The genteel hit men of St. Louis’ “vintage base ball” league
By Daniel Durchholz
Photograph by Mark Gilliland
Should you stroll into Lafayette Park on a weekend afternoon and see a group of men running around dressed in knickers, long socks and vintage fireman-style bib shirts, you could be excused for thinking you’ve stepped into some sort of time warp.
Hearing the gentlemen exclaim to one another “Huzzah!” or “Well struck, sir!” might only increase that effect.
But what you’ve actually happened upon is a good old-fashioned game of base ball. Not baseball, mind you. Base ball.
“That was the way it was spelled back in the 1850s and 1860s,” says Antonio “Danger” Pellegrino, the president of the St. Louis Perfectos Base Ball Club. “It was referred to as ‘a game of base’ rather than baseball.”
The Perfectos—the name was borrowed from a more famous St. Louis ball club known as the Perfectos during the one year they weren’t called the Browns or the Cardinals—play rival teams from Decatur, Ill. (the Rock Springs Ground Squirrels); Cuba, Mo. (the Crawford Conductors); and other relatively nearby towns. They return to Lafayette Park on July 29 after a nearly two-month absence for a game against the Mascoutah Blues.
“The main difference between our game and the modern one is that we play without gloves,” Pellegrino says. “Also, a ball caught on the first bounce is an out, which helps a little bit, but, as you can imagine, playing third base is still pretty tough.”
Their ball is stitched differently and is softer, though not by much. The bats are longer, heavier and thicker. And the games last seven innings, which isn’t historically accurate (the Perfectos hew to 1860 rules), but allows them to play double-headers on a regular basis.
So why not just play softball like everybody else?
“We’re not out there to win the state softball title or put our cleats into somebody’s ankle,” Pellegrino says. “We’re out there to celebrate the game of base ball and respect our opponent and promote good will.”
Plus, it’s a little bit cooler than being a Civil War re-enactor, right?
“Actually, when I tell people about the game, I say it’s like Civil War re-enactments for baseball,” Pellegrino says. “We’re not as hardcore as the Civil War guys. You know, if you don’t match exactly what the guys were wearing on the battlefield, you get yelled at. The vintage base ball community is a little bit looser than that, which is good.”
