News File Photo A scorekeeper adjusts the chalk-written score at Cuyler Park in Harrisville during a baseball game honoring baseball great Kiki Cuyler in 2022.

HARRISVILLE — Today, Alcona County will host its second annual Cuyler Park Old Timers baseball game, which will see players age 50 and older from all over Alcona County compete against each in an old school game of classic baseball.

“We call it classic baseball meaning fast pitches, hardball, wooden bats, and slides,” Ty Daimon II, the organizer of the event, said. “These guys are going home with ice packs for the next week when they’re done with this game.”

The event is at 1 p.m. in Harrisville at Cuyler Park found on the north end of Lake Street. Admission to the game is free, and concessions and tickets for a 50/50 raffle are available for purchase.

According to Daimon, the Cuyler Park Old Timers baseball game was started last year as a way to both celebrate the history of baseball in Northeast Michigan and celebrate the county’s most famous baseball player, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer KiKi Cuyler.

Hazen Shirley “KiKi” Cuyler was born in 1898 in Harrisville and died in Ann Arbor in 1950.

During his 18-year Major League career, Cuyler played for four teams and won a World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925.

He played in three other World Series and finished with a career batting average of .321, 2,299 hits, 128 home runs and 1,065 runs batted in. He made an All-Star appearance in 1934 and also had 328 career stolen bases.

“The game is a celebration of Northeast Michigan’s rich tradition of country baseball going back 100 years, and Harrisville’s most famous native son KiKi Cuyler who is in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. So the game celebrates his memory,” Daimon said.

During last year’s game, players represented either the Pirates or the Chicago Cubs and the Cubs won the game 9-4.

All proceeds from the event go to the Alcona Backpack Project, a local program that started in 2012 that aims to provide supplemental food for families in need throughout the school year. Last year, the baseball game raised $600 for the program. This year, organizers hope to raise $1,000.