Historical Accuracy in Vintage Baseball

Historical accuracy in recreating nineteenth-century baseball has always been a high priority for the Flemington Neshanock.  Like many things, it's not quite as easy or straightforward as it might sound.  The challenges include understanding rules and customs over 150 years old, making necessary adjustments, primarily for safety, and being on the same page with other teams about what is historically accurate.  Considering the number of teams and players involved, the latter can be difficult to do on a consistent basis.  Fortunately, there is some good news on that front, with today's announcement of the formation of the National Association of Historic Base Ball Clubs (NAHBBC).  The group's website went live earlier today and it contains a great deal of important and valuable information.  

To highlight the emphasis on historical accuracy, the group has put together a list of expectations all members must observe.  Among the most important requirements are the following:

Playing accurately within the rules including no restrictions on leading, positioning, and stealing.

Using only historical customs - for example, no tally bells.

Wear historically accurate uniforms without modern accessories such as wristwatches and sunglasses.

Using era-appropriate language.

Using historically accurate equipment.

Mutual agreement about these standards should greatly facilitate teaching how baseball was played before 1900.  Another goal of the group is to expand the number of teams playing vintage baseball.  That's very important to me because I believe that considering New Jersey's rich baseball history, there could and should be far more teams spread throughout the state.  The Neshanock look forward to playing a part in this effort and are grateful to the organizers who have put this together.  In their only act of questionable judgment, they've asked me to be an advisor which I'm pleased to do.