Timothy P. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com joins us to explain the apparatus and methods used to apply white lines on football fields in the 19th-century game.

Tim's original tidbit on the subject was: Factoid Feast VII

Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website and the Sports Jersey Dispatch to see even more Positive football news! Sign up to get daily football history headlines in your email inbox @ Email-subscriber

Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.

Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

You know, we're spoiled.

When we go to a football game or watch one on tv, there's lines on the field and they are preset because most of the time the fields are artificial brass fields. Somebody has to take the task of doing and lining the field, but we have modern equipment to do that.

How did they do it in the early days of football? Well, Timothy B. Brown of football archaeology joins us to tell us how they lined the field back in the day.

And he's coming up in just a moment, part of his factoids feast. This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of american football events throughout history.

Your host, Darin Hayes, is podcasting from America's north shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time. Hello, my football friends. This is Darren Hayes of pigskin dispatch.com dot.

Welcome once again to the Pigpen, your portal to positive football history. And welcome to another edition where we get to talk to our friend Timothy P. Brown of footballarchaeology.com. tim, welcome back to the pigpen.

Hey, Darin. Good to chat. And I think we've got a couple of things to talk about this evening.

I think we do. You have a very interesting series that you have that comes up every now and again in your tidbits, and you call it the factoid feast.

And that really is an interesting concept. Maybe you could explain a little bit about what your factoid feasts are before we get into some of the stories.

Yeah, so, you know, I mean, just the nature of, you know, when I'm researching whatever the topic of the day is, oftentimes I stumble across some other article, some other, or, you know, whether it's the adjoining article or within the article that I'm reading, something comes up that's like, oh, that's kind of interesting. And so, you know, I just, I have a way of saving all that kind of information.

It's just little things that I store, some of which then later on turn into a tidbit or an article, but others are just like, it's just this one little thing, you know, that it's worth letting people know that this happened, but it doesn't, you know, it's not, it doesn't warrant a full story. So, so I just kind of combine three of those into these factoid beasts. It's just dinky little things that came up.

I thought they were kind of interesting, and so I thought I'd share them.

Every little pebble in the stream is important. So if we gather something out or entertain for a few minutes. That's, that's a great thing. And I personally, I love the factoid feasts.

I think they're, they're entertaining. You know, they make you think a little bit at times. And you get three stories in one article. So I like that.

So let's, let's talk about your factoid feast number seven, where you had some really interesting posts on there. And the first one you had titled when Football went online, which makes us sort of think of something modern.

But, yeah, explain the other way. The other way around.

So, you know, one of the things I kind of get a kick out of is I've done a couple different stories about things like, you know, it's just kind of, how did they prepare the field? You know, football fields back in the day, right? I mean, how did they mow the grass, right? I mean, really simple things, right?

Picturing a lot of billy goats or something.

Well, no, yeah, there were, there were sheep, you know, grazing on a lot of football fields back in the day. But, you know, so it's things like, you know, how did they level the field?

Did they, you know, it's just all the things, just like what constituted proper care and, you know, well manicured fields back in the day.

So, you know, one of the things, and this is one I wasn't looking for, but, you know, I was, I was doing some other research and came across this image from a catalog.

And, folks, I got to stop you right now.

You've got to pull up, the link is in the show notes of whether you're watching a video or the podcast, and pull Tim's article up because this one is really eye catching and kind of. Kind of astounding. So please go on.

Yeah, so, so it's like.

So I came across this image from a, you know, Spaulding catalog showing a tool that dispensed white, you know, chalk, probably lime in some cases back in the day.

But basically, it kind of looked like a wheelbarrow, but instead of the, the barrow, you know, it had a big barrel with a spigot, you know, like a tap, you know, stuck into it. And then if you turn the tap on, then it spilled onto a wheel, and then you push this thing along.

And so by, you know, metering how much liquid, you know, this limes or chalk solution spilled onto the wheel, that would mark, you know, that marked the field. So it's just this goofy looking thing, but, you know, it's a wooden barrel, you know, so some Cooper made the thing.

And, you know, it's just like, it's just one of those things. Like, I don't know, you just. You're amazed, you know, especially now with artificial turf where it's all painted in.

But back in the day, that's what they had to use.

And, you know, in some other articles I've shown, like, images of, like, they would only mark it every ten yards just because either they ran out of chalk or they just didn't think it necessary to do it every five yards.

Or there's other cases where, like, the chalk marks, I mean, the guy who was dispensing it either didn't have a string, you know, helping him align it, or was drunk. It was one of the two, because the lines are kind of all over the place.

But think about how hard that is. I mean, if those of us have dealt with a heavy wheelbarrow load and you're.

You're taking it across your yard, taking your landscaping, whatever, your mulch or whatever, trying to go in a straight line with that on one wheel, and your two hands and your body, as you're stepping, your body's going crooked. It's going all over place, this thing.

And, folks, if you're driving and can't look at the image, I will try to take it even more detail on what Tim said. It's got the spigot. And if this is, it's a hand drawn sketch.

Because of the time, the photographs were probably used for this kind of advertising very often. But if it's anatomically correct, the spigot is. Looks like it's about. Probably about a quarter of the way up the end of the barrel. So, you know, the.

The lime or chalk or whatever's in there coming out, you're going to have quite a bit left in the barrel when you stops coming up the spigot. But it's got under the spigot is a sort of trough coming out, and then it spills into this. Looks like.

Must be a grooved wheel, I'm assuming, like you said, and that. So it pours off there and goes onto the line. So it's amazing. I can't get around. I want one hang on my wall or have my wife yell at me.

Cause it's sitting out in the yard or something. Cause it's really cool.

Yeah. Yeah. You could put geraniums in that thing. It'll look. It'll look, you know, fabulous.

Yeah, I put something football artifact, and that's really neat. I'm sure probably none of them exist anymore. And this cost a whole $6 back in the day. What year was this?

From this ad that was, you know, somewhere.

1883. I see it here. Wright and Dudson.

Okay, so it actually, at the time, it was, you know, advertised as being for, like, tennis courts and things like that. But, you know, they had to have used the same thing for football. Right.

That's an example of a factoid, right?

Right.

It's a little thing there. There it is. But it's still pretty darn interesting.

Yeah, it definitely is. So, Tim, you have more than just the factoid feasts in your tidbits. You have. You talk just about anything in football history.

Maybe you could share with folks how they can enjoy your tidbits.

Yeah, just go out to footballarchaeology.com, subscribe, and if you do that, then you'll get an email. Every, every time I release a new story, you'll get an email with the story embedded in that email. So that's the best way to do it.

And then alternatively, you can follow me on threads on Twitter or the. Or the Substack app. Substack app actually has some.

Has some pretty cool features now, so, you know, that's worth taking a look at if, you know, if you read my stuff and. Or other substack.

Yeah, threads most definitely. They communicate very well. And sometimes you get an email with everybody you follow on Substack.

Or a lot of times, you know, just what Tim's got coming out, too. So it's a great, great device to get information. So, Tim, we really thank you for.

For joining us and sharing this football history with us, and we'll love to talk to you again next week.

Yeah, look forward to it.

Thank you. Peeking up at the clock the time's running down we're gonna go into victory formation take a knee and let this baby run out thanks for joining us.

We'll see you back tomorrow.

For the next podcast, we invite you to check out our website, Pigskin display, not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of a game, as well as our own football comic strip cleat marks comics.

Pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and don't forget the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history. Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Geneva Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.

This podcast is part of Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport. You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.