Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith will lead today’s "Discovering Our American Spirit: Finding Common Ground in the National Pastime," a National Baseball Hall of Fame electronic field trip expected to draw more than 15 million students.

The live, interactive broadcast airs nationwide at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. today. Viewers can register to receive the Internet broadcast at www.bsu.edu/eft, or they can check local cable and PBS listings to see if the event is available via television.

Viewers can call in questions or submit them online throughout the broadcast.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]The event, developed by Ball State University’s Teachers College in conjunction with the Hall of Fame, will turn the Hall and its exhibits into a classroom for students of baseball history.

Smith will lead his student co-hosts in an 1860s "base ball" game, which will bring together students and players from across the country to take the field with the New York Mutuals from Old Bethpage Village.

Each base will represent a milestone in crafting the collective American Spirit, said Smith, who serves as the Hall of Fame’s education ambassador.

"Using baseball as the backdrop, we’re going to give students a history lesson about the late 1800s and how baseball reflected, embraced and in some ways led changes in communication, transportation and society at large," he said.

"Discovering Our American Spirit" marks the fourth electronic field trip for the Hall. In 2002, the Museum offered an EFT from Cooperstown, focusing on multiculturalism and Black History Month.

In 2003, a field trip on Women’s History Month originated from Wrigley Field.

Last spring, the Hall played host to "Fastballs, Physics and Flips," from Jupiter, Fla., spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins.