Mad Dogs, Englishmen and Vintage Base Ball Players

Rudyard Kipling, Noel Coward or someone famously remarked that "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun."  After this past weekend in Gettysburg, vintage base ball players, umpires, score keepers plus their families and friends can be added to the list.  Temperatures at Schroeder's Farm on both days easily topped 90 degrees with no small amount of humidity.  Yet the discomfort was well worth the reward at what is, in my experience, the premier vintage base ball event in the country.  Begun by the Elkton Eclipse Club of Maryland as a six team tournament, the event has been expanded to this year's 18 club festival with teams traveling from as far away as Maine and Tennessee.  Located on Pumping Station Road, Schroeder's Farm is large enough to accommodate five games simultaneously on quirky fields that emulate some of the conditions faced by 19th century players.  The Neshanock's last game on Sunday was played on a field where the slope of the ground meant the outfielders couldn't be seen from home plate - a challenge indeed for the umpire.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Besides hosting vintage base ball, the farm was also a site for the movie "Gettysburg" and the terrain certainly resembles the real thing.  Watching the game with the outfielders out of sight reminded me of the experience of Civil War soldiers who went over such crests not knowing what awaited them on the other side.  In posts about prior Gettysburg Festivals, I wrote about the battle itself, so my intent was to limit this year's article to base ball, but proximity to that "hallowed ground," makes it almost impossible to avoid some reflections.  Not long after our arrival on Friday, Carol and I stopped at the 5th New Jersey monument on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road, not far from the Klingle Farm.  Like the 11th New Jersey whose monument is nearby, the 5th was heavily engaged at Gettysburg on July 2nd when 45% of its 206 officers and men were killed, wounded or missing by day's end.

5th New Jersey Monument 

What motivated the stop was some research that Scott "Snuffy" Hengst of the Neshanock has been doing on the Logan Base Ball Club of Lambertville, New Jersey, the village's first base ball team, formed just after the Civil War.  My own research on Lambertville had covered the antebellum period when cricket was the community's sport of choice.  Looking at box scores for both the cricket and base ball clubs, there was one common name, an A. Angel.  The last name was familiar as on Memorial Day, I had posted some pictures of the Union dead including a Captain Charles Angel, killed in Georgia on July 4, 1864.  It turns out that A. Angel, is Ashbel Angel, the younger brother of Charles and both brothers served with the 5th New Jersey.  I'm not sure if either of them was with the regiment at Gettysburg and, if so, whether they were wounded that day, but I want to do some work on the stories of New Jersey men and women in the Civil War and this may be a good starting point.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Friday was cloudy and humid in Gettysburg and Saturday began with thunder, lightning and a torrential down pour that delayed the the festival's first matches.  One of the major attractions of the Gettysburg Festival is the opportunity to play teams from different parts of the country.  The Neshanock began play on Saturday afternoon with a match against the Columbus Club from Ohio, a team Flemington had played once before, but this time had a very young and proficient lineup.  The Ohioans played almost flawless defense and hit strategically and effectively to earn a convincing 15-0 victory.  Despite the one sided margin, this was one of those games that was actually closer than the score indicated as it was 3-0 after five innings and 6-0 after six before Columbus exploded for 9 runs in the seventh and final inning.

Photo by Mark Granieri

 The match was close for as long as it was because the Neshanock also played good defense making only two muffs over the course of the match.  A Flemington defensive highlight was a trick play pulled by the Neshanock catcher, crafty veteran Mark "Gaslight" Granieri.  With one hand out in the 2nd inning, Columbus had the bases loaded when their striker tipped a foul ball that "Gaslight" easily caught for the second out.  He then intentionally threw the ball into left field prompting all three Columbus base runners to take off.  Unfortunately for the Columbus players, in 19th century base ball runners cannot advance on a foul ball and a quick throw from left field to third base recorded the final out.  It was a double play that could have easily been a triple play as all of the Columbus runners  took off on the apparent bad throw.  The only negative was that base ball historian Richard Hershberger was watching another match as he had offered $20 if he ever saw the Neshanock  pull off the play.  What little offense the Neshanock generated also came from "Gaslight" who had a clear score with two hits in two plate appearances while the other 14 Neshanock strikers managed only three more combined.

