Sunday, June 30, 2019

Remembering the "Babe Ruth" of South Jersey


On Saturday, the Neshanock's June in Jersey tour made its final stop in Delanco Township where Flemington was privileged for the second time to take part in the south Jersey community's Babe Ruth Day event.  The Neshanock are grateful to our host Peter Fritz and all the participants who made us feel welcome and helped us cope with the extreme heat.  One interesting baseball history note was provided by Civil War re-enactors from the 23rd New Jersey, a regiment that came primarily from Burlington County.  In addition to presenting the colors, a member of the regiment (I believe Ron Naylor, Jr.) distributed a handout with excerpts from the Civil War Diary of Josiah Crispin that detail how the members of the regiment learned about baseball during their Civil War service.  While the war's role in baseball expansion has probably been exaggerated, I believe that in New Jersey it helped the game reach new areas of the state.  To date, no evidence has been found of baseball clubs in south Jersey before the war and these excerpts illustrated how watching other soldiers play the game helped baseball spread throughout the state. This new source, at least to me, probably merits further exploration.


Game action 


Chris "Low Ball" Lowry (left) and Rene "Mango" Marrero examine bat smashed by Danny "Lefty"Gallagher while Joe "Mick" Murray looks on

Flemington was joined in Delanco by the Monmouth Furnace Club, still, a relatively new team formed and led by Russ McIver.  Starting a new club is never easy and vintage baseball in our state needs the Furnace so we hope they stay with it no matter the rough spots along the way.  In the first game, the Monmouth team played a solid game in the field catching a number of unsuspecting Neshanock base runners off guard, but Flemington generated enough offense to tally 11 times.  Dan "Lefty" Gallagher, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri and Jeff "Duke" Schneider" led the attack with two hits apiece.  In the field, the Neshanock used a strong defensive effort behind the pitching of Dave "Illinois" Harris and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst to keep Monmouth off the scoreboard.  Two strong throws by "Snuffy" and Rene "Mango" Marerro highlighted the Neshanock defensive effort.


Photo by Doreen Harris

After a 30 minute break to re-hydrate, the second game began with the Neshanock at the striker's line for what turned out to be one of those innings where everything goes right for one team and wrong for the other.  At one point, the Neshanock had nine straight strikers reach base and when the dust had cleared, Flemington had scored 11 times. "Lefty," Joe "Mick" Murray, "Jersey" Jim Nunn, and Matt "Fly" Nunn each had three hits apiece for the Neshanock.  Both "Lefty" and "Mick" lost clear scores on the bases, but the father and son Nunn tandem earned their first clear scores of the season.  Ken "Tumbles" Mandel contributed one of his characteristic clear scores, reaching base three times with the benefit of only one hit.  Among those with two hits for Flemington were Chris "Low Ball" Lowry and Chris "Sideshow" Nunn.  The big first inning basically decided the game which was called after five innings due to the excessive heat.  Making his Neshanock debut was Dan "Muffin" Mahony who played a strong game in the field and we hope he will join us again.  With the two wins, Flemington is 9-3 on the season heading into our next game on July 6th in New Bridge Landing, River Edge, New Jersey.


The primary purpose of today's event was to commemorate the anniversary of a July 1, 1924 game when on this same field in Delanco, Babe Ruth hit a home run in an exhibition game, something that no one who saw it likely ever forgot.  While much in baseball is debatable, it's unlikely there would be many who would dispute the idea that the Bambino was the embodiment of what it means to be "larger than life," not just in baseball, but probably in almost every aspect of life.  One of the side effects of that kind of status is that other players who have done something significant are referred to as the Babe Ruth of their time, team, league or almost anything we can think of.  One example that I recently encountered was Hardy Richardson, one of a number of nineteenth-century major league players who got their start in New Jersey.  Richardson was born on April 21, 1855, in nearby Clarksboro and after playing for a Gloucester, New Jersey team in 1875 started his journey to the major leagues, beginning a 14-year major league career with Buffalo in 1879.


