BOSTON – Three longtime members of the Suffolk University Athletic Department will be honored at the 29th annual Abbot Financial management Oldtime Baseball Game Thursday, Aug. 24 at St. Peter's Field in Cambridge. The pregame program begins at 7 p.m.

Emeritus Director of Athletics James "Coach" Nelson, Director of Athletics Cary McConnell and former Athletic Trainer Jeff Stone will share in receiving the Bill Novelline Award, presented to individuals who have gone above and beyond in supporting Cambridge's annual summertime celebration of baseball.  

The Novelline Award is presented in memory of Bill Novelline, founder of Abbot Financial Management, whose vision transformed the Oldtime Baseball Game into an annual event. Novelline, who was raised in Medford and lived in Andover for many years, was 82 when he died last December.  

Nelson, a Cambridge native, was an organizer during the early years of the Oldtime Baseball Game and since then has come through with everything from players to an annual donation of a dozen baseballs.  

McConnell, the former baseball coach of the Mutts at Suffolk, who succeeded Nelson as Director of Athletics, was a coach in the Oldtime Baseball Game from 1996 to 2012.  

Stone, meanwhile, has served as an athletic trainer for the Oldtime Baseball Game since 2004.  

Former Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn, who is serving as an honorary coach at the 2023 edition of the Oldtime Baseball Game, will join Suffolk's staff in the pregame celebration. Lynn, an American League MVP and Rookie of the Year for the pennant-winning 1975 Red Sox, joins an ever-growing list of former Sox players who have participated in the Oldtime Baseball Game.  

The 2023 Oldtime Baseball Game will be played as a fundraiser for The Boston Home, a non-profit residence and national resource for adults with advanced neurological disorders, primarily multiple sclerosis.  

With its collection of throwback uniforms, coupled with period music and local players, the Oldtime Baseball Game, founded in 1994, has grown to become one of the Greater Boston's most beloved amateur sporting events. The throwback uniforms, used just once a year, include such long-ago teams as the St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Athletics.  

The Oldtime Baseball Game also has several uniforms representing the Negro Baseball Leagues, including the Homestead Grays, Kansas City Monarchs, Cleveland Buckeyes, Baltimore Elite Giants, Detroit Stars and Boston Royal Giants. Former minor-league teams are represented by the Oakland Oaks, San Francisco Seals, Wichita Falls Spudders and Hollywood Stars.  

The game also has a uniform representing a team that never actually existed: The New York Knights from the film classic "The Natural."  

A year ago, Ram Nation was well-represented at the Oldtime Baseball Game as George Breslin, Garret Roberts and Suffolk alum Adam Pellerin, current NESN anchor competed in the contest.  

Admission to the Oldtime Baseball Game is free. Fans are asked to bring a beach blanket or chair and camp out along the foul lines, as it is the crowd that makes the game so electric. Fans can look forward to enjoying a Wahlbruger at the game as Dorchester native Paul Wahlberg and his team of A&E TV series fame provide concessions. 

In the event of rain, the game will be played Friday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.