Photo by Mark Granieri

After a very brief respite, the Neshanock got back on the field, this time against the Harrisburg Keystone Club, a team Flemington defeated at Cooperstown in 2014 after losing an earlier match to the Pennsylvania club at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.  Flemington continued to play strong defense and scored their first runs of the festival in the very first inning to take a 3-0 lead that grew to 6-2 after four innings and then 11-8 after six.  Unfortunately, as has happened previously this season, the Neshanock bats went silent thereafter scoring only one run in the last three innings.  Harrisburg, which had been kept at bay by the Flemington defense, broke through in the last three innings with strong hitting up and down their lineup to score eight times and win a close, well played match by a 14-12 count.  The Neshanock attack was led by Chris "Sideshow" Nunn and Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner both of whom had clear scores and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst who contributed two hits.  It was, however, not enough and the first day of hot, humid, but enjoyable base ball ended with the Neshanock at 0-2.

"Candlelight at Christ"

For the past 3-4 years, Carol and I have spent the Saturday night of the festival at "Candlelight at Christ Church," at Christ Lutheran Church,  http://www.candlelightatchrist.org/default.html.  Located near the square in Gettysburg, the historic church was a hospital during the battle and now hosts Saturday evening concerts during the summer.  The program which is free, in an air conditioned church (especially helpful this year), combines readings from contemporary letters and diaries as well as Civil War era music.  Listening to the readings and songs like "Tenting Tonight" in such a historic setting makes the sacrifices and suffering of the Civil War generation come alive  One reading described a mother who lost one son at Gettysburg, had another in a Union hospital and a third in a Confederate Prison.  Yet her first hope was that "God will save our country."  Like any historic/tourist site, there is the risk of losing what is really important about what happened at Gettysburg.  Programs like the concert at Christ Lutheran Church help maintain the proper focus.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Unfortunately the temperatures in the air conditioned church and the hotel couldn't be transferred to Schroeder's Farm so the stage was set for an even hotter day of base ball on Sunday.  The Neshanock's day began with a mid morning match against a new participant, one of the two that  made the longest trip - the Hog and Hominy Picked Nine from Nashville, Tennessee. As I understand it, the H&H team is the traveling squad for the Tennessee Vintage Base Ball League, which has teams throughout the state.  Much more information is available at their well designed and well worth examining web site (www.tennesseevintagebaseball.com.)  All told there are 10 different teams in the league that play a regular schedule with the Hog and Hominy team traveling to events like Gettysburg.  I'm guessing that the H&H roster varies from event to event with the players being drawn from the different clubs.  One thing was for sure, the Nashville club had the most eclectic selection of hats I've ever seen on a vintage base ball field.

Photo by Mark Granieri

One thing Flemington did perfectly throughout the festival was win the bat toss (4-0) so once again the opponents went first to the striker's line.  The visitors from Nashville promptly scored once and loaded the bases with one out, but a pitcher to home to first double play not only ended the threat, but H&H's scoring for the match.  In a contest limited to seven innings by time constraints, the Neshanock scored seven times, combining timely hitting with muffless defense to earn their first win of the festival, 7-1.  Once again Flemington's offense was led by Chris "Sideshow" Nunn with his second consecutive clear score.  "Sideshow" was joined in the clear score column by Jack "Doc" Kitson who had three hits in as many at bats.  Danny "Batman" Shaw pitched the full seven innings in stifling conditions while also fielding his position extremely well as did the rest of the Flemington defenders.

Photo by Mark Granieri

With their first match complete, the Neshanock literally went out in the "noon day sun," for their final game of the festival with the Brandywine Club of West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Surprisingly the two clubs had never met before, but the day ended with mutual commitment to change that in 2016.  Flemington got off to a 3-1 lead after three, but the game became a back and forth affair during the middle innings so that at the end of six the Neshanock led 7-6.  From that point, however, Flemington's defense tightened, shutting out the Pennsylvania club while adding two more tallies for a 9-6 win.  Pitching duties were shared by Chris "Low Ball" Lowry and "Batman," who closed out the match.  Offensive production came from some new sources as Joe "Mick" Murray earned a clear score while newcomers David Lowry and Gregg Wiseburn had two hits apiece as did Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner.  Once again the Neshanock defense was strong with only one muff.

Photo by Mark Granieri 

So Gettysburg 2015 ended for the Neshanock with a 2-2 record, the always enjoyable experience of playing some new clubs and the opportunity to spend time with familiar foes.  One of the many pluses of the event is having so many mid Atlantic clubs in the same place so that the weekend becomes something of a vintage base ball reunion.  Flemington's large player turnout (16 each day) is ample testimony of how much we enjoy the weekend.  Many thanks to the Elkton Base Ball Club for organizing this fine event and working so hard to accommodate so many teams and different points of view.  A final high point for me was when one of the younger members of the Neshanock said to me on Sunday that playing base ball in these conditions gave him a better appreciation of what the soldiers went through in 1863.  Another example of how recreating 19th century base ball can help us appreciate and understand history both on and off the field.