Richardson as a member of the 1882 Buffalo Bisons of the National League, note Purcell at the bottom of the picture is William "Blondie" Purcell from Paterson

Over the course of his career, Richardson played for six different teams but spent most of his time with Buffalo and Detroit, compiling a .299 lifetime batting average.  When the Buffalo team disbanded after the 1886 season, Richardson and three of his teammates were acquired by the Detroit Wolverines where they became known as the "Big Four," or perhaps more accurately, the "Second Big Four."  The first quartet to earn that title were Albert Spalding, Cal McVey, Deacon White, and Ross Barnes who William Hulbert lured away from Boston to join his Chicago team for the 1876 season.  White, a Hall of Famer, had the distinction of being part of both foursomes, joined in Detroit by fellow Hall of Famer, Dan Brothers, Jack Rowe, and, of course, Richardson.  The Detroit acquisitions lived up to their billing, helping their new team win the 1887 National League championship, and then defeated the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in a 15 game "World Series," played in nine different cities.  All in all, Richardson has a very impressive resume, but the "Babe Ruth" reference seemed questionable since his 73 career home runs didn't even put him in the top 14 home run hitters of the nineteenth century, a group led by Roger Connors with 138.


Richardson as a member of the 1887 National League champion Detroit Wolverines 


Boston's Congress Street Grounds 

The primary source for the title seems to be Richardson's obituary in the January 22, 1931 issue of The Sporting News which called him both the "Babe Ruth of 80's" and the "Babe Ruth of the Nineteenth Century."  Similar to Frank Baker who became known as "Home Run" Baker because of two dramatic World Series home runs rather than the number of homers he hit, Richardson seems to have "earned" the title because he was the first player to hit home runs in five consecutive games. Ruth then repeated the feat in 1921.  Interestingly, Ruth was apparently given credit by some for having set the record rather than tying it.  Fortunately, Ernest J. Lanigan of the Pittsburgh Press confirmed that Richardson, then a member of the Boston Reds of the Players League, homered in five straight games in July of 1890, all over the left field fence at Boston's Congress Street Grounds. The New Jersey native led the upstart league in both home runs (16) and runs batted in (152) as he apparently benefited from the league's use of a "lively" ball and a short left field fence.  While the "Babe Ruth" title may not be totally appropriate, it doesn't detract from the fine record of another new Jersey baseball player.




Sunday, June 23, 2019

The June Jersey Tour Visits Princeton


The essence of vintage base ball is to recreate, to the best of our ability, the game that in the span of about 25 years (roughly 1845 to 1869) grew from exercise for social clubs to the country's national pastime.  This past Saturday may not have shown why or how that happened, but it certainly captured the spirit of the game's growing popularity in the nineteenth century and that's not just because of the Neshanock's experience in Princeton.  On a day when most of the country was apparently blessed (finally) with real base ball weather, vintage teams took the field from Maine to Maryland as well as in a 37 team event in Michigan.  We know this because of something that would have been almost as unthinkable to early base ball players as the transcontinental railroad would have been to earlier generations - social media, especially Facebook. As Matt "Bart" Bartnicki noted last night it was great to see so many people having so much base ball fun.


In the case of the Neshanock and the Diamond State Club of Delaware ("Bart's" team), the venue was Princeton, New Jersey, historic in its own right for many reasons especially the Revolutionary War battle in December of 1776.  Less well known, but also important is the cradle-like role Princeton or the University of the same name played in early college base ball.  Thanks to the contributions of three young men from Brooklyn, led by Lewis Mudge, the school's Nassau Club was one of the first college teams to play competitively to the point that in 1863 they had to play the top amateur teams because they were unable to find college opponents.  Once regular intercollegiate competition got underway, it did not take long before attention turned to winning or at least claiming championships.   In 1873, Princeton defeated Harvard and declared they were college champions because Harvard had defeated Yale twice, a rather narrow view of the baseball world, but one that shows how quickly college base ball became competitive.


Diamond State Base Ball Club of Delaware

Saturday's visit to Princeton was for the annual event hosted by the Historical Society of Princeton, with Morven Museum & Garden as a co-sponsor this year.  The annual game in Princeton also marks a turning point in Neshanock history since it was here that Ken "Tumbles" Mandel joined the team and nothing has ever been the same since.  After dropping two games last Saturday, Flemington didn't exactly pick an easy way to get back on the winning side of the ledger by playing the Diamond State Club of Delaware.  Last year the Delaware club won the National Silverball Tournament in Rochester and are without question one of the toughest teams on the Neshanock schedule.  Diamond State was somewhat short-handed today, but they had solid reinforcements from the neighboring state of Maryland.  Having won the toss Flemington opted to strike second and Diamond State quickly got on the board with two tallies although some solid Neshanock defense stopped the damage before it got out of hand. Flemington then tied the game in their half of the inning, but the visitors put together five straight two-out hits in the top of the second to score six times.


