Take them out to the 1886 ballgame
Baseball rules are universally understood. The umpire designates the strike zone. Foul balls are usually a strike. A hitter gets a walk after four pitches outside the strike zone.
Now imagine a game in which hitters decide if they want a high or low strike zone, foul balls are not a strike and it takes seven balls to get a walk.
The bizarre rules are from 1886, back when cars and planes were just a vision.
Times have changed — except in the Southern California Vintage Base Ball League, where the rules and uniforms are from 136 years ago. It includes teams in Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, Riverside and Fullerton.
For the Temecula Dear Bros,
the season opened in Perris on May 14 with a game against the host Perris Prospectors. Games are played in the morning because the uniforms are quite heavy and include wool. You don’t need to be a history buff to know it gets hot here in the summer.
Menifee resident Michael Rinehart Jr. discussed the team and baseball’s origins at a recent meeting of the Temecula Valley Historical Society. The following week, he gave a similar talk to a baseball group in Cooperstown, New York — home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rinehart is a big baseball fan, and his email address features his favorite team: the Boston Red Sox. He’s been going to see a minor league baseball team, the Lake Elsinore Storm, since it started playing in 1994. His love of the history of the game was sparked when he got his first pack of baseball cards.
The vintage league, now in its third season, is perfect for him.
“I love playing the games because it combines two of my favorite things: baseball and history,” he said.
As for the vintage Temecula team, it’s based on Parker Dear, who once lived on the Santa Rosa Plateau near Murrieta. He had brothers: John, Jim, Gilbert and Bandeni. Eventually, Parker moved to the Pasadena area, where he played baseball.
Temecula doesn’t seem to have much baseball history from the 1800s, and
Rinehart concedes it’s “a little bit of a stretch” to tie the Dear brothers team to the area, but as far as I know, nobody’s around from back then to complain.
This is the second season for the Temecula squad, which plays home games at Temecula Valley High School. Its schedule can be found on the league website. Typically, there are 20 to 50 fans at a game, some clad in 1880s attire, Rinehart said.
Another Temecula team player is Mark Marsolino, a 62-year-old Murrieta resident.
He hadn’t played baseball for a decade when he heard about the vintage team, checked it out and realized it was very different from what he was used to.
“This was not your typical weekend baseball league,” he said. “It is very unique. Plus it was an opportunity to start something in an area with a ton of local history.”
Other players include Norm Charest of Temecula, Brian Bock of Canyon Lake, and Johnny Ramirez and Ryan Rinehart, Michael’s brother, from Menifee.
Gloves from back then were not the padded ones with a web like today’s mitts, Michael Rinehart said. Instead, they were basically garden gloves, offering little protection.
The bats were also considerably heavier.
“It’s like swinging a big tree log,” he said.
Hidden-ball tricks were much more common in the 1880s, too, which can add a surprise element.
It’s right in line with the rest of the vintage game.