MILWAUKEE — Recently, America's past time, baseball, has gone through rule and style of play changes. Some have said it should go back to how it was played in the olden days. But how far back in the past should we go? Well, one Milwaukee group of players said let's take the game back to 1860.
The Milwaukee Grays are a vintage baseball team. They adhere to 1860 rules. Some of those differences are: batters are called strikers, pitchers are hurlers, no gloves, no called balls or strikes, any ball caught on one bounce is out, no smiling in team photos, and only using your teammate's nicknames.
“There’s a gentleman-ly-ness to it," Justin Krider, the team's outfielder said.
Watch what vintage baseball looks like...
Some nicknames of the Grays players are: HR, Cell Block, Preacher, Maestro, Old Dog, Sleepy, and Night Owl.
The team name 'Grays' is an homage to Milwaukee's first-ever professional team, the Milwaukee Grays. They played in the National League in 1878.
"We play to win. We want to win, but the bottom line is we're here to be competitive, have fun, meet new people, and show people what it's like to play 1860. So it's all about the baseball history," Dave Heller the team's behind (or catcher), said.
The team's home field is Estabrook Park in Milwaukee. They play about 15 times a summer. However, they have to travel to Indiana, Minnesota, or Illinois for many games because there aren’t other teams around the city. But the Grays are trying to change that.
“15 years ago, at one point, there was 6 teams in the Milwaukee greater metro Milwaukee area. And they have dwindled down to now we’re just the grays. So last year we decided to make a second team so we would have more games in Milwaukee," Krider said.
That second team is the West Ends. You can join either team by sending an email to Grays on the team website.
“I think it’s kind of cool to see the game evolve from almost day 1," Heller said.
You can watch the Grays at Estabrook Park on Sept. 14 and Oct. 6. The games are free.
It's a way for these baseball fans to play the game they love and preserve America’s pastime before it even became America’s pastime.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