Left to right, Chris "Low Ball" Lowry, Dan "Sledge" Hammer, and Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner

Diamond State led 9-3 going to the bottom of the fourth, but with one man on base, Jeff "Duke"Schneider delivered a well-placed hit down the right-field line and rounded the bases for his first career home run. Flemington kept chipping away and were only down three runs as they came to bat in the sixth.  The bottom of half of the batting order was up, but they were more than equal to the task, tallying four times, putting the Neshanock in front for the first time.  Diamond State quickly tied it in the top of the seventh, but Flemington scored once in the seventh and once in the eighth for a two-run lead headed to the ninth.  No one on the Neshanock bench thought the visitors would go quietly and they put the tying runs on base with one out before good defensive plays by Mark "Gaslight" Granieri and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst gave the Neshanock a hard-fought 13-11 win.  Flemington's offense was led by Joe "Mick" Murray, Ken "Tumbles" Mandel, and "Duke" who each contributed three hits with "Mick" earning a clear score a day before his birthday.  Bobby "Melky" Ritter and Dan "Sledge" Hammer divided the pitching responsibilities, aided by a strong Neshanock defense effort, allowing only three runs in the last seven innings.


After a break, the teams returned to the field for a seven-inning second game with Flemington taking a quick 1-0 lead which didn't last long as Diamond State tallied three times in their first at-bat and led 4-1 after two.  Flemington cut it to 4-3 in the third only to see the visitors tally twice in the fourth.  The Delaware team led 6-4 going to the top of the sixth when the Neshanock offense erupted for a big inning, keyed by six straight hits on the way to scoring seven runs and an 11-6 lead.  Diamond State hung tough getting two back in the sixth, but Flemington put the game out of reach by scoring five times in their last at-bat and a 16-8 victory. This time the top of the Neshanock order led the offense with Danny "Lefty" Gallagher, "Sledge" and "Gaslight" contributing three hits apiece with the latter two losing clear scores in their last at-bat. "Melky" was again the Neshanock starting pitching and was ably relieved by Rene "Mango" Marrero.  Mention also should be made of "Tumbles" play at first base where he displayed an assortment of "graceful" moves perhaps setting a team record for tag-out plays at first.


It was a beautiful day for baseball and the games were not only worthy of the weather but also a tribute to the way baseball became so popular in the pioneer period.  Thanks to the Historical Society of Princeton and Morven Museum & Garden for sponsoring the event. I am also grateful to Debi Lampert-Rudman for the photo of "Duke" rounding third on his home run.  All other photos by official blog photographer Mark "Gaslight" Granieri.  Above all, special thanks to the Diamond State team which played hard and well, never gave up and, as always, conducted themselves as gentlemen.  Best wishes to them for the remainder of the season except perhaps when we meet again for the last game of the 2019 season.  Next week Flemington's June in Jersey tour concludes with matches against the Monmouth Furnace Club in Delanco, New Jersey, the site of a historic appearance by the one and only Babe Ruth.
















Tuesday, June 18, 2019

150 Years Ago Today - The Cincinnati Red Stockings Visit New Jersey


Brooklyn Union - June 19, 1869

Although it was far from intentional, the Morven Museum exhibit coincides with an important baseball anniversary - a sesquicentennial observation.  Anyone watching major league baseball this season, in person or on television, can see the numbers 150 on the uniform sleeve of every player.  The patch is in honor of the 150th anniversary of professional baseball or more specifically, the Cincinnati Red Stockings' legendary 1869 season.  1869 was the first season, teams could openly pay players and the Red Stockings wasted little time in putting together a very talented team.  As noted in an earlier post, the Red Stockings were not the first all-professional team, they are better remembered, as John Thorn suggested, as the team that made baseball popular nationwide.  They did so by virtue of a transcontinental tour that enabled baseball fans on the East Coast and the West Coast to see the best team in the country in person.  That the Red Stockings were the country's best team is pretty much inarguable since they went 57-0 over the course of the season.


