Mankato has a team, as do Gaylord and other towns in southern Minnesota.

St. Peter City Administrator Todd Prafke was one of the rag-tag bunch that made up the St. Peter team. Prafke, who played baseball at Kiester-Walters High School and later at Austin Junior College, said one word explains his interest: “Fun,” he said. “I thought it’d be a fun thing to do.”

Umpire Bob Tholkes, who came down from the Twin Cities for the game, said many people play the vintage version of the game because they’re intrigued by the different rules.

He said people love the one-hop rule, but it takes them forever to get used to the fact that players aren’t allowed to overrun first base.

Sunday’s game, and the teams’ initial meeting last year, certainly aren’t the first time old-school baseball has been played in St. Peter.

Leonard did some checking and found out that games were played in St. Peter in 1894 and 1908, each time to raise money for victims of major city fires.

During the 1894 game — in which future governor John A. Johnson was a participant — they raised money for victims of the Hinkley fire. And in 1908, it was for victims of the Cloquet fire.

And as for the outcome of Sunday’s game, the St. Croix team — as Tholkes announced in town crier-like fashion to the handful of onlookers — prevailed 14 aces to 6 aces.