VINTAGE BASE BALL IS PLAYED BY AMATEUR CLUBS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY USING THE RULES, UNIFORMS, EQUIPMENT AND GENTLEMANLY COMPETITIVE PLAY OF THE MID THRU LATE 19TH CENTURY GAME. IT IS A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF BASEBALL LIVING HISTORY, THEATRE AND UNSCRIPTED SPORTS COMPETITION.

CLUBS THROUGHOUT THE NETWORK TYPICALLY PLAY BY 1860S OR 1880S ERA RULES.

THE 1860S GAME IS CONSIDERABLY DIFFERENT THAN TODAY’S MODERN GAME. PITCHING WAS SWIFT UNDERHAND AND BALLISTS PLAYED WITHOUT GLOVES. BY THE 1880S, THE GAME HAD INTRODUCED FULL-FINGER GLOVES AND OVERHAND PITCHING BECAME THE NORM.

IN SPITE OF NUMEROUS RULE DIFFERENCES FOR EACH ERA, PLAYERS AND SPECTATORS WOULD STILL RECOGNIZE THE GAME AS BASEBALL.

IN THE MID-1990’S, THE VINTAGE BASE BALL ASSOCIATION (VBBA) WAS FORMED WITH A DOZEN CHARTER MEMBER CLUBS. TODAY, VBBA MEMBERSHIP TOTALS APPROXIMATELY 75 CLUBS, WHILE THE SPORT ITSELF HAS GROWN TO NEARLY 250 CLUBS REPRESENTING 35 STATES. IN ADDITION, SEVERAL STATE OR REGIONAL LEAGUES AND ANNUAL TOURNAMENTS HAVE SPROUTED AROUND THE COUNTRY.