1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings 

Before their epic 1869 season, the Red Stockings were a good, but hardly a great team.  The prior year Cincinnati finished 36-7, losing twice to eastern powerhouses, the Athletics of Philadelphia and the Atlantics of Brooklyn.  No shame in that, much harder to explain, however, was a loss to the Keystone Club of Philadelphia which finished 5-10-1.  Of course, the 1868 version of the Red Stockings was only partially professional, but for 1869, Cincinnati management quickly upgraded their roster beginning with future Hall of Famer George Wright, brother of Red Stockings manager, Harry Wright.  Also signing up were Charles Sweasy and Andy Leonard, originally from Newark and members of the upstart Irvington Club that wreaked havoc with the baseball establishment in 1866 and 1867.  New Jersey came close to providing a third member of the Red Stockings first nine in the person of John Radcliff of Camden, the leading run scorer of the 1868 season.  Radcliff, who was constantly mired in some type of controversy, actually signed a Red Stocking contract which the club voided when they learned he was already under contract to the Athletic Club of Philadelphia.


John Radcliff, almost a Red Stocking, is on the far right of this picture

As impressive as their lineup may have seemed on paper, the Red Stockings still had to prove their worth on the field, especially in a three-day visit to New York City to take on the Mutual, Atlantic, and Eckford Clubs.  The June 15th match with the Mutuals was an unusually low scoring affair and one of the great games of the nineteenth century.  Tied 2-2, headed to the bottom of the ninth, Cincinnati scored twice for a dramatic 4-2 victory (it was customary to finish the bottom of the ninth even when the game was decided.)  Next up was the Atlantics, who proved no match for the Red Stockings.  Cincinnati scored 18 times in their first two at-bats and coasted to a 32-10 victory.  The Eckford fared little better the following day, falling behind 13-0 in route to a 24-5 loss.  Having now become what the Brooklyn Union called "the now justly celebrated Cincinnati Club," the Red Stockings were supposed to take a day off for the relatively short train ride to Philadelphia.   Instead, however, the team's management decided not just to travel through New Jersey, but to play a game there, against Sweasy and Leonard's old team, the Irvington Club.


Andy Jackson Leonard

Although there is no mention in the contemporary media of admission being charged, that was probably the primary motivation for playing the additional game.  Somewhat unkindly, the Brooklyn Union suggested the game was played to show "the villagers" how Sweasy and Leonard "had improved in their play by training out west."  Regardless of the reason, local baseball fans were thrilled by the opportunity as the Newark Evening Courier noted that there had seldom been"a more severe attack [of baseball fever] than that of yesterday."  It is somewhat surprising the game was played in Irvington rather than a Newark ball grounds closer to the railroad station since it took an arduous four-mile journey by foot or horse-drawn conveyance to reach the Irvington field.  The presence of "the suddenly famous Cincinnati Club" was apparently more than sufficient motivation as the Centinel of Freedom reported that "horse cars, omnibuses, carriages, carts, and all manner of conveyances filled up the avenues leading to the grounds."



According to one estimate, there was a crowd of at least 3,000, such a large number, the Newark Morning Register reported that "even the skirts of the field were filled with onlookers."  The paper also took notice of the Red Stockings uniforms which it praised as "the neatest and most appropriate that could be devised."  The club's knickers with long red socks or stockings would quickly become the standard baseball uniform.  Having won the toss, Irvington sent Cincinnati to the striker's line and were probably ecstatic to limit the visitors to one tally.  Irvington went out in order in their turn, however, and the Red Stockings tallied three times in the second and third.  Still, it was only 7-2 after three innings and perhaps mindful of the trouncings handed the Atlantics and Eckford, the Union warmed to the local team, praising their "close work."  Even when the Red Stockings pounded Irvington pitcher Hugh Campbell for eight runs in the fourth and fifth, the Brooklyn paper noted the local team "did not flinch from their guns, but went into the fight again pluckily intent on doing their best to the very end."


