When Carl Gibbs finishes his regular work week as a criminal investigator for death penalty cases, the 69-year-old puts on his black suit, grabs his fancy derby hat and heads to his part-time job.
On most summer weekends, Gibbs can be found at Golden Gate Park wearing his “Monopoly man” outfit and calling balls and strikes for a bunch of middle-aged guys playing baseball by a rulebook last used in 1886.
Gibbs isn’t an umpire, but a “sir,” the original title of the uniformed men officiating America’s pastime.
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Players doff their caps when they see him, treat him with the utmost respect and invite him out for beers after — and sometimes during — a long day at the yard.
This is the Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League, and it’s here that Gibbs fell in love with his new hobby and his new friends.
“I had no idea what I was getting into when I was invited 13 years ago,” says Gibbs, who lives in Berkeley but commutes to San Francisco for games. “I got on BART, and I’m riding in on a Sunday morning dressed like it’s 1886.”
When he walked onto the park’s Big Rec Field and saw a bunch of men wearing wool uniforms that looked to be a century old, he knew he was in the right place.
“The great thing about this league is it’s a competitive team sport without the alpha male element,” Gibbs says. “I think of it as 20% Renaissance fair, 80% Little League.”
Umpire Mike “Banjo” Wentz, left, watches as San Jose Dukes pitcher Trapper Maldonado throws against a batter from the Mission Reddingtons during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Trying to find an adult sports league that suits folks who want a competitive environment without the toxicity often created by guys who take it way, way too seriously is what led a large majority of the players to the vintage league, which plays in cities from Dublin to San Jose.
Here, baseball is still baseball, but the funky rules which, oddly enough, date back to a time when the game was played with ruthless vigor, have somehow inspired a culture that promotes sportsmanship and respect over everything else.
Hit a ball nicely into the gap, and the other team’s shortstop is likely to come smack you on the rear and tell you “great hit” when you get to second base.
But most players don’t know each other’s real names; only their nicknames, given to them by their teammates.
There’s “Blaze,” the guy so fast and so good he nearly broke the league, before he moved away during the pandemic. There’s “Rocky,” perhaps the best pitcher to ever play in the league, who threw in the high 80s with a wipeout slider.
“I think he was drafted by the Phillies,” says Dave “Driver” Phillips.
There’s “SwitchBlade” and “Tools,” a pair of players who can play any position and do everything well.
Some nicknames have nothing to do with talent. “Shadow,” for example, shows up late, leaves early, and nobody knows where he goes.
The pitcher is called a “hurler” and sometimes throws between 150 to 200 pitches per game.
This league seems to have solved modern baseball’s problem with slow-moving play: Batters can’t call time. Quick pitches (a pitch thrown directly after receiving the ball back from the catcher) are allowed. There are no balks, and the ball is live, which means the hidden ball trick happens regularly.
“There are at least one or two a game,” says “Driver.”
Three strikes, and you’re out, but there are no foul balls, and tipped balls that are caught by the catcher are outs. There are seven balls to a walk, but if the pitcher plunks a batter, there’s no free base given; it’s just called a ball.
Catcher equipment for the San Jose Dukes during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
And once a ball is in play, look out.
Because the bats are so big and heavy — 35 inches and 40 ounces — and the ball is a smaller, softer ball than those used today, there are rarely home runs. Groundballs and fly balls are anything but routine, as players don’t wield modern-day baseball gloves, but tiny little leather mitts akin to a gardening glove.
Look at any longtime player’s hands and you’ll find mostly crooked fingers.
And the players absolutely love it.
“When I found it, it was a really fresh change, because it was competitive, but everyone was so friendly with each other,” Driver says. “You could tell everyone liked and respected each other. A lot of the adult baseball leagues are guys trying to relive their high school and college days. That competitiveness is overkill. But here, respect is a big thing. Being a gentleman.”
Many of the longtime players have a favorite rule they think sums up the entire league: the “Gentleman’s Call.”
If the “sir” has a difficult decision to make and isn’t certain which way to go, he can request the “Gentleman’s Call,” which transfers the power to the players. Were you out or safe?
