Once a year, they emerge from baseball's past

There may be some in the crowd at St. Peter's Field who think it's blasphemy for another human being to trot onto a baseball diamond wearing Ted Williams's No. 9 jersey. But the young men who don these old-fashioned uniforms on a hot summer's night don't.

For them, wearing a replica of the Splendid Splinter's baggy, flannel 1939 uniform is more than just an honor: It's good luck.

''It seems like the guy who wears it always hits the home run," said Josh Klimkiewicz, a first baseman in the Oldtime Baseball Game played each August at St. Peter's. ''So everyone wants to wear it."

Born a dozen years ago, the Oldtime Baseball Game has become an annual event in Cambridge, drawing more than 1,000 spectators to Sherman Street's cozy ballpark for a virtual voyage back in time.

With Glenn Miller playing on the loudspeaker, the crack of wooden bats echoing through the stands, and the smell of peanuts and popcorn in the night air, nostalgia runs high at the charity game, which will be played this Wednesday. But it's the uniforms -- 49 of them scattered across a century of baseball, from the 1901 Baltimore Orioles to the 1936 Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1964 Alaska Goldpanners -- that make it special.

Red pinstripes, orange letters, and yellow stockings glow in fading sunlight as players culled from local colleges and high schools take the field. Squint, and you can make out cities such as ''Roswell" and ''Cincinnati" scrawled across players' chests in stylish scripts.

Uniforms from the minor leagues, from the Negro League, and from Cuba are here. Suffolk University coach Cary McConnell will jog out wearing Mickey Mantle's No. 7; Williams College pitcher Chris Bodnar, Johnny Pesky's No. 6.

''Some of the older ones really mean a lot, particularly for those of us who grew up as baseball fans," said Glenn Koocher, the game's announcer and a former Cambridge School Committee member. ''We have on occasion introduced a player as, 'Dressed as Stan Musial tonight;' or, 'Up comes so and so dressed as Willie Mays.' It certainly brings us back to our childhood."

The game began during the Major League Baseball strike of 1994, when WEEI Sports Radio 850 talk-show host and Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley suggested on air that fans start playing their own games. Eventually plans were hammered out for a charity game for which players would dress in whatever old uniform they had in the closet.

The game gained momentum, and in 1998 Andover firm Technical Personnel Services donated $11,000 to buy 46 replica uniforms. Buckley, whose passion is baseball history, chose an array of home and away uniforms representing every era of the national pastime. Mitchell & Ness, a vintage uniform shop in Philadelphia, provided the shirts, pants, and stockings; the Cooperstown Ball Cap Co. produced the authentic, all-wool hats.

Some of the uniforms reflect the simple times they are from: a large yellow ''O" is the only marking on the 1901 Baltimore uniform. Others have considerably more panache: The 1940 Cienfuegos Elefantes Cuban team uniform, new to the game this year, glitters with gold and green piping down the side.

First-time fans will be surprised to learn that, in the 1930s, the Boston Red Sox wore dreaded Yankees pinstripes on their road uniforms. The home uniforms of the Red Sox, Yankees, and Giants, meanwhile, appear to have changed very little over the decades.

Players are required to learn the histories of their uniforms, though just wearing one provides an education. Thicker and less elastic than the cotton and polyester uniforms of today, the flannel outfits can be brutally hot in August.

''One of them -- the old Baltimore Orioles uniform -- is all black with long sleeves," said Klimkiewicz, who plays for Harvard University. ''It's just incredible that they played day games in them. It didn't bother them because they just loved to play baseball."

The uniforms lie in cold storage all year until David and Sue Leibovitz, owners of Royal White Laundry and Dry Cleaners of Somerville, break them out about a week before the game. Most are assigned according to players' pant and shirt sizes, but there are exceptions. A Tufts University player always wears the 1927 Philadelphia Athletics uniform because, like the Jumbos, the A's mascot was an elephant. A player from the Cassell Club in the Intercity League wears the 1918 Chicago Cubs uniform in memory of the late Tom Cassell, who wore it in the 2002 game. Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis ''Oil Can" Boyd asked to wear the red, white, and blue uniform of the 1940 Ethiopian Clowns, a black barnstorming team, when he made an appearance last year. When Red Sox great Pesky coached in 1999, he wore his own uniform.

For new fans, it's impossible not to pick a favorite, organizers said. For those with longer memories, the uniforms -- and the ages they embody -- are impossible to forget.

''I always liked the Detroit traveling uniforms. And of course the Boston Braves home uniforms," said John Caulfield, 78, a regular at the game.

''Do you know Rindge Field in Cambridge? Those stands on a Sunday would be just about filled for local games when I was growing up. There was no TV. That was the only baseball to be seen. They'd be peddling chocolate-covered ice creams in the stands. But that was a different time, I guess."

The game starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday in St. Peter's Field on Sherman Street in North Cambridge. Proceeds will benefit the Lupus Foundation of New England. Fans are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs, as seating is limited.

Tracking the stars by the numbers

This Wednesday's Oldtime Baseball Game will feature players wearing replica uniforms including:
Boston Red Sox, No. 17. Dick Radatz. Known as ''The Monster," Radatz was a dominant closer for the Sox in the early 1960s and threw out the first pitch for the Oldtime game in 1997. He died March 16 of this year and will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
New York Knights, No. 9. Roy Hobbs. The only fictional team jersey in the game; film buffs will recall Robert Redford donning the uniform in ''The Natural." A lightning bolt patch adorns the shoulder.
1933 San Francisco Seals, No. 10. Joe DiMaggio. Nearly a decade before hitting in 56 consecutive games for the New York Yankees, DiMaggio hit in 61 consecutive games with the minor league Seals.
1946 Boston Red Sox, No. 39. Eddie Pellagrini. The Boston native made his major league debut in 1946, hitting a home run in his first at bat.
1950 Havana Cubans. Champions of the Class B Florida International League; Fidel Castro was reportedly their biggest fan.
1954 Roswell Rockets, No. 43. Joe Bauman. The Rockets played in the Class C Longhorn League. Bauman hit 72 home runs in 1954, which until 2001 was the single-season record for home runs by a professional player.
1918 Chicago Cubs. The last time the Red Sox won a World Series before last year was 1918. This was the team they defeated.
SOURCE: Oldtime Baseball Game program.

PETER DeMARCO