VBBA Education and Interpretation Committee

Open-air museums interpreting bat and ball games as part of its living history program.

Second edition, updated 22 March 2003.

About this list: The definition of an open-air museum has been applied to parks that present historic bat and ball games in a living history program. See the definitions at the end of the list. Any bat and ball presentation that occurred in the last ten years is eligible to be listed, including one-time programs. Send updates, additions and corrections to: Dean “Deano” Thilgen at edinterpcommvbba.org

State	City	Site	Parent Organization	Game	Era/year	Program level	Notes
California	San José	History Park	History San José	Town ball		Special event	Old-Time Town Ball at Gold Rush Festival 2000
Colorado	Colorado Springs	Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site		Base ball
Colorado	Littleton	Four Mile Historic Park		Base ball
Connecticut	Mystic	Mystic Seaport Museum		Base ball			Oceanics
Delaware	Dover	Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village	Parent Organization	Town Ball	Era/year	School programming	History camp
Georgia	Lumpkin	Westville Village	Westville Historic Handicrafts, Inc.	Base ball	Antebellum	House nine, regular schedule	Craftsmen and Biscuits
Illinois	Decatur	Rock Springs Center (Homestead Prairie Farm)	Macon County Conservation District	Base ball	1860-era	House nine, regular schedule, permanent diamond	Rock Springs Ground Squirrels play at BeautifulTrobaughField, down the road from the farm. They host the annual The Stephen A. Douglas Cup Vintage Base Ball Tourney.
Illinois	Elizabeth	Apple River Fort State Historic Site			1830s	Special event
Illinois	Lerna	Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site *		Town ball		School program
Illinois	Rock Island	Midway Village and Museum Center		Base ball		Special event	Midway Marauders
Indiana	Bristol	Bonneyville Mill County Park	Elkhart County Parks and Recreation	Base ball		Regular nine	Bonneyville Millers
Indiana	Fishers	Conner Prairie *		Base ball	1886	House nine, permanent diamond and regular schedule	White River Base Ball Club
Indiana	Hobart	Deep River County Park (Woods Historic Grist Mill)		Base ball	1858	House nine, permanent diamond and regular schedule	Deep River Grinders at Grinder Field
Indiana	Marion	Mississinewa 1812	Mississinewa Battlefield Society	Cricket
Iowa	Fort Dodge	Fort Museum and Frontier Village		Base ball		Special event
Iowa	Urbandale	Living History Farms *		Base ball	1875	House nine, regular schedule and permanent diamond	Walnut Hill Bluestockings
Kentucky	Harrodsburg	Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill		Base ball	Civil War	Invited groups
Massachusetts	Sturbridge	Old Sturbridge Village *		Base ball (Town Ball)	1834
Michigan	Benton Harbor	Mary's City of David		Base ball	1858	House nine and permanent diamond	House of David Echoes at Harry and Elizabeth Eastman Field
Michigan	Dearborn	Greenfield Village *	Edison Institute	Base ball	1860s	Major program with house nine, regular schedule	Lah-De-Dah Base Ball Club
Michigan	Jackson	Ella Sharp Museum		Cricket		Special programming	Tom Melville guest performer
Michigan	Ludington	Historic White Pine Village®		Base ball	1860s	House nine and regular schedule	Ludington Mariners Old Time Base Ball Club
Michigan	Rochester Hills	Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm	City ofRochester Hills,Michigan	Base ball	1860	House nine, school program and regular schedule	Grangers Base Ball Club
Minnesota	Elk River	Oliver Kelley Farm	Minnesota Historical Society	Town ball	1860s	Extended programming
Minnesota	Fairfax	Fort Ridgely Historic Site	Minnesota Historical Society	Base ball	1860	Special programming
Minnesota	Farmington	Dakota City Heritage Village	Dakota County Agricultural Society	Base ball	1860	Special programming	Annual spring game at pancake breakfast.
Minnesota	Pine City	North West Company Fur Post	Minnesota Historical Society	Cricket	Fur trade	Special event	Invited cricket historian Tom Melville in 2002.
Minnesota	Preston	Historic Forestville	Minnesota Historical Society	Base ball	1860 throwback (1899)	Invited groups, Special event	Annual 4^th of July game
Minnesota	Rochester	Schmitt Field at Olmsted County HistoryCenter	Olmsted County Historical Society	Base ball	1860	House nine, permanent field and regular schedule	Roosters
Minnesota	Shakopee	Historic Murphy’s Landing *	Three Rivers Park District	Base ball	1860	Invited groups	Usually played on Father’s Day
Minnesota	St. Paul	Historic Fort Snelling	Minnesota Historical Society	Rounders/base ball	1820s/1860s	Special event/invited groups, extended programming. A modified version of rounders was played most summer Sunday afternoons in 2002.	Base ball at annual Civil War Weekend.
Missouri	Lawson	Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site *	Missouri Department of Natural Resources	Town Ball	Era/year	Program level	Saturdays
Nebraska	Burwell	Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park		Base ball	(1874-1881)	House nine	Fort Hartsuff Company C
Nebraska	Grand Island	Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer *		Base ball	1860s	House nine, regular schedule	Railroad Town Roadies
Nebraska	Kearney	Fort Kearney State Historical Park		Base ball	(1848-1871)		Fort Kearny Cannonballs
Nebraska	Minden	Pioneer Village		Base ball		Special programming, invited guests
New Jersey	Lambertville	Howell Living History Farm		Town ball	1900	Special programming	They have been playing an annual game since 1988, Howell Farm Hogs (staff and visitors) against the Jersey Bulls (volunteers and visitors)..
New York	Bethpage	Old Bethpage Village Restoration	Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums	Base ball	1867 & 1887	Major program with house nines, regular schedule and permanent diamond	Old Time Baseball program
New York	Cooperstown	The Farmers’ Museum		Town ball	1845	Regular nine	The Leatherstockings play at the Village Crossroads most holidays and Sunday afternoons in the summer.
New York	Mumford	Genessee Country Village & Museum		Base ball	1866	Major program with house nines, regular schedule and permanent diamond	Constructed Silver Base Ball Park in 2001. Four in-house nines, Live Oak, Knickerbockers, Excelsiors and Rochesters.
Ohio	Archbold	Sauder Village *		Base ball	1860	Invited groups	4^th annual game in 2002.
Ohio	Bath	Hale Farm & Village	The Western Reserve Historical Society			Invited groups	Typically held at annual Civil War Days.
Ohio	Columbus	Ohio Village	Ohio Historical Society	Base ball	1860	Major program with house nine, regular schedule and permanent diamond	Ohio Village Muffins and Diamonds
Ohio	Huber Heights	Carriage Hill MetroPark and Farm *	Five Rivers MetroParks	Base ball	1860	Regular schedule and house nine	Carriage Hill Clodbusters
Ohio	Piqua	Piqua Historical Area (Johnston Farm)	Ohio Historical Society	Base ball, cricket	1860	Regular nine, regular schedule	Sterlings and Logan County Stars. Invited cricket historian Tom Melville in 2002.
Ohio	Sharonville	Heritage Village Museum	Historic Southwest Ohio, Inc.	Base ball	1869	Regular nine, regular schedule	1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings and Cincinnati Buckeyes
Ontario	Fort Erie	Fort Erie		Cricket	War of 1812
Ontario	Thunder Bay	Old Fort William		Cricket	Fur trade
Texas	Albany	Fort Griffin State Park and Historic Site		Base ball	1866	Special programming
Texas	Dallas	Old City Park Museum		Base ball	1860s	Special event
Texas	Fort Bliss	Fort Bliss Museums		Base ball	1857	House nine	Cannonball Base Ball Club
Texas	Fort Davis	Fort Davis National Historic Site	National Park Service	Base ball	1884	Special programming
Texas	Huntsville	Sam Houston Memorial Museum		Town Ball	Era/year	school program	Notes
Texas	Jacksboro	Fort Richardson State Historical Park		Base ball	1866	Special programming
Texas	San Angelo	Fort Concho National Historic Landmark		Base ball	1880	Special programming	Annual game in June
Virginia	Petersburg	Pamplin Historical Park		Base ball	Civil War	Special programming
Virginia	Williamsburg	Colonial Williamsburg	The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation	Trap ball	colonial	Extended programming
Washington	Vancouver	Fort Vancouver National Historic Site	National Park Service	Base ball	1860	Special programming	1st Oregon Volunteer Infantry vs. Vancouver Occidentals will play each other again Sunday, 16 August 2003.
Wisconsin	Green Bay	Heritage Hill State Historical Park *		Base ball		Special programming
Wyoming	Laramie	Wyoming Territorial Park (Frontier Town)		Base ball	1870s	Special programming	Laramie Lawmen

