LEXINGTON, Ky. —  Lexington is home to the only Vintage baseball team in the state. The Bluegrass Barons play by the rules created in the late 1800’s. Typically the rules are three strikes and you're out, but those are not the rules for this game.

“We're the Bluegrass Barons and we're from Lexington, Kentucky and we play vintage baseball. We play according to the 1869 rules. That means with the rules and with bare hands. No gloves or anything like that,” Dave Allen, a player on the team, said.

Allen and Thomas Hall are both players on the Lexington Vintage Baseball team. Hall has been a part of the Bluegrass Barons for the last four years, and he said some of the old-school rules are not a walk in the park. 

“Yeah it’s a lot of fun, You know it's hard sometimes catching a ball, ball that's hit hot, it's kind of hard to judge. When to catch it or when to, like, back away from it. Playing the fields a little bit more different, you know, it's, it's harder to get to some of the balls that are hit hard,” Hall said.

Some of those rules include no gloves on the field, not running through first base, no walks, strikes or strikeouts are called unless the batter swings and misses three times. 

Allen said playing by these vintage rules is what makes the sport exciting, no matter if they win or lose.

“Everybody just loves to play baseball, everybody comes out here and we're all competitive. We all want to win but really it's a sportsmanship thing where everybody really respects each other and enjoys playing the game with each other. And really that's what it comes down to; it's almost kind of like a brotherhood, we say,” Allen said.

The founder of the organization, Ben Clouse, also known as Pops, started the program in 2016, after watching a vintage baseball game with his two sons and son-in-law the season before. 

“We picked up some new players, and to get them to learn the rules is pretty tough because you can't run past first base. I mean, catch the ball out of bounds on the fly. You know you're just teaching them the rules but it's pretty special,” Clouse said.

As the founder and captain of the team, Pops said when it comes to his teammates, he hit a homerun.

The Bluegrass Barrons hosted their first home game of the season at Waveland State Historic site in Lexington, against a team from Springfield Illinois.