Doug Allison 

Since the Red Stockings had to catch the 6:30 train from Newark, the game was halted after seven innings with Cincinnati on top 20-4.  Understandably, the local media praised the Irvington team for keeping the score somewhat respectable, but the New York Clipper also joined the chorus claiming the game "was one of the most interesting that the 'Red Stockings' have played in this vicinity."  One New Jersey paper took special note of the play of Red Stocking catcher, Doug Allison.  In one inning, Irvington had runners on first and second with one out when Mahlon Stockman struck out.  Allison instead of catching the ball, "hit it down and took it on the second bound" thereby forcing Stockman and both runners to advance.  The Cincinnati catcher then stood "with his hands on his hips" and "coolly gazed on the perplexed Jerseymen."  Although "obliged to move" no one did so and the Red Stockings quickly completed an inning-ending double play (1887 rules changes eliminated this possibility).  Reportedly "When the crowd finally came to understand the point they laughed and applauded to their heart's content."  It was a memorable moment on a memorable day and it is safe to say those present regaled their children and even their grandchildren about a June day when they saw the country's best baseball team right here in New Jersey.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Flemington Finally Plays Two



Liberty Club's Grounds 

Flemington played its first doubleheader of the year against the New Brunswick Liberty on the Liberty’s home field located in East Jersey Olde Town Village which is part of Johnson Park in Piscataway, NJ. While Ernie Banks’ would say "Let’s Play Two" with much enthusiasm, the Neshanock had a tough time as they dropped two to the excellent play of the Liberty.  The game also saw an appearance of Somerset Patriots’ mascot, “Sparkee”, who provided support to both the Liberty and Neshanock.



"Sparkee" gives batting tips to Scott “Snuffy” Hengst


The first game was played using 1858 rules which is the norm for the New Brunswick club. One difference with this year is that the base runner is never in danger of being put out with a fly out as play is suspended and the runner is given a free pass back to his base of origin. The Neshanock held a 4-2 lead after three but the Liberty’s steady attack resulted in a 10-5 win for the home team. Ken “Tumbles” Mandel led the Neshanock with 2 hits while eight other Neshanock had just 1 hit each.



Liberty Pitcher

The second game was played under the Neshanock’s rules of 1864. The game was close through 8 innings with New Brunswick holding a 13-12 advantage. However, in the top of the ninth, the Liberty’s bats exploded as they plated 11 while the Neshanock only answered with 1 of their own resulting in a 24-13 loss. The following Neshanock each had a 3 hit game, Ken “Tumbles” Mandel, Mark “Gaslight” Granieri, and Joe “Mick” Murray. 


"Jersey" Jim Nunn

Perhaps the brightest spot of the day for the Neshanock was the return of Chris “Sideshow” Nunn to the lineup after having been lost last year to injury during the Philadelphia Navy Yard Classic. Since Saturday’s game was the day before Father’s Day, it would be timely to mention that there are many Father and Sons playing 19th Century Base Ball. The Neshanock have had many such pairings over the years including the Nunns with Jim and sons Chris and Matt.  Next weekend the Neshanock will be hosted by the Historical Society of Princeton and Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton, NJ.


Chris "Sideshow" Nunn

All photos and verbiage courtesy of Mark "Gaslight" Granieri 

Sunday, June 9, 2019

If the Story's Not Complete, It's Not Correct

On Saturday, the Flemington Neshanock and the Elizabeth Resolutes renewed the longest running rivalry in New Jersey vintage base ball, this time at the Howell Living History Farm near Lambertville.  Like all such rivalries, there have been close games, dramatic comebacks, and a few very one-sided outcomes.  Saturday was one of the latter, this time in the Neshanock's favor, sometimes it's just the way the game works out.  As always, the Resolutes played hard and there are better days ahead for the state's senior vintage club. Today's game was all about big innings as Flemington tallied seven times in the third and 12 in the fifth, putting the game out of reach on the way to a 26-1 victory. 



The Neshanock offense was led by Danny "Lefty" Gallagher, back in the clear score column, with five hits in as many visits to the striker's line.  Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner also had five hits and missed a clear score only because he was retired on the bases by a force play.  Gregg "Burner" Wiseburn and Jeff "Duke" Schneider also flirted with a clear score, both coming up short in their final at-bat.  Ken "Tumbles" Mandel, Joe "Mick" Murray, and Dave "Illinois" Harris also contributed multi-hit games, "Tumbles" with three and "Mick" and "Illinois" with two apiece.  Two other noteworthy achievements were a well-executed fair-foul hit by Bobby "Melky" Ritter and a thrown out stealing with "Burner" on the throwing end and "Thumbs" making the tag.  With the win, Flemington is 5-1 on the season heading into a visit next week to Piscataway to take on the Liberty Base Ball Club of New Brunswick.


