Walpack - The back lawn of the Walpack Inn, located on Route 615, Walpack Center, will be transformed into an old-fashioned baseball diamond beginning at noon on Saturday, May 6, for an afternoon of vintage baseball as it was played in the 19th century. Guests will become time travelers who’ll witness a sport they recognize, while they do a “double take” at the lack of mitts, the old-fangled pitching styles and “gentlemen’s customs” (i.e., no backtalk to the ump) brought to life by players in baggy flannels. For Sussex County locals, there’s another “time travel” angle. Roxbury Nine catcher Richie “Ribeye” Ellsworth will take the field just a stone’s throw from Kittantiny High School, where he played in the late 70s. Ellsworth now plays “vintage,” with much less protective gear than he wore as a modern catcher, and he has the crooked fingers to prove it. Walpack’s open grassy meadow is ideal for vintage play, much like the countryside playing fields of 100 years ago hardly flat and manicured like today’s ballfields. The Roxbury Nine and the Elizabeth Athletics will provide a day-long baseball regalia in 1891 and 1898 styles. The Nine hail from the rural western Catskills of New York. Game one will transport spectators back to 1891, when baseball was still in its formative years. Game two will feature the fine-de-siecle 1898-style game. By that time telephones were in wide use, cities were getting electricity, and moving pictures were a curiosity. Marconi was conducting experiments that would result in the radio, and the Wright brothers were at work on their heavier-than-air flying machine. President William McKinley of Ohio, the last of five Civil War veterans to inhabit the White House, was serving his first term, signaling the end of the post-war era. In 1898, the United States entered the Spanish American War, and men from the north and the south alike closed ranks and marched in unison, to the marches of John Philip Sousa. It was the year that H.G. Wells authored the “War of the Worlds” and Marie Curie discovered radium. By the turn of the 20th century, baseball had carved its niche in the America consciousness as our national pastime. By now, the pitching style had evolved from the slow underhand into the fast overhand pitch from a distance of 60 feet, six inches but the mound was still in the future. Pitchers were permitted only one step to deliver the ball, which precluded any rock and windup. Foul balls were not yet strikes and, if there were a wild pitch or a ball eluded the catcher and hit the backstop, all base runners could advance a base. The inn will offer standard ballpark fare and visitors may bring along a picnic of their own. Lawn seats and blankets are recommended as no seating will be provided. The Walpack Inn is located on Route 615 in Walpack Center. For information, call 973-948-9849 or log on to walpackinn.com.