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Media contacts: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org
Media contacts: Jack Blosser: 800.283.8904 or jblosser@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release
Fort Ancient Hosts Vintage Base Ball Game
Teams Looking For New Recruits
(Oregonia, Ohio) – PLAY BALL! The nationally known vintage base-ball team the Ohio Village Muffins will wind up their 2008 season playing the Cincinnati Red Stockings Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. at Fort Ancient near Oregonia.
For those unfamiliar with vintage base ball (two words prior to the 1880s), the game is played by the rules and customs of the 19th century. Players, umpires and scorekeepers dress in period attire and play base ball as it was meant to be played, according to James R. Tootle, historian and longtime Muffin player.
The Muffins play 1860's base ball based on the original rules of the game drawn up by the New York Knickerbocker Club in 1845. Muffin players use wooden bats that are no bigger than 2.5 inches in diameter, but may be of any length. The ball is covered by a single piece of leather. There are no gloves or protective equipment. They don't keep track of individual statistics. The do keep track of courtesy, sportsmanship and the true gentlemanly code of the Victorian Era. Muffins are intent on fresh air, exercise, education about the game and mixing with the crowd, which is encouraged to cheer for good plays on either side. Players range in age from 16 to over 60. New recruits from the area are welcome to play with the Muffins for an inning or two.
"Many of us have played with the club for nearly two decades, and we take Ohio history and our gentlemanly sport seriously," says Tootle. He also shares that because the game is slow pitch, "Everyone hits, everyone runs and the game is exciting."
Bring your lawn chair and come out for an afternoon of vintage baseball fun. The base ball games will be held on the museum grounds and is free. Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $4 for children ages 6-12. Ohio Historical Society members and children ages 5 and under are free.
Fort Ancient, more than 2,000 years old, consists of 3.5 miles of earth walls that range from 4 to 23 feet in height built in a space of about 100 acres. Prehistoric people during the Hopewell Culture built and used Fort Ancient as a place of ceremonial and social gatherings. The stone-covered earthworks are astronomical-marking mounds-by observing the movements of the sun and moon people could gather at certain days of the year to celebrate specific events and ceremonies. The museum at Fort Ancient contains 9000-square-feet of interactive exhibits focusing on 15,000 years of American Indian history in the Ohio Valley.
Fort Ancient is one of 58 sites operated by the Ohio Historical Society, a private, nonprofit organization that serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology, and natural history. It is located in Warren County, approximately 20 minutes north of King’s Island, off Interstate 71. For additional information, please call 513.932.4421/800.283.8904 or visit www.ohiohistory.org.
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