Vintage baseball is, of course, a form of living history and like every kind of history, accuracy has to be one of the highest priorities.  However, even with the correct facts, a historian's work isn't finished, if the story is incomplete.  That isn't as simple as it may seem, because the larger the story, the more difficult it is to include everything especially when some parts have been kept on the margins, intentionally or otherwise. All too frequently in such cases, the challenge is even greater because limited information survives.  Not surprisingly, a case in point is African-American baseball, but in the Morven exhibit, a special effort has been made to tell that part of the story of New Jersey baseball both the good and the bad.  One item of historic note that visitors to the exhibit will see is a very brief article in the October 25, 1855 edition of the Newark Daily Mercury which documents the earliest known baseball game in the United States between two African-American clubs, at least one of which was a New Jersey team.



Another interesting aspect of this part of the exhibit is three incidents in New Jersey in 1886-1887 that symbolize how civil rights in baseball, and in the country for that matter, were at a crossroads.  The first is the story of the Cuban Giants, who noted baseball historian, Larry Hogan has called "black baseball's first great professional team." Among other things, the Giants were the first black team to receive regular salaries instead of a portion of erratic and sometimes non-existent gate receipts.  Founded in 1885, the team moved to Trenton in 1886 after the state capital had lost its minor league team.  Through 1889, the African-American team was the city's top club, receiving unprecedented newspaper coverage, allowing for the first detailed statistical records of black professional baseball.  Visitors to the Morven exhibit will see a Giants team picture, a season ticket and a rendering of their uniform courtesy of Craig Brown and his Threads of the Game website.


1887 Chicago White Stockings - Cap Anson is number 8, number 1 is the future evangelist - Billy Sunday

And the Cuban Giants time in Trenton was not the only positive news on the baseball racial front in New Jersey.  Further north, in 1887, the Newark "Little" Giants, of the International League signed baseball's first all-black battery, catcher, Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first black major league player, and pitcher, George Stovey, one of the top pitchers of the period.  In addition to their all-black battery, Newark had two other ethnic-based batteries and used all three to promote their club and attract customers.  In addition, the International League had seven black players that season, a possible first step towards a critical mass, facilitated by the mostly northern geographic orientation of the league.  Unfortunately, it was not to be, something symbolized by a game involving the "Little" Giants that same year in Newark.


Moses Fleetwood Walker 

On July 14, 1887, Charles "Cap" Anson brought his major league Chicago White Stocking team to Newark for an exhibition game with the Newark club.  Before the game, Anson let be known that his team would not play if either Walker or Stovey played.  To what extent, if any, Newark management objected isn't known, but neither men played.  Anson, did not, of course, establish the color line by himself, his action was more symbolic of what was going on in baseball and nationwide.  That same day, a special meeting of International League clubs, directed the league secretary not to accept any more contacts for black players.  In spite of what seemed like positive developments in Trenton and Newark, baseball was clearly following the shift of the country away from any concern about equal rights for African-Americans.  It is not a positive or attractive part of the story of New Jersey baseball but has to be included to tell the full story and so we can better understand and appreciate what it meant almost 60 years later, in April of 1946, when Jackie Robinson took the field in Jersey City for his first game in organized baseball.


Sunday, June 2, 2019

Morven Preview - Part III


All photos by Mark "Gaslight" Granieri 

This past Saturday, the Neshanock were honored to be part of the final day of Woodbridge Township's 350th-anniversary celebration (that's a Sesquarcentenial for those keeping score at home).  In honor of the occasion, the township put together its own team, the Woodbridge Claypitters.  Assisting the local players on and off the field were Danny Jurgens and Dennis Lipari of the Elizabeth Resolutes and Hank Hart, a distinguished alumnus of the Neshanock club.  Probably thanks to all that preparation, the local team got off to a quick start, tallying five times in the first two innings for a 5-1 lead going to the bottom of the second.  However, Flemington rallied for two in the second, one in the third, and then took control of the game in the bottom of the fourth with a six-run inning.  The Neshanock defense also settled down at that point holding the Claypitters to only one tally the rest of the way, for an 18-6 Flemington victory.  The local team had no reason be embarrassed, however, getting started in vintage baseball is no easy matter and the Woodbridge team played good defense throughout and the Neshanock hope to see them on the field again.


