# ESPN classic..vintage baseball live. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-classic-vintage-baseball-live/253426 "2004-07-03T23:02:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-classic-vintage-baseball-live/253426/1 "2004-07-03T23:02:03Z")
7 PM EDT. Baseball Hartford Senators at Pittsfield Hillies 180 mins. The Pittsfield Hillies host the Hartford Senators in a vintage game that sports 1886 rules, period uniforms and old-fashioned equipment. Pittsfield, Mass., claims to have the oldest known historical record of baseball in the U.S., a 1791 town bylaw restricting play of the game. Gonna be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-classic-vintage-baseball-live/253426/2 "2004-07-03T23:18:30Z")
If you’re interested, there’s a league of folks who play “base ball” the way it was originally played: the [Vintage Base Ball Association](http://www.vbba.org/). Pretty cool stuff, thinks I. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/espn-classic-vintage-baseball-live/253426/3 "2004-07-03T23:22:20Z")
According to Leonard Koppett’s “The Thinking Man’s Guide To Baseball,” a game played by 1886 rules would mean: 1. Seven balls for a walk (reduced from nine to eight in 1880, down to seven in 1882, down to six in 1884, back up to seven in 1886 – it would be five balls for a walk in 1887 and four in 1889). 2. Batters can request a high or low pitch (abolished in 1887). 3. No such thing as a called strike – a strike entails a swing and a miss (also abolished 1887). 4. Batters are not awarded first base if they are hit by a pitch (rule introduced in 1888).