Sunday, June 2, 2024

Around the Bases with the Neshanock

In the last two posts, I used an 1862 box score developed by Tim Anstett to report game statistics in a format that would have been familiar to Civil War era baseball fans.  Unlike modern box scores that emphasize hits, the primary offensive statistic is runs.  According to Peter Morris in A Game of Inches, this is because early baseball box scores were based on formats used in cricket.  I also recall reading somewhere that when a baseball player reached base, it was considered his responsibility to make his way home - thus the emphasis on runs, not hits.  Be that as it may, regardless of the era, making one's way around the bases doesn't just happen.  On Memorial Day, (before the rain), Lauren Marchese Nunn used her creative eye and photography skills to capture some of the Neshanock on their Odysseus-like efforts to return home safely.


Since under 1864 rules, batters can't overrun first base, sliding in, as Matt "Fly" Nunn does here, can be an effective way to begin the journey.


"Not everyone who wanders is lost," wiley Neshock veteran Mark "Gaslight" Granieri lulls the defense into a false sense of security before taking off for second.


Having already victimized an opposing baserunner with the hidden ball trick, Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner isn't taking anything for granted.


Jim "Jersey" Nunn keeps a watchful eye for the ball while heading towards third.


His journey almost complete, Chris "Sideshow" Nunn heads home.



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