Baseball the way it was played in its infancy will be replicated in July on a grassy plot near downtown Mankato.

The 1860s-style matchup will pit the Rochester-based Roosters against the Mankato Baltics in a game replete with vintage uniforms, equipment and, to use that era’s vernacular, courteous comportment.

“Back then, a good play was recognized by players no matter what side they were on. You were expected to act as a gentleman,” says Roosters general manager Mary Jane Schmitt, whose squad will supply everyone with period uniforms (caps, shirts, bow ties), bats, handmade baseballs, even sand-filled canvas bags that once served as bases.

Retired Mankato high school teacher Pat Ryan got the ball rolling on this after seeing Roosters players on a parade float in Rochester last year.

Baseball-buff Ryan learned the Roosters play a full slate of exhibition games each summer under the auspices of the Olmsted County Historical Society.

Ryan got the Blue Earth County Historical Society on board, a couple of organizational meetings were held, and about a dozen players have been lined up so far to play a 2 p.m. game Saturday, July 7, on an expanse of lawn next to Old Main Village.

In addition to player/manager Ryan, Baltics players include local baseball aficionados such as Richard Chiming and Bob Alton, who have both attended baseball fantasy camps (Chiming with the Cleveland Indians, Alton with the Los Angeles Dodgers).

The roster also includes former Mankato West athlete Amanda Kozitza, who will be a male by proxy in accordance with the men-players-only ethos of those times.

And as a nod to the era’s racial divides, African-American Henry Morris will play under an assumed ethnicity — Cuban — which presumably was “close enough” to Caucasian to warrant playing privileges in 19th century America.

The early rules of base ball (it was two words prior to the 1880s) called for a “dead,” or out, to be recorded by catching the ball on one “bound” (bounce) as well as on the fly.

An error was a “muff,” fans were a “throng,” a sharp grounder was a “daisy cutter,” and a proficient player was an “artist.”

“And the pitcher, in some ways, was the least important guy on the field,” says Schmitt.

That’s because 1860s rules dictated not only that pitches be delivered underhand, but the hurler was expected to toss the ball to spots as directed by the batters.

The Mankato team took the name Baltics as a nod to Mankato’s like-named squad of the late 1880s, when rules first allowed overhand pitching, thus spawning baseball’s modern evolution.

The free-admission game July 7 will have ample areas for lawn-chair viewing and picnicking, and concessions will be available.