* Member of Midwest Open Air Museums Coordinating Council

Definitions:

House nine– A museum with a group of staff members and/or volunteers that comprise a named base ball club or clubs. A house nine is generally characterized by the museum staff’s direct involvement with the bat and ball game programming, through its development, scheduling, training, costuming, etc.

Regular nine– A group that bases itself at a museum and plays there regularly, but is not considered museum staff and/or volunteers and usually is not part of the museum’s schedule of events.

Invited group/performers– Museums that rely on invited groups to enact the bat and ball program. Invited groups are independent and have no staff involvement in its development or scheduling.

Major program– Typically a museum that has a designated bat and ball program with a house nine(s), a permanent diamond, a regular schedule, a separate web page or pages on the museum website, and hosts a festival or tournament.

Open-air museum– A museum where the entire site constitutes the museum, not just a single building, the buildings are historic or constructed to historic design, and much of the living history programming is enacted out of doors. Villages, farms, trading posts and forts constitute the majority of open air museums and bat and ball games are played at all of them. The MOMCC defines “open-air museum” this way: “Interpreting life as material culture in the context of buildings, objects and open space. A site or facility that interprets history through exhibits, living history interpretation and/or other educational programs.”

Permanent diamond– Museums with an established field for bat and ball games with fixed bases, foul poles, bleaching boards, etc.

Regular schedule– A published schedule of games as part of an established bat and ball game program, usually in combination with a house nine.

School program– Museums that incorporate bat and ball games into children and/or school group programming

Special event– Bat and ball games that are part of an event that reaches beyond the site’s normal programming. The bat and ball game is only a part of the larger event. These events are often in a different era, genre or setting, are advertised widely to the general public and possibly have a special admission fee. A Civil War encampment with a base ball game is an example of a special event for most museums. Some historic sites may offer living history only at special events.

Special programming– Bat and ball games that extend the regular programming at the site but not as part of an established bat and ball game program. The games may appear on the site’s calendar of events, but are infrequent enough to warrant a separate game schedule. An 1870s village with an annual base ball match game of the same period is an example of special programming.

Extended programming– Bat and ball games that occur spontaneously or are integrated in the site’s living history program, and do not appear on a schedule of events.