CAMBRIDGE — The 31st annual Oldtime Baseball Game, born during the MLB strike season in 1994, will be played on Wednesday (tonight) at St. Peter’s Field in Cambridge.
There will be a few important guests and players, including those with local ties.
Former Red Sox utility sensation Brock Holt will be the top guest celebrity playing in the game, which consists of Div. 1, 2 and 3, as well as community college baseball players from all over the Greater Boston area.
Another big local tie to the game is the sponsor, Abbott Financial, which is based in North Andover, owned by Andrew Novelline.
In fact, the sponsorship basically started in Year 2 of the game in 1995, when Andrew’s dad, Bill Novelline, who passed away in December of 2022, convinced then-Boston Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley to continue the event.
Buckley originally balked, before agreeing to try it for another year. Now in its 31st year, the Novellines have headlined the sponsorship and fundraising for charities.
The 2025 beneficiary is The Boston Home, a non-profit residence and national resource for adults with advanced neurological disorders, primarily multiple sclerosis (MS).
It coincides with another local connection, Gus Quattlebaum, who is throwing out the first pitch. The Andover native was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 2021.
“This is a huge honor for me because what The Boston Home does is incredible,” said Quattlebaum, who resides with his wife Holly, and three daughters in Lexington.
Quattlebaum and Holt represent a rich history of baseball players and management that have participated in the annual August event.
The players are decked out in colorful throwback uniforms that represent virtually every era in baseball history, from the 1890 Boston Beaneaters to the 1969 Seattle Pilots.
Holt, who played for the Red Sox from 2013 to 2019, will be wearing the uniform of the 1920’s Chicago American Giants of the old Negro Leagues. The late Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield wore this same uniform when he pitched in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 2018.
Two of the Red Sox greatest pitchers, Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens, have also pitched in the event.
The game includes two Red Sox uniforms that were worn in the big leagues by the late Jim Corsi, who played in the Oldtime Baseball Game in 2002 and 2003. For the fourth straight year Corsi’s son, Joey, will play in the Oldtime Baseball Game wearing one of his father’s uniforms.
Admission to the Oldtime Baseball Game is free.
Fans are asked to bring a beach blanket or chair and camp out along the foul lines, as it is the crowd that makes the game so electric. Fans can look forward to enjoying a Wahlburger at the game as Dorchester native Paul Wahlberg and his team of A&E TV series fame provide concessions.