Yep, then later we had METAL cleats in Senior League.
Used to ‘sharpen’ the spikes to get a better ‘grip’.
Whatever the reason, whenever sliding into a base FEET FIRST, most people didn’t linger. (Also, in todays game, one can only dream of the mayhem that could be caused by the second baseman or Shortstop STANDING- flat footed on the bag after throwing towards first. KNOWING had he been standing like that ‘back in the day’, the left fielder would be having some ‘company’)
‘No one’ can understand why ‘we’ (a certain generation) thinks rubber cleats are not ‘usable’.
Of course when you learn to ‘play ball’ in a cow pasture using ‘cow pies’ as bases (week old—but center still ‘soft’), those rocky infields that get worked on once a quarter were easy and you learned to run the bases ONLY touching the corner and never never never (well almost never) would one dive into a cow pie head first.
Never did have to use ‘horse apples’ for balls but did get a lot of game out of a ‘used baseball’..Organized didn’t change the ball until is SHOWED lots of wear and when the stitches started to go, electricians tape was used to keep the ball together.
Yes, a black ball so you could ‘find’ it in the snow.
It was a deadly weapon once it got drenched and saturated.. put a medicine ball to shame ..
Like ‘they’ say, childhood is wasted on the young.