Two 1860s-era baseball teams -- the Flemington Neshanock Base Ball Club and the Mutual Base Ball Club of New York -- will hit the field, sans gloves, at 4 p.m.

The game is sponsored by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland, which will host a picnic Saturday featuring a vintage baseball demonstration.

Sunday's game, a re-enactment of Civil War-era "base ball" (how the word was spelled at the time), will be played before the Lancaster Barnstormers take on the Camden Riversharks at 6:35 p.m.

A Barnstormers ticket doubles as admission to the vintage game. Fans also can see a fireworks display after the Barnstormers game.

The original Flemington Neshanock, established in 1866, were comprised of the town's most prominent people. The team was re-established in 2001 by Brad "Brooklyn" Shaw, a software manager for JP Morgan Chase.

The New York Mutuals played in two different baseball leagues from 1857 to 1876. The current Mutuals were established in 1999 and are composed of experienced vintage base ball players, according to the team's Web site.

The players, all volunteers, wear old-style uniforms consisting of either long trousers and shield shirts or lace shirts with knickers. Vintage base ball pitchers often throw underhand or side-armed because overhand pitching wasn't permitted until 1885.

Beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, the Buchanan Foundation will host an antebellum picnic on the grounds of Wheatland, President Buchanan's Lancaster estate.

Players from both teams will be on hand to show fans how 1860s "base ball" was played, and portions of the Marietta Avenue estate will be open to visitors.

Tickets for the picnic are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 to 12.

Patrick Clarke, executive director of the Buchanan Foundation, said the vintage game is a great way to connect America's pastime to the history of its 15th president, who served from 1857 to 1861.

Events of this nature bring more attention to Wheatland, he said.

"We set a goal to reconnect to the community in a variety of ways to make our name better known," Clarke said. "This is one of the fun and educational ways we can do that."

Clarke, the former executive director of Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Va., said a "disconnect" often develops between a community and its historic museums.

He said the foundation is "constantly figuring out ways to make (Wheatland) relevant" to local residents and their children.

During Sunday's games, the foundation will hold a raffle for a boys' Civil War birthday party and a girls' Victorian Tea birthday party at Wheatland.

Free raffle tickets will be available at the organization's promotional table until the seventh inning of the Barnstormers game, Clarke said.

For more on the Flemington Neshanock, visit www.neshanock.org. For more information on the New York Mutuals, see www.nymutuals.com.

Sunday's game will be played before the Lancaster Barnstormers take on the Camden Riversharks at 6:35 p.m. blog comments powered by Disqus