Dayton's Clodbusters swing some heavy lumber

Local vintage base ball team one of about 40 in Ohio who play the game under 1860s rules.

Staff photo by Ron Alvey Vintage base ball bats, belonging to the Clodbuster Base Ball Club, are kept in a wooden box as teams are introduced.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Nate “Frenchie” Buckner, playing for the Clodbusters Base Ball Club, hits a triple in the first inning as they play against the Mansfield Independents. The vintage base ball game was played at Carillon Historical Park, in Dayton.

Staff photo by Ron Alvey Nate “Frenchie” Buckner, playing for the Clodbusters Base Ball Club, hits a triple in the first inning as they play against the Mansfield Independents. The vintage base ball game was played at Carillon Historical Park, in Dayton.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Andy Sedlak, Staff Writer Updated 2:41 AM Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Jim Wilson has played for the Clodbusters vintage base ball team for 21 seasons. He has earned his keep not only at second base, but also in the shop.

Wilson makes a portion of the bats for the local team that plays America’s pastime as it was played at the dawn of the Civil War.

In the 1860s, the bats were thicker, heavier and longer. Unable to find vintage bats at sporting good stores, Wilson assumes the duty.

“Start to finish, I’d say it takes about four hours,” he said. “That’s from roughing it down to spraying the finish on it.”

One of the Clodbusters’ bats is 37 inches long and 41 ounces, much heavier than modern bats.

“It’s really fun to make a bat and see the guys use it,” Wilson added. “It’ll last for a few years and then somebody will get a good hit on one and crack it, and you have to make another one.”

The 14 members of the Clodbusters see themselves as members of the Dayton Historical Park family, though the team — which plays home games at Carillon Historical Park — is a separate entity. Most expenses, particularly traveling, come out of the players’ pockets.

There are about 40 vintage base ball teams in Ohio. The Ohio Village Muffins, out of Columbus, are the originals.

The Muffins jump-started the movement by holding clinics and seminars. One of the teams the Muffins helped organize was the Clodbusters, and Wilson has been a Clodbuster since the beginning.

“The first couple years we were doing good to win a single game,” he said. “We finally took our first win from the Ohio Village Muffins. We were very ecstatic about it.”

In the following years, the team has posted a perfect season and is a three-time winner of the World Championship of Vintage Base Ball at the Henry Ford Museum in Greenfield Village, close to Detroit.

“It’s taken the place of family vacations in some sense because every weekend you’re going to a new and exciting place to play baseball,” Wilson said. “What could be better than that?”