Sunday, September 25, 2016

A Splendiferous Day at Dey Farm

Flemington catcher and official blog photographer, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri provides pictures and a summary of the Neshanocks' annual visit to Monroe, New Jersey.  


Base Ball at Dey Farm

On Saturday, the Neshanock played 2 contests at Dey Farm (pronounced “Die”) in Monroe Township, NJ in an event sponsored by the Monroe Township Historic Preservation Commission. Their opponent, as has been the case every year for this event, was the Athletic BBC of Philadelphia. The Commission was proud to display its newest structure, The Prospect Plains School (circa 1858), whose bell rang out many times during the base ball games. The contests were ably officiated by Sam “It ain’t nothin’ ‘til I say” Bernstein. 


 Jack “Doc” Kitson

The Neshanock schooled the Athletics in the first contest by a final tally of 23-8. Flemington hurlers, Danny “Batman” Shaw and Bob “Melky” Ritter, took turns during the game which kept the Philadelphia strikers at bay. Chris “Sideshow” Nunn led the way with 3 runs scored. The Athletics could not find a weak spot in the Neshanock squad as 10 other strikers each had 2 runs scored.  Afterwards during the break, the Commission made available water, watermelon slices and its famous basket of cookies to players and fans alike.


Neshanock provide plenty of Timber

Philadelphia looked for revenge in the second contest and kept pace as they only trailed 5-3 after 5 innings. However Flemington scored 4 in the bottom half of the 6th on its way to an 11-3 victory. Again hurling duties were split between “Batman” and “Melky” with the addition of Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw, as he did last weekend at the Navy Yard, taking the mound in the last inning to close out the day. Ken “Tumbles” Mandel provided a team high 3 runs scored with no other Neshanock tallying more than 1 run in the contest.


 Ken “Tumbles” Mandel

At the start of the second contest, the Athletic’s leadoff striker, much to his chagrin, fell victim to one of the Neshanock’s trick plays. As the Philly runner was on second base with intentions to steal third, Flemington’s hurler, “Melky”, flipped the sphere to his shortstop instead of coming home. The shortstop relayed the sphere to the third baseman who easily tagged out the surprised Athletic. Also in each of the contests, the Neshanock recruited an interested fan from the crowd to play in the game. These new players, called “muffins”, contributed to the Neshanock’s wins and someday may become regular 19th Century ballists. The Neshanock have 2 dates remaining on this year’s calendar.


 Prospect Plains School No.2


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