Players must be honest or risk having their reputation smeared during gossip hour after the game.
“Being a gentleman means that you don’t let your competitiveness take away the ability to give someone a compliment or say something positive towards them,” says Driver, who captained the Berkeley Clarions to a perfect 17-0 record last season on their way to a double: a regular season league championship and a trophy for winning the end-of-season tournament.
The bat and trophy given to the regular season and tournament champions of the Bay Area Vintage Base Ball league, both won by the undefeated Berkeley Clarions in 2024 (photo by Dave Phillips)
Each team has its own personality and legend.
The San Francisco Pacifics, for example, are known as the “Yankees,” because they’re seen by some as a white-collar group of architects and tech workers. And because until last year, they always won.
“But they won because they’re tight friends, not because they’re great athletes,” Gibbs says. “They would stick together and work on their game. It was more like a family. Now Berkeley is the team to beat. They’re a great team and just a great bunch of guys.”
San Jose Dukes pitcher Trapper Maldonado throws against a batter from the Mission Reddingtons during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Then there are the Oakland Colonels, the “Bad Boys” of the league, a reputation that team captain Matt “Chops” Siee embraces.
“Most of the guys are from Oakland; you kind of need a chip on your shoulder attitude to live in this town,” says Chops, who earned his nickname for a mean set of mutton chops and, he says, his baseball chops. “So the Colonels are a loud, boisterous bunch. We’re a passionate team.”
The Oakland team includes blue-collar guys, teachers, engineers, warehouse workers, some techies and one individual who works at a toy shop. Most have been on the team a decade or longer. They’re best friends on and off the field, Chops says.
“We’re a professional drinking team with a baseball problem,” he says. “You have to be at least a little crazy to play vintage baseball.”
Most teams are made up of two sets of people: Some were fine athletes in their day and might still have something left in the tank, and some who use the term “athlete” loosely.
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“The first couple seasons were tough,” Chops says. “That’s where I adopted the motto, ‘If you’re a body, and you show up, you play.’”
But longtime players say the competition has greatly improved in recent years. A league that started in 2006 with two teams, the San Jose Dukes and South County Jaspers, now features 10 teams from Berkeley to San Jose, and about 15 players per team.
And while anybody with a beating heart and a decent set of hands was given a roster spot in the early days, the league is now robust enough to have its own minor league equivalent, “Fall Ball.” Vintage League hopefuls can come try out in pick-up games from November through January.
The standouts get scooped up by teams in need, with an unspoken rule that the last-place teams get first dibs at any especially talented newcomers.
Most new players found the league by accident. They were just walking through Golden Gate Park, say, or Sunnyvale’s Raynor Park, when they saw something they couldn’t look away from.
There may only be a few dozen people in the stands for the first pitch, but by the later innings, there are often hundreds crowding the bleachers. Beers are flowing. Jokes are cracked. Friends are made.
After all, that’s what the players are really there for: camaraderie.
If You Go
The 2025 Vintage Base Ball League season opens on March 30 with two games in Dublin — the Oakland Colonels playing the Dublin Aces and the Berkeley Clarions vs. the Mission Reddingtons. San Francisco’s Big Rec field will host three games the same day, including the San Jose Dukes vs. the San Francisco Sea Lions, San Francisco Eagles vs. Barbary Coasters and the San Francisco Pelicans vs. San Francisco Pacifics. Spectators are welcome to drop in and watch.
Find the full season schedule, game times, locations and other details at https://www.bavbb.com.
Oakland Colonels third baseman Chris “Goldie” Wood moves to field a ball during their game against the Berkeley Clarions at Memorial Park on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Albany, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Baseballs and bats at a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
A batter for the for the Berkeley Clarions hits against the Oakland Colonels during their Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Memorial Park on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Albany, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Wood bats against a chainlink fence during the San Jose Dukes match against the Mission Reddingtons during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Umpire Mike “Banjo” Wentz, looks over the score board in the fifth inning of a match between the San Jose Dukes and the Mission Reddingtons during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Dukes base runner Nick Simone is tagged out by a Mission Reddingtons infielder as he slides into third base during a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League game at Raynor Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
