Civil War-era baseball will return to Columbia on Saturday, Aug. 23, when the Keystone Club of Harrisburg and Monmouth Furnace battle it out in a doubleheader at Janson Park, 650 Cherry St., Columbia. The first game will start at 11 a.m., followed by lunch and a break at 12:15 p.m. The second game will begin at 1 p.m.

The free, family-friendly community event will mark the third summer in a row that the Keystones have played in Columbia. Monmouth Furnace will make the trip from Freehold, N.J.

Vintage base ball (how it was originally spelled) is played by the rules of 1864. The players wear period uniforms and use terms like "tallies" for runs and "hands" for outs. Despite its vintage style, the game is a real game, not a gimmick, with sportsmanship on display at all times, said Mark Stewart, a Columbia resident, sports historian and member of the Keystones since 2022. He noted that the game has been referred to as a "Civil War re-enactment with real bullets."

While the 1864 rules may seem quirky, the game played at Janson Park will still look familiar to even casual baseball fans. There are two major differences.

The 1864 season was the final one in which a batted ball caught after one bounce counted as an out. Young men returning from the Civil War pushed to end this "bound rule," leading to the adoption of the "on the fly" rule in 1865. Another hallmark of the 1864 game is that fielders played barehanded. Gloves didn't become part of baseball until the 1870s.

"Bat and ball games had been played for decades by children, but baseball as an organized adult sport was only about 10 years old in the 1860s," Stewart explained. "When you are in the field playing by these old rules, you can almost feel baseball evolving around you. That is also the experience of the crowds that come to vintage base ball events."

Janson Park has seen its share of baseball history over the last century. It served as the home field for Columbia's powerhouse semipro teams beginning in the 1920s and was also a popular stop for barnstorming Black baseball teams during the heyday of the Negro Leagues.

Mount Bethel Cemetery, across Cherry Street, features the massive burial monument of Samuel D. Young, who masterminded the use of railroads during the Civil War and brought organized baseball to the Susquehanna Valley when he formed the original Keystone Club. The two teams will hold a brief pre-game ceremony at his grave site, beginning at 10 a.m. Stewart will make remarks.

Across Bethel Street from the cemetery stands the childhood home of Jimmy Sheckard, a turn-of-the-century baseball standout who once led his league in home runs, walks, stolen bases and slugging percentage. Many sports historians consider him among the greatest players left out of the Hall of Fame. Several members of the Sheckard family, still living in the Columbia area, took part in a first-pitch ceremony during the 2024 game.

The Keystones recently participated in the annual vintage base ball tournament in Gettysburg, held on the same fields where Union and Confederate troops clashed in the pivotal 1863 battle. The two-day July event drew clubs from across the region. Today, there are more than 300 vintage clubs throughout the United States.

The Columbia event is made possible through support from a number of local organizations, including the Janson Foundation, Lions Club, Foresters of America, Merchants Association of Columbia and the Underground Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Weather permitting, the Columbia Public Library will offer out-of-circulation vintage books, magazines and tourism pamphlets about Gettysburg and the Civil War at the game for a small donation.

Fans are encouraged to bring folding chairs and picnic items to the Keystones-Furnace doubleheader. Between games, kids can take some swings with the old wooden bats and run the bases. A portable restroom will also be on-site. For more information, visit the Facebook page of the Keystone Base Ball Club of Harrisburg.