Princeton is, of course, home to Princeton University which had one of the first college base ball clubs back in the late 1850's when the school was more popularly known as the College of New Jersey. My introduction to base ball at Princeton came in a round about way when I was researching Charles Ebbets, long time Brooklyn Dodger owner and builder of the historic ballpark which bore his name. While browsing through the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, I found a February 2, 1913 letter to the editor from Lewis W. Mudge claiming to have introduced base ball both at Bloomfield Institute (a prep school in Bloomfield, New Jersey) in 1857 before taking the game to Princeton in 1858 along with fellow Brooklynites, Henry Sampson and Henry Butler.
Photo by Mark Granieri
Such claims always have to be treated carefully, but I kept the letter for no particular reason other than a general interest in New Jersey base ball history. Some time later when I decided to write an essay about the Nassau Club for Baseball Founders, I learned Mudge had indeed played an important part in the development of base ball at Princeton. Known as the father of base ball at the school, Mudge and his fellow Brooklynites formed the Base Ball Club of the Class of 1862, Nassau Hall in March of 1859. The following year the club opened its membership to all Princeton students and became the Nassau Club. During Mudge's undergraduate years, play was pretty much limited to inter squad matches and games against students from Princeton Seminary (apparently almost always won by the college students), although they did make one road trip to Orange, New Jersey. Supposedly "much persuasion" was required before the faculty gave what had to have been a reluctant blessing to the trip.
Photo by Mark Granieri
While faculty concerns about athletic/academic balance were understandable, there apparently wasn't a problem with this group as seven club members graduated in the top ten places in their class with Mudge leading the way at number two. Like a number of his teammates, Mudge went directly from college to Princeton Seminary to prepare for the ordained Presbyterian ministry. The prospective pastor also continued to play for the Nassau Club as eligibility rules were apparently less stringent in those days.
Photo by Mark Granieri
After ordination, Mudge went on to a 47 year career in the ministry including 20 years at the 2nd Presbyterian Church in Princeton. That tenure ended in 1895 when Mudge, perhaps drawing on his experience as a team player, selflessly gave up his post so two Presbyterian churches could merge with the other pastor leading the merged congregation. Mudge never lost his interest in base ball as evidenced by his 1913 letter ( a year before his death) that also covered his role in antebellum Brooklyn base ball as a member of the Hiawatha Club. One classmate remembered the base ball pioneer as the "only student he ever knew who could work out a mathematical problem, lay plans for winning a base ball game and carry on a conversation at the same time."
Photo by Mark Granieri
Base ball, as Lewis Mudge, no doubt, learned from his playing days is full of uncertainty. That reality was certainly illustrated during the day's play in Princeton. In the first match, played under 1864 rules, the Neshanock couldn't get anything going offensively and managed to score only three times. That wasn't anywhere near enough against a Diamond State team that played a fine all around game. Under 19th century rules, if a base runner makes the last out of the inning, the lead off batter in the following inning is the player after the base runner, as opposed to the modern rule where the lead off batter is the player after the batter when the last out is made (confused yet?). This happened twice in the match so that in a game where there were 14 players in the batting order, it took five innings for every Neshanock to get up to bat.
Photo by Mark Granieri
It didn't take quite as long to go through the lineup in the second game, in fact, after scoring only three times in the entire first game, the Neshanock scored 10 times in the top of the first inning (played under 1873 rules) sending 13 of 14 hitters to bat. A 10 run first inning is a wonderful thing, but it was also only the first inning and Diamond State gradually caught up while an intermittent rain got steadier and steadier. Finally a flash of lightning in the bottom of the fourth sent everyone home for the day. At that point the score was 10-9 Neshanock, but since the full inning wasn't complete, it was not an official match. Thanks to Sam "It aint nothing until I say" Bernstein for clarifying the rule after the match. Next week the Neshanock's (now 12-8) five week New Jersey tour ends with two matches in New Bridge Landing (near Hackensack) against the Hoboken "9." More on the Nassau Club and Lewis Mudge in Baseball Founders which I understand/hope is to be published later this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment