We’re heading to the real “old ball game” this weekend with plans to watch the Historic World Tournament of Baseball at Greenfield Village on Saturday and Sunday. Even though we’ve been long-time members of The Henry Ford, I’m embarrassed to say, we’ve never once caught a baseball game. The kids have had fun on the Village Green swinging the bat and getting pointers from a player or two, but we’ve never actually seen a game of the two Village teams, the Lah-De-Dahs and the Nationals. Now that our nine-year-old son is all about baseball, we figured there’s no better way to get acclimated to historic baseball than by watching the tournament of tournaments. And, since we know the game is very different from baseball today, we’ve been boning up on some of the rules and terms used in preparation to our visit.

The games will be played on fields at Walnut Grove and Hawthorne Glade beginning on Saturday at 9:30 and ending with championship game on Sunday at 2:30 at Walnut Grove. There will also be some player skill testing and competitions, which should add to the fun. Another level of coolness to the tournament is that 1984 World Series Champion Detroit Tiger Dave Bergman will give the play-by-play for the championship game. I bet he’s boning up on the rules, too.

Vintage teams from around the country will compete in the series until the top two teams face off for the big $300 prize—the very same amount awarded during the first World Tournament of Baseball in 1867 in Detroit. The team with the most losses is presented with a sack of peanuts.