By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

In November 2004, John Ewy, a communication professor at Dodge City Community College and the Jetmore summer recreation director, had open heart surgery.

He came back home to Jetmore and took some time off work to recover.

"I had to have something to do," Ewy said.

Ewy went on the Internet and eventually found a site for Vintage Base Ball, baseball played back in the 1860s and 70s.

He talked with Mark Wellbrock, a Jetmore buisnessman and Hays native, about forming a team. Last summer the squad played its first game at the Hodgeman County Fair.

"We had so many people come up to us that it just brought back memories, dads, uncles and grandpas playing baseball in the early days," Ewy said. "We decided to just keep it up."

Since then, Ewy and Wellbrock's squad, the Hodgeman County 9, has traveled throughout Kansas and stopped by Hays on Sunday.

In front of a crowd of about 100 people, the squad played a game against a collection of Hays citizens at an open field at the Fort Hays Fort. The teams played a regulation nine-inning game, won by Hodgeman County 11-8.

Many of the players, including Wellbrock, dressed in standard garb, including a white jersey and white and blue striped hat. Others wore knickers, while Ewy, as the emcee/umpire, had standard apparel of a long black coat, top hat and tails.

Earlier base ball, started by Alexander Cartwright in 1845, also had many different rules from the current game. Base ball, played by soliders during the Civil War, occurred in large open, unkept fields. Sunday's game featured a hill near shortstop and rocks in left field.

"You played with what you had," Ewy said. "It was all done for enjoyment. You played on fields that no one would consider playing on today."

Rules-wise, the contest was the same as modern day baseball in several aspects, including three strikes, three outs and basepaths 90 feet apart.

But there were many changes.

An out could be made if a fielder caught the ball on one hop either in the field or on a foul tick. Gloves were not used.

A batter could even request where he wanted the pitch thrown and pitchers threw underhand from about 40 feet. There are generally no called strikes or balls. Stealing and sliding was considered unsportsmanlike.

"Everything was a gentlemanly type sport, but they still played very, very hard," Wellbrock said.

The bats were longer and heavier than modern-day bats and the balls were made of leather.

"A player would sometimes chop a limb off a tree and make his own bat," Wellbrock said. "Everything was handmade back then. The baseballs were the prize. Usually the winning team was presented with the baseballs as the trophy."

The vernacular was distinctive, including "cranks" (fans), "Blind Tom" (umpire), "daisy cutter" (line drive or hard grounder), "striker" (batter), "muffin" (poor player). After a run was scored, a player would tally the run by "ringing the bell" by hitting a metal music triangle.

Ewy helped call Sunday's game and explained the rules to fans. Just like the 1860s, he even got the fans involved in the game. In the 19th century, the fans were sometimes asked if a ball was fair or foul, a runner safe or out. Ewy asked the fans on rules and the scores several times in Sunday's contest.

Ewy, who has researched old-time baseball, also offered a history lesson on a famous Ness City/Jetmore game that took place in 1887. Jetmore traveled to Ness City and was put up in the finest hotel. In the middle of the night, the Ness City manager pulled the Jetmore players out of bed and told the team the rooms were needed for the Fort Hays players hired for the game.

Above all, Ewy and the Hodgeman 9 tries to convey the spirit and history of 19th century baseball.

"Early on, the game was really for enjoyment and the sportsmanship," he said. "What we are doing now I think is trying to play the game, trying to recreate the game that was meant to be played. Everything was sportsmanship."