“You will see the finest demonstration of athleticism and sportsmanship west of the Mississippi.”
BERTHOUD — The Deacon has spoken. Lodged beneath a straw hat to hold back a searing afternoon sun, Pat Massengill, a history professor on most days and an umpire on this day, is welcoming those who wish to see time shoved back more than a century.
He appeals to the curious, those making their inaugural visit to the roots of baseball, as well as the believers.
“Seventeen years ago, I’m not sure I would have believed we still would be doing all of this,” said Massengill, who goes by Deacon, his “handle,” during games. “We started as something to do during the downtime at Civil War re-enactments, and we discovered we all loved doing it. People have responded to living history.”
Massengill helped found the Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association in 1993. The group barnstorms the state, and beyond, during the summer with enough players to construct four or five teams and play baseball as it was played in the 1870s.
No mitts and no manicured fields. The players wear wool or flannel uniforms and feature plenty of desire to show what was, the way things used to be generations before Ubaldo Jimenez first threw a 97 mile-an-hour fastball.
“Strike to the line!”
That is the call to play ball. And certainly something Ian Tinney didn’t think he would ever hear again. The 62-year-old Berthoud resident has been in the CVBBA since 1995 and now watches his 31-year-old son, Dathan, play ball as well.
A year ago Ian Tinney was bedridden after suffering a stroke, wondering if he would even walk again.
“My therapist told me maybe if I hadn’t been so active, I might not have been able to recover,” Tinney said. “I got out of bed, then I made it into a wheelchair, then walked with a cane and now I’m back playing. I would miss this; we all would. We’re all just people who like being around each other, the camaraderie, and playing the game.”
Herb Meeker will be 79 this month, had open-heart surgery in 2007, and between spreading the gospel of his love for the game, he is working on his swing to find a gap in the infield.
The CVBBA requires players must be “at least 18 years of age, but no older than 118.”
“So, I have a long way to go before I can’t play anymore,” Meeker said. “But we have teenagers and old guys like me.”
“A fine hand, sir”
The players, dressed in vintage uniforms, stay in character during games. Fans sit on hay bales arranged on the outer edges of the field. The scoreboard numbers are simply hung on the back side of the backstop.
“There’s just something about it we all enjoy, said Richard Foster, a retired military man whose twin brother, Bruce, also plays in the CVBBA. “We’re all history lovers and baseball fans.”
The pitcher, or “hurler,” is 45 feet from the batter — the striker — and the bats are thin-barreled for the most part. The ball is a reworked T-ball, with the stitching pattern in an X pattern on the cover.
With no mitts, handling the ball can be a dicey affair, with fingers always in jeopardy for the uninitiated. Infielders are “tenders” and outfielders are “scouts.” Each player goes by a nickname.
“And, you can either give yourself one, or one will be given to you,” Massengill said. “So, most people give themselves one rather than leave us up to our own devices.”
“A cheer for the team who has bested us this day.”
At every stop the CVBBA invites people from the area to play. They even provide some of the garb needed, as players wear the colors of former Colorado teams such as the Denver Blue Stockings, the Central City Stars and the Berthoud Blues. The games, or matches, are nine innings and usually feature plenty of runs.
“And plenty of talk back and forth, all fun,” said Richard Foster. “They’ve reminded me that I couldn’t hold a 20-run lead a couple weeks ago, but I like things to be exciting.”
On a recent Saturday the group had two games underway — one in Cañon City and a community event in Berthoud — and has played some of the same events summer after summer.
“We want people to come out and see it,” Massengill said. “But we want them to play if they wish. History has room for us all.”
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com