Worth Waiting For

Back in 1864, Henry Chadwick and William Cauldwell typically began their accounts of base ball matches by commenting on the turnout of players from the two clubs.  Sometimes it was good, sometimes bad, but I don't recall either of them ever saying a team didn't have a sufficient number of players to play the match.  Such unfortunately was the Neshanock's experience this past Saturday which combined with the absence of the Monmouth Furnace, the other New Jersey club forced the cancellation of the 2018 New York-New Jersey Cup.  Flemington returns to the field this Saturday, April 28th with a match at Rahway River Park against long time rivals, the Elizabeth Resolutes.  Both teams will be looking for their first win in a match played under 1870 rules beginning at 11:00 a.m.  While the outcome of the match is uncertain, it can be said with 100% certainty that this score keeper/reporter will not be in attendance.  The match conflicts with the Rutgers Class of 1968's 50th reunion and since my attendance at the 75th is problematic at best, I think I better be there.

As I would think is the case with most universities, the 50th is the most significant of all Rutgers reunions including induction into the "Old Guard" on Friday night, a milestone event.  During the evening the glee club will perform school songs, one of which proclaims Rutgers to be "Ever changing, yet eternally the same."  Considering almost anything as eternal is more than a little bit of a reach, but it's not a totally inappropriate way to look at this reunion.  Fifty years ago when my class graduated, wondering what impact the Vietnam War would have on us, the Class of 1918 was celebrating their 50th reunion.  That class of just 42 men graduated a century ago, harboring even greater concerns about World War I, not knowing the war was almost over.  And when the 1918 class bid farewell to Old Queens, the Class of 1868, all 36 of them, experienced the 50th anniversary of their graduation which took place in a country still recovering from the Civil War.  I'm not sure about how early reunions started, but in 1868, the Class of 1818 could have held their 50th reunion in a phone booth (if phones and phone booths had been invented) since there were only two of them.  While 200 years isn't eternal, on a relative basis it's not bad.

While there isn't any news this week from the vintage base ball field, there is some very satisfying news on the book front.  Earlier this week I received an email from noted baseball historian Steve Steinberg that The World Series in the Deadball Era will be published on April 30th.  Steve has done more than yeoman's service in bringing this project to fruition and I'm very much looking forward to the finished product to which I've contributed two chapters, one with Paul Zinn.  The key word here is contributed since other than providing context, neither Paul nor I wrote a word of either chapter.  The inspired idea behind this book was to follow the model of G. H. Fleming's classic work - The Unforgettable Season.  Originally published in 1981, Fleming told the story of the epic 1908 National League pennant race through the words of the contemporary sportswriters who saw that historic season unfold before their very eyes.  Three clubs, the Giants, Cubs and Pirates battled for the pennant not only down to, but past the end of the regular season.  Any close, winner take all pennant race is fascinating, but the story of the 1908 race hinges on the controversial Merkle play, a base running blunder by rookie Fred Merkle of the Giants that forced the Cubs and Giants to play a make up game after the regular season had ended. It was Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown's account of how Chicago won the game and the pennant that got me permanently hooked on baseball history some 60 years ago.

Mordecai Brown - left 1909, right 1916

The idea in this case is to tell the story of each of the World Series (or World's Series as it was called at the time) of the Deadball Era (1903-1919) in the same fashion.  Since Paul Zinn and I literally wrote the book about the 1916 pennant races, it was only natural for us to take that year's fall classic which we completed without any major obstacles.  Some time after that I learned that two or three other series were available including the last one of the period, the 1919 series, famous, or more accurately infamous for what is known to history as the Black Sox scandal.  I took advantage of that opportunity which involved a lot more research than just reading the contemporary game accounts.  My motivation was curiosity about whether the sports writers of the day had any sense something untoward was going on.  Probably not surprisingly the game accounts don't give a clear cut answer so anyone who shares my curiosity needs to read the book and draw their own conclusions.  The book is expensive, but these eyewitness accounts of the birth of the modern World Series along with some 250 pictures make it well worth the price. Among other things it's a very appropriate Father's Day present for any baseball fan.

A New Season from an Old Point of View

After a winter of discontent (with the weather at least), New Jersey's vintage base ball clubs got the season underway with a vengeance on Saturday with four teams in action.  Down the shore, the Monmouth Furnace Club took on some Monmouth University students while in central New Jersey, not ten miles apart, the Liberty Club and the Flemington Neshanock got their seasons underway with matches against the New York Mutuals and the Eckford Club of Brooklyn respectively.  Completing the day's action was the Hoboken Nine who paid a visit to the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn at Smithtown, Long Island.  With the Elizabeth Resolutes, the state's senior club, set to play their first match next Saturday, New Jersey has five vintage clubs, probably an all time high - a tribute to those who do the behind the scenes work necessary to make it all happen.  The Neshanock's match at the Somerset Patriots home ball park was once again part of that organization's fan fest, played in July like temperatures before a good crowd including families, some getting their first exposure to the 19th century game.

