Vintage Base Ball Day

Date & Time
Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Location Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village 401 Meadowcroft Road
Avella PA, 15312
Ticketing Included with Meadowcroft admission
Category

Experience 19th century style “base ball” at Meadowcroft.

It’s time to PLAY BALL, 19th-century style! Come watch base ball (originally two words) 19th-century style with the Somerset Frosty Sons of Thunder and the Addison Mountain Stars who will use 1860s rules. The games will begin at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy America’s favorite pastime! 

The teams will use the rule book adopted on March 14, 1860, by the National Association of Base-Ball Players that included many distinct differences from the pastime we know and love today:

  • Gloves were not commonly used.
  • Players were referred to as “ballists.”
  • A batter was called a “striker.”
  • A fly ball caught after one bounce resulted in the batter, or striker, being called out. 

Throughout the day, step even further back in time and enjoy family-friendly activities offered at Meadowcroft. Please note that the Frontier area will be closed due to the game. 

Explore an Indian wigwam in a recreated 16th-century Monongahela Indian Village, watch a blacksmith forge red-hot iron in the 19th-century Meadowcroft Village, and tour the Rockshelter, a National Historic Landmark and the oldest site of human habitation in North America. 

Admission

Vintage Base Ball Day is included with regular admission.