GUILDERLAND — At the Guilderland Historical Society’s Sept. 17 meeting, Tim Wiles will take on the persona of a 19th-Century ball player, dressed in a baseball uniform of the era,  reciting the 1888 comic poem  “Casey At The Bat.”

Ernest Thayer’s ballad, which immediately became a vaudeville feature recited thousands of times over the years, has been used or referred to in musicals, drama, an opera, TV shows, film, books, comics, and recordings. Casey even appeared on a 1996 United States postage stamp, part of a series honoring American folk heroes. The poem is not only part of baseball history, but American popular culture as well.

Mr. Wiles, currently the director of Guilderland Public Library, was for many years the director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. His extensive knowledge of baseball and its history and his passion for the game will be obvious in his presentation.

Coming from the Midwest where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Iowa, Mr. Wiles is a Cubs fan.

Anyone with an interest in baseball, especially this time of year with playoffs and the World Series approaching, or with an interest in popular culture is invited to join members of the Historical Society on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mynderse-Frederick House at 451 Route 146 in Guilderland Center to hear Mr. Wiles’s presentation.  Refreshments and a social hour will follow the program. For information, call 861-8582.