Mr. Barne's Steel Shod Players Beat a Nine of Amateurs

May 12, 2016 1:48 PM

The Lost Sport of Ice Baseball that Originated in Brooklyn: First played in 1861. "The rules to ice baseball were essentially the same as for regular baseball but with certain concessions:"

"there were only five innings and only ten players allowed on the field; the ball was painted bright red for greater visibility and was somewhat softer than a normal baseball. The bases were scratched into the ice, and players could overshoot them and still be safe, like with first base in a regular game."

The New York Times has reports on two contests from 1884.

posted by ursus_comiter (4 comments total)

When did base-ball become baseball? Were all ball sports titles hyphenated? It now seems so robotic, especially when written in all caps.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on May 12, 2016

1896-7.
posted by zamboni at 2:17 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

"The rules to ice baseball were essentially the same as for regular baseball but with certain concessions:"

I thought that said "concussions" and I'm not convinced that's not what it really means to say
posted by clockzero at 2:20 PM on May 12, 2016 [7 favorites]

Those five innings only took 90 minutes to play. So a nine-inning game on skates might be just as slow as a modern "dry" game.

Can you imagine the sight of the guy playing first reaching out to catch a ball, his toe still on the base, and falling into full splits? Or an outfielder skating desperately tyoward the fence (probably just the edge of whatever area they shoveled clear, if my childhood broomball games are any guide) as he chases along ball, looking over his shoulder, and going down into a tangle of bruised limbs? Geeze, hitting ice so hard must have sucked.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:25 AM on May 13, 2016