As per usual for this popular match, the Neshanock had a full complement of players while the Eckford were somewhat shorthanded missing their leader, Al "Rocky" Belbol and the one and only (thank goodness) Eric Miklich.  "Rocky" was reportedly busy with family activities and there so many possible explanations for Eric's absence that it's probably better not to go down that road.  Being shorthanded, however, didn't mean the Eckford were necessarily at a disadvantage.  Play was called at 12:32 with the Neshanock in the field having won the toss and electing to strike second.  The Brooklyn club quickly got off to a strong start with the first three strikers securing their base and ultimately making their runs largely due to well struck balls by the second and third batters.  Fortunately, for Flemington, the damage was stopped by Brian "Spoons" LoPinto who charged in from center field to take a well struck ball on the bound for the third out.  In the bottom of the first, it appeared the Neshanock would replicate the Eckford's performance as Jeff "Duke" Schneider, Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner and Rene "Mango" Marrero each got on, loading the bases with Neshanock.  However the rally was cut short when Daniel "Lassie" Loscalzo, the Eckford catcher, made a fine diving/sliding catch of a foul ball on the bound and when the next batter went out, Flemington was retired without scoring.

After the Eckford's three run first, the Neshanock defense improved over the next four innings, holding the visitors to just two runs due to the pitching of Danny "Lunch Time" Shaw and Bobby "Melky" Ritter plus some solid defense behind them.  Scott "Snuffy" Hengst at catcher, made a fine sliding catch of a foul ball in his own right while also making a difficult catch of a foul fly.  Another defensive contribution came from "Duke" who caught a fly ball on the bounce while running with his back to the plate.  The Eckford broke through with three tallies in the sixth largely due to hits that were either well struck or well placed.  Once again, however, the bleeding was stopped by a fine defensive  play this time at first by Dave "Illinois" Harris who dug out at errant throw to end the inning.  After a three run seventh for the visitors, Ken "Tumbles" Mandel contributed a defensive gem to end the eighth.  Shuffling across the greensward, the Neshanock second base man eschewed the bound catch, manfully sticking out his hand to pluck the ball from the air like an apple from an imaginary tree.  All told, Flemington made only three errors on the day,  not bad at all for the first game.

Unfortunately, Flemington's defensive efforts were more than matched by the visitors.  Demonstrating masterful control while changing speeds regularly and effectively, Eckford pitcher, Steve "Trousers" Krauss made the Neshanock's visits to the striker's line largely fruitless.   "Lassie" followed his defensive gem in the first with some other fine plays while the rest of the Eckford contributed solid defensive especially the routine plays too often taken for granted, but essential to success. In the end, the Eckford did even better than the Neshanock making only two muffs and shutting the home team out for the first eight innings.  Down, 11-0 headed to their final visit to the striker's line, the Neshanock broke through with their first tallies of the 2018 season.  "Thumbs," "Illinois," and Lunch Time" all made their runs before the Eckford restored order ending the match with an 11-3 win.  So strong was the visitor's pitching and defense that Flemington only managed eight hits, led by "Mango" with three and "Thumbs" with two. Making his Neshanock debut in right field was Matt Ayres, welcome to the club, Matt.

Photo by Eve Mandel

In my last post, I mentioned my plan to experiment this season by attempting to report Neshanock games from the perspective of nineteenth century sportswriters like Henry Chadwick and William Cauldwell.  As noted in that post, these pioneering writers and their peers emphasized defense more than offense which I realized today requires paying even more attention than is necessary to just record numbers and symbols in the score book.  Unlike a home run, an exceptional defensive play like those of "Snuffy" and "Lassie" in today's game doesn't look any different in the score book than the routine foul bound out.  Additional notes of some kind are necessary to record such defensive gems, failing to do so means plays that could have had a major impact on the outcome may not appear in a game account.  This was especially important from the beginning of competitive base ball until the introduction of radio and then television.  For all those decades, far more people learned about games from written accounts rather than actually seeing the game or hearing it described on the radio.   For today at least, trying to replicate the 1864 perspective was an interesting experience to be renewed next weekend during the New Jersey/New York Cup at Old Bethpage Village on Long Island.

