Jayson Bell gets ready to catch a ball. Bell is a member of the Addison Mountain Stars, a classic baseball team.
Classic “Baseball” games at Meadowcroft turn the clock back to the 1860s
JEFFERSON – Monday through Friday, Alex Schreckengost handles financial matters at an insurance agency.
On select weekends, however, he becomes “Wheels” Schreckengost, chasing balls in the outfield as a member of the Somerset Frosty Sons of Thunder, a “baseball” team that goes back in time to the beginnings of what we know today as baseball and plays by rules invented in the 1860s.
“It’s competitive but friendly,” Schreckengost said. “There are different strategies compared to traditional baseball.”
Schreckengost and his teammates from the Frosty Sons of Thunder, along with the Canal Fulton Mules from Ohio and the Mountain Stars from Addison, were at the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter and Historic Village to play three vintage baseball games. The games came just two weeks before the Ohio Cup Vintage Base Ball Festival, where 25 vintage baseball teams meet for two days of competition at the Ohio History Center in Columbus.
According to the “baseball” rules of the 1860s, players were allowed to catch and throw the ball without gloves. 160 years ago, players were also called “ballistas”; a batter was called a “striker” and a fly ball caught after an impact resulted in the “striker” being called an out.
According to Dave Scofield, director of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, “baseball” games have been held at Meadowcroft every summer for at least 10 years. He explained that Meadowcroft’s mission is to tell the story of what has happened in the area over the past 19,000 years, and that recreational activities are a part of that story.
Ned Williams, a baseball enthusiast living in Washington, attended the first game on Saturday.
“It’s just a remarkable thing,” Williams said. “Baseball is such an interesting game… It really touches people deeply.”
