GOSHEN, Ohio — The Clermont County Public Library’s Goshen Branch will host a program on the roots of professional baseball next week, bringing in members of a Cincinnati club that plays the game by rules from a century and a half ago.
The “History at Bat: Cincinnati Vintage Base Ball” program is set for Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m. at the branch, 6678 State Route 132, according to a Facebook post from the library. The library described the event as open to adults, with registration required.
Presenters from the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Vintage Base Ball Team will cover the evolution of the game, including 1860s rules and pitching styles, and the legacy of Cincinnati’s first professional club, according to the library. At the time, “baseball” was still written as two words — “base ball.”
Cincinnati earned its reputation as the “birthplace of professional baseball” in 1869, when the original Red Stockings became the sport’s first fully salaried team, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Organized that March by manager Harry Wright, the club went undefeated in 1869, finishing 57-0, and extended its winning streak to 84 games before losing to the Brooklyn Atlantics in June 1870.
The modern 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings club, founded in 2000, recreates that era of the sport under the rules and customs published for the 1869 season. Players wear period uniforms and take the field without gloves, which had not yet come into wide use, and games emphasize the sportsmanship of the era, with spectators offering “hearty huzzahs” for good plays by either side. The club plays regularly at Heritage Village Museum in Sharon Woods Park and travels to sites including Cooperstown, New York, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for exhibition games against other vintage clubs.
Details on the Sept. 1 program, including registration, were posted by the library to its Facebook page.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Public Library.