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Community Corner

Enjoying the National Pastime 19th-Century Style

An old-fashioned base ball game gives spectators a chance to learn the first rules of the game.

Mark your calendar for old-fashioned fun, as the stages a Civil War era baseball game. The game will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 19 at the Grayslake Aquatic Center Softball Field at the south end of Central Park.

This type of baseball, or “base ball” as it was then called, hearkens back to the earliest years of the sport, with wildly different rules. This is the National Pastime as Abraham Lincoln and our Civil War soldiers would have known it. Players did not use gloves, a ball caught on the first bounce was considered an out and a ball was considered fair or foul based only on where it first touched the ground.

Grayslake Heritage Center Executive Director Dave Oberg will umpire and emcee, explaining the rules and teaching the audience to cheer and jeer in proper 19th century fashion. Fans are encouraged to dress in 19th-century costume for the museum’s inaugural period fashion show.

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Visit the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum, located at 164 Hawley Street, during Grayslake's Summer Days Saturday, August 18 between noon-and 4 p.m. and make a pennant to bring to Sunday’s game. In addition, collector Bill Rose will display models of 19th and 20th century Major League Baseball stadiums at the museum Saturday.

-Submitted by the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum

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