This story originally appeared in Mile High Sports Magazine. Read the full digital edition.
“I’ve always been interested in history and baseball.”
Bruce “Old Hoss” Foster’s confession says everything you need to know about the organization he currently runs. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association is both history and baseball. In fact, it was born of Civil War reenactment scenes. Baseball (now one word), as historians know well, was a product of down time during the war. There’s even documentation that Union once played the Confederacy – call it a “timeout.”
While baseball has a long and rich tradition, the CVBBA also has an impressive history. Founded in 1993, the Denver Blue Stockings, the Central City Stars and the Denver Rio Grande Reds have been performing vintage baseball reenactments for 23 years.
“I believe I’ve played over 1,000 games,” says Foster, who began playing at age 38; now he’s 61. He’s a player, an umpire and a commissioner. He’s an actor and a historian and, most importantly, a ballplayer.
Foster’s association puts on exhibition games all over the state and sometimes beyond. Each team plays 10-12 games every summer and games are a reflection of base ball (note the separation of the words) in the 1860s and 1870s. Players wear vintage uniforms, use historically accurate bats and they don’t wear gloves. Rules and dimensions are reflective of the era as well.
“We don’t really need a baseball field,” says Foster. “Just a field is perfectly fine.”
And if you’d like to see the Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association in action, there’s still time this season. The Reds will take on the Stars in Hugo, Colo. on Sept. 24 at 1 p.m.
It’s history and it’s baseball. Or, as Foster says, “It’s sharing a great old game with friends.”