"Rochester Baseball: From Mumford's Meadow to Frontier Field" is on display now at the Central Library downtown.
Scott Pitoniak is an author, former newspaper columnist and historian.
He's also a founding member of the Rochester Baseball Historical Society.
He says they wanted to show how long and rich the history of baseball in Rochester is.
Pitoniak says they know it was being played here as far back as at least 1825, when political boss and publisher Thurlow Weed and his friends would play ball by the banks of the Genesee River near High Falls. He says it was an elite sport back then.
Pitoniak says the sport was played in Rochester at least 14 years prior to the myth that Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839. He says it probably even precedes that.
Pitoniak says the history of baseball has been inextricably intertwined with the city of Rochester.
Click here to watch a video of Pitoniak describing Rochester's very first baseball field.
Scale models of several baseball stadiums, including Frontier Field, are also on display at the library.
The display runs concurrently with the national traveling exhibit "Pride and Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience." That exhibition opens Sunday.
History of Baseball in Rochester on Display
