The old ball game

Lockport Sleepers bring alive early days of 'base ball'

The setting can be best described as pastoral.

In a large meadow at Dellwood Park in Lockport, the hometown nine known as the Lockport Sleepers recently welcomed the Elk Grove Village Bucks for a game.

These teams of vintage "base ball" players donned colorful, though heavy, uniforms that included long-sleeve shirts and wool caps, despite the hot, summertime weather.

The umpire was clad in a full frock and top hat, not unusual attire in the 1850s. And about 30 kranks - also known as bugs or rooters - assembled to cheer for their favorite club and their favorite hand (individual player).

The scene was not from a local history book or a Ken Burns documentary. It was the scene at a vintage baseball game, where players use rules from 1858.

On this particular day, July 7, the Sleepers got the best of the Bucks 14-1. The game wasn't played at the designated ball fields at the sprawling park. Instead, a large expanse of grass was used to layout a diamond with the customary 90 feet between bases but just 45 feet from the pitcher's line to home plate (a metal disk plate), much shorter than the pitcher's rubber to home plate distance of the modern era. There was no outfield fence. A home run only happens if the "striker" can run all the way home if his "stinger" eludes the opposing players.

On one occasion, a female krank was fined by the umpire for vocally disputing a call. On a few other occasions the umpire levied a fine of "two bits" on players who either argued or, on one play, stroked a short, bunt-like hit that was called a "baby play."

Mark Harmon was the umpire, but he is also the organizer of the Lockport Sleepers.

"We started last fall with three games and this is our first season, which began June 1, and we're playing one game each week to the end of August," Harmon explained. "This was started about 20 years ago by the Ohio Historical Society. It's really caught on here in Illinois. We find that most times when you go to a museum you are learning about old time work like spinning, weaving, candle dipping, butter making, blacksmithing. Most sites forget about people's recreation of the time."

Harmon said that what people did for fun is an important part of history.

"We can tell the story of what people did in their free time," he said.

There's an important museum connection for the Lockport Sleepers, too. The Sleepers club is an educational program of the Gaylord Building Historic Site, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and administered by the Canal Corridor Association.

"We're playing with 1858 rules and it happens that 1858 and 1859 was the height of the canal era in Illinois," Harmon said. "Our current parent organization, the Canal Corridor Association, is the management entity for the I&M National Heritage Corridor. It's a really nice tie-in between the canal era and what we're doing."

Avid baseball fans may have read about how many rules and customs of the game were different in the 19th century, but now they can see vintage baseball for themselves, he said.

Once the game begins there is no stealing or leading off base. No bases on balls are issued. The "hurler" or "feeder" is obligated to throw the onion (ball) where the batter prefers it. Whether the striker hits a stinger or a blooper, he will still be called out if the basetender (baseman) or scout (outfielder) catches the onion on one bounce.

"If the striker doesn't like what the pitcher's pitching, he could wait for his pitch," Harmon said. "However, by 1858 they created a rule that if you abuse this right to wait for your pitch, the umpire will warn the striker once and then he may start calling strikes. This is about the time period when calling strikes came into being," Harmon said.

In the game July 7, only one batter struck out.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference in the 19th century game was baseball gloves. The players didn't use them in 1858.

"The 1870s is when they first started wearing gloves," Harmon said. "The first players to wear gloves were considered weak players."

The ball itself is similar to what is used today.

"It's about the same size as a modern baseball. It's stitched a little differently and you'll notice after a few good hits, it gets a little mushier," Harmon said. "It has a life of its own because when it bounces it will go in its own direction."

How the softer ball bounces is important under vintage rules because a batter is out on any ball, fair or foul, caught on one bounce. In the Lockport vs. Elk Grove Village match, no fewer than 24 outs were recorded with the "one bounce" rule in effect.

A baseball bat (also known as the willow) is similar to a modern bat. Harmon said there are some differences on the handle, but bats of all shapes and sizes were used in the 1850s.

Harmon also indicated that the uniforms donned by the Sleepers were "based on images provided by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. They are based on the 1858 Knickerbockers and 1863 Mutuals."

As for the unusual Lockport "Sleepers" name, Harmon said that, "According to a 1930s federal writers project called 'Baseball in Old Chicago,' they found supposedly a newspaper article declaring that the Lockport Sleepers first hosted the Joliet Hunky Dories on Aug. 6, 1851, which would make it the oldest recorded baseball game in Illinois."

So the Sleeper name was resurrected for the vintage team.

"A sleeper actually means a surprise or unexpected success, like a sleeper in a horse race. It has nothing to do with a sleeper car in a train because in 1858 trains weren't even in Lockport yet," Harmon said.

One of the quaint customs of 150 years ago was the widespread use of player nicknames. Harmon, as umpire, introduced each player on both teams by their nickname prior to each at bat.

One of the Lockport co-captains is Patrick "Hush Puppy" Boland, a longtime Lockport resident now residing in Channahon. A baseball fan all his life, Boland got away from playing as he raised a family and dealt with bad knees. Encouraged that the vintage rules prohibited sliding, he attended an early meeting when the Sleepers were getting organized.

Boland has caught on to most of the vintage rules.

"Catching on a bounce, that's pretty easy," Boland said. "The hardest rule to remember is stopping at first base. You can't overrun first base or else you're out. I forget and a lot of guys forget that one."

Lockport's other co-captain is Michael "The Cure" Ciurej.

"I read in the newspaper about the team forming, I'm new to the area and found this to be a way to be involved and baseball has always been my first love anyway," Ciurej said.

What's the biggest difference between playing baseball with vintage rules and the game we know today? Ciurej says the game of 1858 "is definitely a gentlemen's game, that's the easiest way to sum it up. You're supposed to respect everything. There's more of a fun element than the competitive nature of what you see today. That's a big draw for some people. We get the kranks involved. That makes it fun."