"No Balls"

Yesterday, just a week after the 250th anniversary of July 4, 1776, the Neshanock resumed our Semiquincentennial tour of New Jersey revolutionary war sites.  It would have been hard to find a more appropriate host than the Bergen County Historical Society which operates Historic New Bridge Landing.  Located on the Hackensack River where the Continental Army crossed on the way to their victory at Trenton, New Bridge Landing preserves "a compelling and scenic fragment" of New Jersey's Dutch countryside. 

Courier-Journal (Louisville) - May 24, 1895

Until this year, the game was played at the site itself which presented no shortage of ground rule challenges.  This time, however, the game was moved to a local park, but for a very good reason.  The BCHS is building a Visitors Center, an initiative well worth supporting. Unfortunately, Saturday was one of those games that happens every so often with very low player participation.  Fortunately, Bob "Riverboat" Smith, captain of the local Enterprise Club and sometime "Neshanock" was able to find enough volunteers to fill out the Flemington lineup.  The Enterprise Club is tough to beat under normal conditions and in this less than desirable situation, it's no surprise local team won both games by scores of 11-7 and 15-3.  The important thing though is that the Neshanock, with help, was able to honor the commitment.

Sam Bernstein - master of all he surveys - all pictures by Jeff Schneider

Every venue has its own memories, and New Bridge Landing is no exception.  For this aged scorekeeper, I'll never forget a game a few years ago that almost became my most embarrassing vintage baseball moment.  As usual I arrived early, only to realize I'd forgotten the game balls. Hard to play a baseball game of any era without a game ball.  Fortunately, New Bridge Landing, as a gesture of hospitality, provided the game balls so I was spared having to figure out how to retrieve the ones I'd forgotten.   I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when Sam Bernstein told me about an 1895 game between Louisville (then a National League team) and the Brooklyn club.

Not quite the pitch that Jim "Jersey" Nunn expected

At the time, game balls were used very differently from today where the ball is replaced seemingly at will, with or without a reason.  In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the game ball was used until it was lost which wasn't that often because fans weren't permitted to keep foul balls.  Typically, about a dozen balls were sufficient for a game.  However, when the Brooklyn team turned up for the May 23, 1895, game at Louisville, the home team only had five new balls.  Supposedly ownership had decided that if too many balls were left lying around the players would use them so "extra" balls were kept off site. 

Chris "Lowball" Lowry at the striker's line

Under the custom of the day, two of the balls were given to the Brooklyn club for pre-game practice with the understanding that if more balls were needed, the game would be delayed until they were obtained.  In the meantime, a boy was dispatched by trolly car to obtain some new balls.  Predictably, the remaining game balls were lost fairly quickly.  Apparently, "forgetting," the prior agreement, the Brooklyn club demanded the game proceed.  An argument ensued, and the umpire forfeited the game to Brooklyn 9-0 based on the rule that a team cannot inappropriately delay the game.  Also predictably, just after the umpire announced the forfeit, the boy, who had been delayed because the trolly went off the tracks, arrived.  As the Louisville paper noted (quoting from Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade") "Someone had blundered."  Embarrassing to say the least - something I was fortunately spared for my own blunder.