Yesterday the Giants wore old uniforms. I'm not sure what prompted this particular costume party. The Yankees and Red Sox did it in April noting the 100th anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park.
I recently wrote something called Radical Baseball: Born In The USA – 75%. May 23rd, 2012
the percentage of MLB players born in the USA has been below 75% since 2000 when it was 77%...
trend … consistently above 92% from 1901 through 1959 to as low as 71% in 2006.
100 years ago none of the MLB players were black and well over 90% were born in the USA. Of the few who were not, most were born in Canada. There were no players from Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Japan.
So what are those players doing on the field in these recreation games?
Other than the costume, there is very little else that is from that time. Even the uniform does not seem to be completely authentic. The players are wearing modern hats with its longer brim and crown; only the colors are old. The uniforms appear to be a modern comfortable fabric, not the heavy flannel of 100 years ago.
There would have two umpires, not four.
The catcher was probably standing, not squatting, much further behind the plate than now.
There would have been no helmets, pads, batting gloves. Even the protective cup would have been metal not plastic and it would have rung like a bell when struck.
Gloves and mitts would have been much smaller and far less useful.
Players would have worn old metal spikes, not rubberized shoes.
Players would not have used contact lenses nor Oakley sun glasses.
Bats would have been heavier with thicker handles. Players would have gripped such bats a few inches from the knob to improve control of the weapon.
The ball would be used until it was worn out. It would have become dirty and softer. Pitchers were allowed to put saliva on the ball in order to throw a spitball.
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