Sunday's visit to Ringwood Manor State Park was the second stop on the Neshanock's Semiquincentennial tour of New Jersey Revolutionary War sites. During the revolution, iron mined near Ringwood was used to make the great chain the Continental Army stretched across the Hudson River. Located on an important military supply route, Ringwood was a "strategic location" throughout the war as evidenced by at least five visits from George Washington. Playing at Ringwood Manor State Park has been a long tradition for the Neshanock, but in recent years, the weather has consistently gotten in the way. While Sunday was cool, it was more than manageable, and we were very glad to be back.
The Flemington Neshanock Club doesn't have a motto, but if we did, for the last two events it would be "We can work it out." Once again Flemington was shorthanded and, once again, the Neshanock, with some help, figured out a way to give a large and appreciative crowd some enjoyable baseball. Making today work involved the aged scorekeeper taking on the additional role of aged umpire for the first game. I've always said that umpiring 1864 baseball is easy - until it isn't! And that once again proved true today. Thanks to both teams for being understanding about my errors of omission and commission. The Neshanock also got some on the field help from Chris "Duffy" Dyer of the Enterprise Club of River Edge and Luka, an enterprising young man who helped out both teams.
Also essential to making Sunday's games possible was the support of Craig Combs and the rest of the Elizabeth Resolutes. The first seven inning game, by 1864 rules, began with the Resolutes at the striker's line. After six innings, the Resolutes led 7-5, but Flemington scored twice sending the game to the last inning, tied 7-7. Elizabeth then tallied once in their half of the seventh. The Neshanock got the tying run to third with two out, but the Resolutes retired the last striker for a well-earned win. Don "Splinter" Becker led the Flemington attack with three hits while "Duffy," Ken "Tumbles" Mandel, Jeff "Duke" Schneider and Chris "Lowball" Lowry had two each. "Tumbles" also contributed a very manly catch of a line drive in the first inning. Bobby "Melky" Ritter handled the pitching chores while "Duke" played admirably at catcher.
After a break full of fan questions and comments, the Neshanock went to the striker's line to start the second game. Flemington led early 3-0, but the Resolutes quickly took a 4-3 lead. Elizabeth still led 8-6 going to the top of the sixth, but Flemington batted around, tallying six times in route to a 13-10 win. "Splinter" once again had three hits while playing solid defense in center - we are very grateful to have him back injury free. "Duffy" and "Duke" also had three hits each. "Duke" started the Neshanock six run rally with one of his patented fair/foul hits. "Melky," Luka, "Tumbles" and Ernie "Shredder" Albanesius contributed two hits each. "Shredder" also played solid defense in right field as did "Lowball" at first.
As per usual Saturday's games were well attended with plenty of fan interaction. And also, as per usual most of the questions were about when the modern rules and practices come into effect. Questions like when did players start to wear gloves? The early 1870s. When did foul balls become strikes? 1901 in the National League (always leading the way) and 1903 in the American League. When did overhand pitching start? It became legal in 1884. There are more, but those are some typical questions.
Every so often fans are also interested in my scorebook and the scoring system I use. This was especially true a few weeks ago in Morristown. The book is a replica of one created by Henry Chadwick, known as the "Father of Baseball" for his tireless promotion of the early organized game. Chadwick's method is completely different from the modern system other than the use of the letter "K" for a strikeout. It comes from the last letter of the word "struck," and, no, he didn't use a reverse "K" for a called third strike. What was so impressive about the group in Morristown was the diversity of age, gender and ethnicity. I've had thought keeping score was dying out so it was refreshing to see otherwise. Keeping score is an enjoyable part of the ballpark experience. And, who knows, if you do it often enough, you might be lucky enough to score a no-hitter as I did 23 years ago last week - Kevin Millwood of the Phillies.
I saw the Millwood no hitter vs the Giants at the Vet live also! Was Awesome!
ReplyDelete