball. One, the Massachusetts rules, was popular in New England, while the rules called New York rules was popular in New York and pretty much everywhere else. There were similarities but differences in the rules, mainly in regards to field setup and game play.

Both sets of rules were popular through the war but by the end, the New York rules won out. Most of the modern rules of today's baseball comes from the New York rules.

 

[captaindrew]

The way we played it the bases were square to the hitter who hit between 1st and home.

 

[111thNYSV]

Totally inaccurate but quite funny none the less, the Netflix movie, Ridiculous Six, has a scene of Abner Doubleday putting together a baseball game. As the scene goes on different things happen that arent in favor of him winning so he makes up rules so the play goes in his favor. Like I said earlier, totally inaccurate but quite funny.

 

[Biscuit]

from what I'm read and seen, broken fingers were definitely a norm! Also, go Team Chaos this year!