BETHLEHEM, N.Y. (NEWS10) – More than 100 baseball fans in Bethlehem celebrated America’s birthday on Monday by enjoying America’s favorite pastime.
But the game they watched was not played as it is today, rather, it was played the way baseball was in 1864. On Monday, it was the New York Mutuals versus the Bethlehem Braves.
“This is our eighth year up here,” Mutuals Captain Thomas “Dirt” Fioriglio said. “Part of our mission as the Mutuals is to not just play baseball but to spread the history of the game.”
Hitting the ball, running the bases and scoring runs –the basics are the same. But from the vintage uniforms to the lack of gloves, the look was changed and so had the rules.
“Catching the ball on one bounce as you saw today was a big part of the game,” Bethlehem Braves Pres. Steve Peterson said.
That’s right. A ball that bounces foul but is still caught after it strikes the ground is an out. And that wasn’t all.
“Striking the ball in fair territory and immediately going foul, pitching underhand, not overrunning first base, all original rules, and you can see how things have changed over the years and why they have the rules they have,” Peterson said.
Peterson has put on the vintage baseball game for eight years.
“We do it to give back to the community,” he said.
“Baseball is democratic,” Fioriglio said. “It’s democracy. It’s America. You know, the game’s not over until the last out is made. Anyone could be the hero. Anyone could be the goat. It’s a game of second chances and third chances and time doesn’t runout.”
The Bethlehem Braves won the game.
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