Way back...
Williams and Amherst reenacters take us out to the (very) old ballgame
PITTSFIELD - This baseball rivalry has been going on since before the Civil War.
It may not be Yankees-Red Sox or Dodgers-Giants, but it's strong enough to divide families, at least for one day.
"I'm an Amherst grad and my daughter is graduating from Williams College," says former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette. "I love my daughter, but I'm rooting for Amherst."
College baseball was born here July 1, 1859, when Amherst and Williams battled on a neutral field near the corner of Maplewood Avenue and North Street, where St. Mary's Church now stands.
The original game is well-documented.
Amherst had challenged Williams to a game of Base Ball. Williams in turn challenged Amherst to a game of chess at the same site.
"MUSCLE AND MIND!!" was the headline of an extra edition of the Amherst Express.
There already was animosity between the schools. In 1818, Williams College president Zepheniah Swift Moore resigned and started Amherst Academy, which became Amherst College. Williams claimed he took teachers, students, and even library books with him.
There was plenty of controversy on the day of the game. Amherst was accused of hiring a pro blacksmith to pitch. Both teams provided balls for the other team to hit. Williams offered a makeshift chocolate-brown baseball that Amherst claimed was harder to see than its white baseball.
Amherst won, 73-32, in a game that lasted 25 innings and more than 3 1/2 hours. A total of 100 runs was needed to end a game, ac cording to historians. Amherst also won the chess match the next day.
Back at Amherst, the victory was celebrated by the ringing of chapel bells and an impromptu bonfire.
The game is played at historic Wahconah Park, but the diamond is not used. The bases - actually 4-foot-high wooden sticks - are set up in rectangular fashion, 60 feet apart. Pitchers, called hurlers, stand just 35 feet away from the striker (batter), who stands midway between home and first base. With just 30 feet to first base, every batter gets to first base faster than Jacoby Ellsbury.
Each team gets just one out per inning. Soaking, or hitting, the runner with the ball is allowed. The ball is bigger and softer than a baseball. Players are not allowed to use gloves and there is no such thing as foul territory.
Mike Barbera, who pitched for Williams in the late 1980s, is the hurler. He did not beat Amherst in his college career.
"It's been 18 years since my last start," he says with a smile. "I'm well-rested."
The Amherst hurler is Rich Thompson, a former reliever for the Angels who pitched a total of 12 innings in three major league seasons.
Both hurlers aim to please. Literally.
"The pitcher's job is going to be to put it where the batter wants it," says Barbera, who helped organize the event. "You throw underhand.
"It's a little bit like cricket, everything is in play. It's very difficult to get an out. Very difficult. Everybody gets to first base."
The coaches wear tuxedos and top hats. The umpire - known then as the referee - wears a bowler and waistcoat.
"One team might bat forever," says referee Jim Farry.
Jim Briggs (Williams Class of '60) watched the first reenactment game as a Williams player and coached the second game. He predicts that the key to victory will be taking advantage of the close fences. A foul ball into the stands is a home run.
"In '76, Tony Stahl playing here learned to switch hands and hit with the pitch and he hit two over the stadium," says Briggs.
Farry acknowledged that playing in historic Wahconah Park skewed things.
"You've got to remember, when they played in 1860, there were no stands, it was just a field and that was it," he says. "They probably played on polo fields."
The 45-minute, six-inning game was peppered with foul-ball home runs into the bleachers and smiles bigger than the Berkshires. Without gloves, the fielding was tentative. Runners had trouble remembering where the bases were.
Amherst took an early lead, but Williams rallied for a 19-17 win.
Charlie Thurston, a Williams alum, admits he was swinging for the short fences when he hit his late-inning home run, which sparked a flurry of round-trippers.
"It was like the swine flu, it was contagious," says Thurston, one of a few 50-year-old players.
Kevin Morris, who pitched and played quarterback for Williams in the mid-1980s, agrees.
"The short porch makes it easy," he says. "It's like playing spongeball back when you were growing up."
Amherst coach John Couture said it wasn't just a casual reenactment.
"The guys really wanted to win, that's the nature of the rivalry," he says. "It was fun to gather with alums they haven't seen in a while."
He also couldn't resist a slight dig at Williams for blatantly swinging at the short fences.
"I didn't quite direct our team to do that, but maybe Coach Briggs did," he says. "Our tactic was to play pure baseball and I think we did a good job of that. We just made one more mistake than they did."
Bob Nutting, owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and a Williams alumnus, carried a proclamation from baseball commissioner Bud Selig commemorating the event. Nutting was surprised at the players' intensity.
"These guys are taking it seriously," he says.
Other historians say the birthplace of baseball is debatable.
"But no one disputes that the first intercollegiate game was played here," says Duquette, who helped plan the event.
After the reenactment game, the Williams varsity beat Amherst, 8-5, ending its season and the 43-year managing career of legendary Amherst coach Bill Thurston. The series still favors Amherst, 189-131-2.
In chess, under a white tent behind home plate, Williams also beat Amherst, 3-1.
"I'm going to cry," says Amherst's Ian Nacht, who lost his match to Williams's Kevin He.
Williams third baseman Cameron Susk smiles when asked his feelings about Amherst.
"I've been told to hate them," he says, staring at the other dugout. "So I hate them."
Williams College president Morty Shapiro is more diplomatic.
"It's a rivalry of respect," he says. "We drive each other in a positive way."
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at grossfeld@globe.com.
Correction: Because of a reporting error, the identification of a building located at the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and North Street in Pittsfield was incorrect in a story on the 150th anniversary of the first Williams-Amherst baseball game in Sunday's sports section. A medical facility and an apartment building are located at the intersection. 