Mike Moser "I Say" Published Aug. 16, 2002

A jackknife was all
I needed for baseball

Summers past growing up in Minnesota always provided me time to spend with my favorite of all pastimes, baseball. And in the heat of a sunny summer afternoon, I didn't need a bat or ball glove or even a ball ... all I ever needed was an opponent, a flat board or piece of wood and a pocket knife.

I have lived a place or two since those early years but have never seen kids play this game of "pocket knife baseball." And that's a shame. It is a game worthy of being saved and handed down to another generation.

The best features of this game was that it could be played at any time and only needed two players, and you did not have to be athletic to participate. One just had to be savvy with flipping a knife and getting it to stick in the wood.

I learned the game playing Little League Baseball during those simpler times when our community formed a league that was coached during the day by volunteers and all teams wore were jeans and colored T-shirts bearing the name of an American League baseball team.

One year I played for the Yankees, and another for the Twins. Not sure if I wore the colors of another pro baseball team or not.

The game of pocket knife baseball was pretty simple. The knife had to be at least two bladed. The small blade was extended completely open and the longest blade was perpendicular to the handle. To start, the knife had to be balanced with the long blade slightly stuck in the wood and balancing on the handle in an upright position.

The player batting then slid his index finger beneath the handle and flipped the knife upward. The knife had to rotate at least once in order for the bat to count. If the knife landed upright, balancing on the long blade and handle in the same position as the starting position, then the batter had hit a single.

If the knife landed with the small blade in the wood and balancing upright on the long blade, it was a double. If the knife landed upright with only the long blade sticking in the wood, it was a triple. A home run was made when the knife landed upright with the small blade only stuck in the wood.

Landing on the back of the handle upright resulted in a walk, and if the batter missed the wood or the knife fell over, it was recorded as an out.

The game used to take up a lot of time during rain delays and for those who were not on the field during a regular game. And it was popular because in those days, folks carried pocket knives as a useful tool and not as a weapon.

We even had elimination tournaments that would last for days with the winner coping his choice of soda or a used baseball.

I have polled several adults in and around the Chronicle and no one had ever heard of pocket knife baseball. That's a shame. It would be a neat game for fathers to pass down to their children and a fun activity on a dog day afternoon.

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Mike Moser is the editor of the Crossville Chronicle. His column is published periodically on Fridays.