The annual Oldtime Baseball Game, which will be played Monday night, August 25, at St. Peter’s Field in North Cambridge, has gone national!  Unless you have been living under a rock you have watched your friends, and many celebrities, pour a bucket of ice over their heads to help raise money to find a cure for ALS.  This national effort, which has raised almost $12 million since July 29, was started by Peter Frates who has long been associated with the Oldtime Baseball Game.

Peter Frates, age 29, from Beverly, MA, captained the Boston College baseball team in 2007.  Frates was diagnosed with ALS in March 2012, and in August 2012, he made a dramatic appearance in the Oldtime Baseball Game, playing first base for one batter.

This year’s game, which is the 21st edition of the Oldtime Baseball Game, will be a dual fund-raiser for the Pete Frates #3 Fund and the ALS Therapy Development Institute of Cambridge.  In addition, Frates will be honored as the fifth recipient of the Greg Montalbano Award.

Each year the Greg Montalbano Award is given to a former participant in the Oldtime Baseball Game who exemplifies Montalbano’s “spirit, competitiveness and good nature.”  Montalbano was a former Red Sox draft choice that died of cancer in 2009 at age 31.

Fans of Boston baseball history will definitely want to be at St. Peter’s Field in North Cambridge on Monday night, August 25, for the 21st annual Oldtime Baseball Game.  The game, featuring outstanding players from Boston area colleges and universities, begins at 7 p.m., but you will want to get there early to soak up the atmosphere and participate in the silent auction.

The evening takes on a “Field of Dream” quality, beginning with the bucolic setting and extending to the players on the field wearing uniforms from a bygone era.  Stalwart Braves fans will want to see the 1890 Beaneaters and 1952 Boston Braves uniforms, and long-time Red Sox fans will enjoy the 1939 “number 9” replica from Ted Williams’ rookie season.

Former Red Sox infielder and current WEEI talk show host Lou Merloni has promised to play in his seventh Oldtime Baseball Game. Last year game drew a large crowd of enthusiastic fans and helped raise a substantial sum of money for the Scleroderma Foundation of New England.

Over the years more than 25 alumni have gone on to play professional baseball.  Former Northeastern star Carlos Pena was the first alum to reach the majors and current Oakland A’s slugging first baseman Nate Freiman of Wellesley, is the latest.

Admission to the Oldtime Baseball Game is free but Boston baseball history fans will certainly want to give generously to the Pete Frates #3 Fund and the ALS Therapy Development Institute of Cambridge.  If the game is rained out it will be played the following night, August 26 at 7 p.m.

To see the Oldtime Baseball Game’s founder, Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald, take the ice bucket challenge for ALS, just follow this link:

http://oldtimebaseball.com/steve-buckley-responds-als-icebucketchallenge/