DEARBORN – The Lah-De-Dahs will go for a threepeat in Greenfield Village’s seventh annual World Tournament of Historic Base Ball, Aug 8 and 9.
The tournament is free with membership or admission to Greenfield Village. Tickets are $22 adults, $21 seniors (ages 62 and up), $16 youth (ages 5-12), and free for children 4 and under. For more information, call (313) 982-6001 or visit thehenryford.org.
Sixteen ball clubs from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will duke it out on the field in a bracket-style tournament that leaves just one team hoisting the Greenfield Village Cup. The tournament claims the Detroit area as its birthplace – in 1867, the city hosted the World’s Base Ball Tournament, with 24 clubs from the United States and Canada competing for the title in a sport that was quickly gaining popularity.
Among this year’s competitors are Greenfield Village’s own Lah-De-Dahs – the current back-to-back championship title holders – and the Nationals, both of which play ball every summer weekend in Greenfield Village.
In addition to taking in the tournament ball games across three fields in Greenfield Village, visitors can interact with players from the 1968 and 1984 World Series Detroit Tigers teams, test out their pitching arms in an 1867 baseball skill test, play the pre-Civil War stick-and-ball game that preceded 1867 baseball on the Village Green and learn the sport’s origins in special evening presentations.
The Dodworth Saxhorn Band, one of America’s premiere 19th century brass bands, will perform in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday. Also, guests can take a ride on the village’s historic steam locomotive, Model Ts or the 1913 Herschell-Spillman Carousel until 9 p.m., and catch the fireworks finale to close out the evening.
The championship game will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday. The awards ceremony follows immediately afterwards – with a $300 cash prize awarded to the champion ball club and a bag of peanuts to the club with the least amount of victories, as were two of the original prizes at the 1867 World’s Tournament.
For more information go to the Web site thehenryford.org.
Photo courtesy of Michelle Andonian Photography
Sixteen teams from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana will compete in the seventh annual World Tournament of Historic Base Ball at Greenfield Village Aug. 8 and 9.