Ever since the first time teams cared about the final score, baseball has been governed by rules. Initially these may have been informal "ground rules," made up for that day alone. It didn't take long, however, before the early clubs and then the National Association of Base Ball Players began formalizing rules in writing, establishing thereby the laws of baseball. Perhaps one of the best thing about such laws is that when necessary there is a mechanism for change. The same thing is true of the laws that govern our society, but there are also laws that are fixed and unchangeable. A case in point are the equinoxes which take place twice a year on a day when there is an equal amount of light and darkness. Like it or not, the autumnal equinox took place this past Thursday. For the Flemington Neshanock, the equinox and the arrival of fall usually means there's a game at the Dey Farm in Monroe Township.
Saturday was no exception as the Neshanock and the Hoboken Club met at this historic Central Jersey site for two seven inning games played by 1864 rules. While the weather has usually been nice for the annual game, this time we enjoyed ideal (read splendiferous) weather which I'm told brought out a record crowd of 175 fans. Having won the coin toss, Hoboken elected to strike first and promptly put two runs across the plate. Flemington matched that in the bottom of the inning before good pitching and defense on both sides kept both teams off the scoreboard for the next two innings. In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Neshanock broke the deadlock with two tallies, one of which Hoboken matched in the top of the fifth.
It looked like the game might come down to the last at bat, but Flemington scored five times in the fifth to take a 9-3 lead. The Neshanock added two more tallies and blanked Hoboken the rest of the way for an 11-3 win that was closer than the score indicated. Flemington's offense was led by Tom "Hawk" Prioli and Mark "Gaslight" Granieri with three hits apiece. "Hawk" and "Gaslight" both earned clear scores in the process. "Hawk's" best hit was a triple while Gaslight had a memorable "shot" that didn't travel quite so far. The Neshanock catcher hit a pop fly that literally landed a few feet in front of home plate. Fortunately, the wily veteran put so much backspin on the ball that he was able to reach first safely even after stopping to offer a comment not suitable for a family blog. Also hitting a triple was Nick Prioli who had three hits for the game. Bobby "Melky" Ritter and Bob Smith handled the pitching duties in their usually efficient style.
Between the games a number of fans stepped to the striker's line to take a few swings. One of them enjoyed herself so much she joined Hoboken for the second game and acquitted herself admirably. Flemington struck first and well in the second game, jumping out to an early lead which ballooned to a 24-1 victory. Needless to say a number of Neshanock had productive games with the bat. "Hawk" outdid his first game performance with five hits, a total matched by Dan "Sledge" Hammer. Bob Smith had four hits to go along with another strong pitching performance. Joining the hit parade were Joe "Mick" Murray, Nick Prioli, Jim "Jersey" Nunn and Chris "Lowball" Lowry with three hits apiece. All told Nick Prioli reached base five times without making an out for a clear score. His brother J.P. Prioli added two hits to the Flemington attack.
While the Neshanock's offensive totals were impressive, equally noteworthy was an almost flawless defensive effort with just one muff on the day. In the first inning of the second contest "Sledge" went deep into foul territory, dodging among the hay bales to catch a pop foul. In the following inning, Bob Smith caught a ball on one bound and then nailed a Hoboken runner off second, ultimately throwing to "Mick" to complete a double play. Not satisfied with one twin-killing "Mick" started what today would be known as a 6-4-3 double play, throwing to "Lowball" who threw to "Sledge" at first. In the Neshanock scorebook, however, it was recorded as 1-10-2 since we use Henry Chadwick's 1866 system where the player's defense number is his position in the batting order. Also contributing sound defense was "Gaslight" who recorded four foul bound outs in the first contest and five in the second, plucking one out of mid air with almost cat-like quickness.
It was a good (read splendiferous) day for the Neshanock and we are grateful to Monroe Township for hosting the event, the enthusiastic fans for attending and our opponents from Hoboken for making the games possible. Having once again enjoyed this early autumnal tradition, the Neshanock move on to another tradition almost as inevitable as the equinoxes - season's end. Next Saturday, October 1, the Neshanock will ring down the curtain on 2022 with two matches against the Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn at Goffle Brook Park in Hawthorne, N.J.
No comments:
Post a Comment