Celebrating July 4 with LI ballgame, 1880s style

Adorned in what he called his "special Fourth of July uniform," Jim Ressecue stood on first base and prepared to make a play - not as a Yankee or a Met, but as a Mineola Washington.

The 1880s-style ballgame at Old Bethpage Village Restoration was one of the events celebrating Independence Day 2010 by recreating earlier holidays, in particular July 4, 1865, just after the close of the Civil War.

The all-star "base ball" game between the Brooklyn Excelsiors and Washingtons followed 1880s rules and used period uniforms and equipment. Players lacked one of today's baseball essentials: gloves.

"It's pretty easy to jam your fingers," said Brian Grant, 20, of Seaford. "I've been playing for a couple of years and you adjust to the game."

"The games are great," said Ressecue, 46, of Levittown.

"There are many differences from the game we are playing and the game that you watch today," said Tom Fesolowish of Farmingdale, who umpired in a suit and top hat. "Catching the ball on a bounce is an out, for example."

John Horenstein, 46, of Plainview, watched with his son Jacob, 6. "This is a great way to spend the Fourth of July," he said.
After the game, village staff and volunteers re-enacted a ceremony to mark the return to Long Island of Union soldiers after the Civil War and the nation's 89th anniversary. A parade of re-enactors marched to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" followed by a crowd waving American flags.

"The ceremony puts you in the period of the Civil War," said Jamie Feuerbach, 35, of Mount Kisco. "It's a good way to spend the Fourth."