Play ball, 1864-style!

Photos: Rich Wieland and his biggest fan (wife Mary Ann); a top-hatted umpire oversees a game at Allaire.

"Sporting gentlemen," members of "the gentle sex”are

invited to join the club, which plays 1864-style baseball

Central Jersey native and retired real estate broker Rich Wieland combines his love for softball and history by playing baseball as it was played 150 years ago.

His team, the Monmouth Furnace "Base Ball" Club, is looking for more members for its 2017 season. It plays its home games in the Historic Village at Allaire, and it follows official 1864 rules -- with wood bats and without fielding gloves!

An information meeting for interested ballplayers will be held at noon on Sunday (Jan. 22) at Café Anna Bella, 1800 Route 34, Wall Township. Current team members range from teenagers to senior citizens. Wieland is in the latter category and lives in Ocean County, where he plays in two softball leagues.

“We have good old-fashioned fun,” he said. “We re-enact the way 'base ball' (two separate words back then) was conducted by the sporting gentlemen of the 19th century. Now we welcome members of the gentle sex on our team. Our uniforms include long-sleeved shirts and cravats (ties), and the pitches are underhand -- but it's a fast-paced game.”

Vintage squads come from other states to play Monmouth Furnace, and they
consider the Historic Village at Allaire hallowed ground. It was the
spring training site for the 1898 Brooklyn major league squad which
later became the Dodgers.

The village, in Wall Township's Allaire State Park, was an iron-making “company town” in the 1800s. Today it is a living history museum with guides in period clothing who take visitors through restored buildings. Wieland's wife Mary Ann is a docent and an active craftsperson in Allaire's auxiliary.

Additional information about Sunday's Monmouth Furnace meeting is available from Russ McIver at 732-859-7643 or furnace@monmouth.com.