As I was driving down the country roads of southwestern Missouri, I couldn’t help but notice the hand-painted “Good Food” signs that began appearing on fence posts. These road signs sent my imagination into overdrive and visions of “Deliverance” to “Ma and Pa Kettle” started spinning in my head, and the idea of a big greasy burger with loads of fries falling off the sides of the plate, it turned my stomach. I had to stop.
The interior of Greasy Spoon, though furnished with 1950s style tables and chairs, a few metal ads for corn fertilizer hanging on the walls, I couldn’t see the correlation between food and fertilizer, but the place was spotlessly clean and the few customers seated at the tables all offered a friendly smile.
I finished ordering my food, went to the bathroom to wash up, and that’s where I saw the old black and white photos of men playing cork ball game hanging on the walls in the hallway leading to the bathrooms.
“Where were those photos taken?” I asked the bartender.
“Right out there,” he said, nodding toward the back door.
I was in awe of what I saw when I looked through the fogged glass panel of the door and couldn’t wait to get outside for a clear view. Stepping out into the sunlight I saw the predecessor, the grandfather if you will, to today’s net batting cage.
Was a cork ball facility and looked like new. He hadn’t seen one of these facilities since he was very young, many decades ago, and he had completely forgotten that they existed until today.
On that subject, there are probably many of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, so let me explain the cork ball game.
Corkball was played between two opposing teams and the rules and objectives were similar to those of baseball, in terms of counting runs, putouts, and innings. The teams consisted of three players each, the pitcher, catcher, and outfielder.
The game was played inside a large netting area, similar to today’s modern batting cage. There were many different versions of how the game was played, depending on the location, but the best known rules were as follows:
1. The defense consisted of a pitcher, a catcher, and an outfielder. The catcher wore a catcher’s mask and used a regular baseball glove to catch.
2. A pitcher’s rubber was placed a specified distance from home plate where the pitcher followed the same rules as a baseball pitcher.
3. The outfielder played behind the pitcher, remember this is a tunnel stadium. If the outfielder caught a fly ball or a line drive, it was an out, if he fielded a ground ball, it was a base hit, he missed a ground ball, and it was a double, a ball hit overhead, depending on where the ball was located. he hit the back wall, it was a triple or home run.
4. The batter was allowed 1 strike, a swing and miss, or a strike called by the umpire that constituted a strike out. Two balls constituted a walk and a foul ball followed the rules of baseball.
The equipment, the bat and the ball, is what makes the game unique and very special.
1. The bat was @ the same length as a baseball bat, but more like a thick broomstick in size and striking surface. (perhaps the ancestor of the modern fungus bat).
2. The ball resembled a miniature baseball, made of stitched cowhide, but much smaller than a regular baseball.
The speed with which a pitcher could throw a corked ball, the narrow hitting surface of the bat, and the fast pace of the game made it a very popular sport among older men, well beyond their high school playing days. .
Cork ball leagues sprang up everywhere and the most popular playing areas were next to a tavern or bar. The roar of fans seated in the stands, the flash of lights and the clink of beer bottles could be heard late into the night on Friday or Saturday.
The game had been an American icon, played to fierce rivalries and filling the tavern owner’s coffers. I have no idea what led to the demise of sports, perhaps we became couch potatoes, but it held an important place, for a time, in American sports history.