The Woodbridge Claypitters

Flemington's attack was led by Rene "Mango" Marrero, who had four hits while Dave "Illinois" Harris and Jeff "Duke" Schneider contributed three apiece.  "Duke's" first career triple was a key hit in the Neshanock's six-run fourth inning while "Illinois" demonstrated his skill at the "fair/foul play."  Both Dan "Sledge" Hammer and Ken "Tumbles" Mandel flirted with clear scores with each coming up one at-bat short.  "Sledge" preserved his clear score until his last time at the striker's line while "Tumbles" actually reached base each time up, but was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.  Danny "Lefty" Gallagher and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst also had two hits apiece.  Flemington was pleased to welcome Don Sachau who made his Neshanock debut and we hope he will be back.  With the win, the Neshanock are now 4-1 on the season with a match next Saturday at the Howell Living History Farm in Hopewell Township against the Elizabeth Resolutes.  After that Flemington plays in Piscataway, Princeton, and Delanco - plenty of New Jersey opportunities to see the Neshanock and 1864 base ball.


Neshanock Alumnus Hank Hart (left) and Elizabeth Resolutes veteran Danny Jurgens

Anyone who has done historical research for a book, an essay or even a blog post, knows the challenges in finding adequate contemporary source material.  One thing I've learned from working on the Morven Museum baseball exhibit is that the challenges increase tenfold, if not more, for a museum exhibit, at least on baseball.  The first reality is that there really weren't a lot of objects to start out with and, secondly, the people of the time didn't realize that what did exist had historical value so they had little reason to preserve anything.  Thanks, however, to the generosity of a number of institutions and individuals, the Morven exhibit will have a good sampling of what is available.  Fortunately, these artifacts also serve as symbols for a larger part of the story.  Just two examples are the financial ledger book of the Star Club of New Brunswick (courtesy of the New Jersey Historical Society) and a series of notes from the corresponding secretary of the Bergen Base Ball Club.


Jeff "Duke" Schneider having recovered from running out his triple

The Star Club book was used by the club treasurer to keep track of dues payments while the Bergen Club's notes were notices of an upcoming practice, both fairly mundane concerns, (unless you are the treasurer or the corresponding secretary), but they symbolize an important reality of club life.  For obvious reasons, early base ball clubs are thought of primarily as teams playing a game, but they also were similar to modern not-for-profit organizations.  Such organizations require a lot of administrative tasks above and beyond the work associated with the not-for-profit's mission.  Those familiar with the not-for-profit world today know full well how important it is to have someone to keep financial records or take meeting minutes.  Many early base ball clubs proved to be short-lived and we tend to believe it was because of the difficulty in fielding a team on a regular basis which was doubtless a challenge.  But another contributing factor may have been the difficulty in finding someone willing to handle the finances, communications and other matters necessary for the club to operate.  Most likely some clubs disbanded because there was no one willing to do those jobs.


The Woodbridge bench reacts to a prodigious wallop by Ken "Tumbles" Mandel

Another interesting thing about these artifacts is how they connect to other parts of the story of early New Jersey base ball and, again, the Star Club book is an example.  Founded before the Civil War, the Star Club has the distinction of hosting what was probably the first road trip by a college team.  Although the Nassau Club of Princeton University had made a pre-war trip to play an alumni team in Orange, their first true road match was an October 1862 visit to New Brunswick to take on the Star Club.  Not only did Princeton president, John Maclean allow the team to leave campus for the game, he also permitted members of the student body to join the team for the train ride which according to one participant consisted of "songs, shouts, and visions of a jolly day."  Did the students comport themselves with the dignity expected (hoped for) by the college president?  Unsurprisingly, they did not. College students, then, as now, were, after all, college students.  After being welcomed by their hosts, the Princeton party promptly visited a "billiards saloon," before walking around the "rustic village" of New Brunswick, taking special note of "a few pretty girls with skirts fastened (enchantingly) up to avoid the wet." For shame!



How do we know such much about the Princeton students less than exemplary behavior?  They were not only foolish enough to wander off the straight and narrow, but one of them was perhaps even more foolish to write about it in the school's literary magazine.  If there were any consequences for their behavior, they weren't recorded, but the college authorities did begin to exercise greater restraint over at least the team, forbidding them, a few years later, to leave campus for a game in nearby Bordentown.  Did that stop them?  It did not.  College students, then as now, were resourceful and the Princeton players overcame that particular prohibition by playing as the Pickwick Club under assumed names.  The Star Club book and Bergen Base Ball Club notes may be inanimate objects, but they definitely have stories to tell.