Numbers into Words

Back in January I visited the New York Public Library for some research in the Spalding Collection, a treasure trove of original material from the early days of base ball.  It was far from my first visit, but this time I had a different mission, seeking artifacts for the New Jersey base ball exhibit at the Morven Museum in Princeton now planned for June of 2019.  Of special interest were the score books of the 1860's, especially Henry Chadwick's which I had previously used to make a replica of his 1868 score book for use by the Flemington Neshanock vintage team.  We're now on our fifth volume which I will use in 2018 to score games by a system Chadwick evolved from a very basic approach to a much more sophisticated version.  On prior visits to the library, I had also studied the game book of the Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn, one of the era's top teams.  It was from the latter book that I was able to confirm that a "clear score," the highest offensive goal of the time, was achieved by not being put out even once while at bat or on the bases rather than tallying a run every time at the striker's line.

Spalding baseball collection. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Although I was already familiar with both Chadwick's score books and those of the Atlantics, this was the first time that I looked at them not only on the same visit, but also for the same game.  Above, courtesy of the NYPL library, is a picture of the Eureka Club of Newark's at bats for an August 18, 1865 match with the Atlantics from Chadwick's book while below is the same page from the Brooklyn club's score book.  The game was played in Newark before a large crowd which saw their hopes for a major upset dashed when the home team's desperate ninth inning rally fell one heartbreaking run short. For obvious reasons, the two books reflect very different approaches to score keeping.  Looking at the Eureka's first at bat in the Atlantic club book below (click on pictures to enlarge), we see only the basic details of the inning, three runs for the Newark team, scored by Callaway, Thomas and Pennington while Littlewood, Rogers and Brientnall were all put out at first base.  Only the outs and runs were recorded because that was all the information the Atlantics needed.  Statistics like batting averages, runs batted in, etc hadn't been developed yet and there was little need for more detailed offensive numbers.

Spalding baseball collection.  Manuscripts and Archives Division.  The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations  

The same half inning in Chadwick's book, enlarged below, gives far more detail, most of which has little meaning without understanding Chadwick's system and even after years of trying to replicate that system, there are still things I don't understand.  Take Fred Callaway, the first Eureka striker, as an example.  The vertical line in the upper left hand corner is the symbol for a hit with the horizontal lines indicating the number of bases, two in this case.  To the right of the lines appears a one connected to a three with a dot over the line.  The dot over the line stands for a throwing error by player number one while trying to throw out the striker out at a base.  The natural assumption that the number one symbolizes a throwing error by the pitcher is incorrect because of the major difference between Chadwick's system and the modern approach.  Instead of today's symbols of 1 for a pitcher, 2 for a catcher, etc., Chadwick based the numbers for fielders by their place in the batting order.  By coincidence in this case, Joe Start, the Atlantic's first baseman was the third hitter so he keeps the number three, but the first batter was catcher Dickey Pearce and it was his throwing error, not that of the pitcher.  The dot in the lower left hand corner means Callaway scored a run, but I don't understand the 2 over the dot, nor the 4 over the Thomas' run or the 8 over Pennington's - obviously more research is in order.  The three outs in the inning all represent put outs at first, but as with the error, the assist (a term not used at the time) is based on the fielder's place in the batting order, the letter "A" is Chadwick's symbol for first base.

Spalding baseball collection.  Manuscripts and Archives Division.  The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Obviously, Chadwick recorded far more information because his responsibilities went beyond keeping track of runs and outs while the game was in progress.  His task was to tell the story of the match in a newspaper article read by far more people than actually saw the game in person. Or to put it another way, he had to convert those numbers and symbols into words.   Below is his description of the Eureka's first at bat as it appeared in the New York Clipper on August 26, 1865.   What's interesting to me is that Chadwick provided more information than appears in the score book such as descriptions of hits as "good," a defensive play as having "stopped a hot one well," and a player's"failure to return the ball."    It would be natural to think that Chadwick made notes somewhere in the score book, but there is nothing in the book itself beyond the page as shown above.  Unless he had a computer like memory, Chadwick must have used a notebook of some kind, probably one small enough to easily fit in his pocket, to record details he needed to write his newspaper accounts.

New York Clipper - August 26, 1865

My reason for exploring how Chadwick used numbers and symbols to tell a story is that I've decided to try something different this year in my blog posts about Neshanock games.  My plan is to write game accounts in the same manner matches were described in the New York Sunday Mercury and the New York Clipper, two leading sports weeklies of the day.  Chadwick, who is, of course, a household name in baseball history circles,wrote for the Clipper while the Mercury reporter and also the publisher was William Cauldwell. Although nowhere near as well known as Chadwick, Cauldwell was actually the pioneer in writing and promoting newspaper coverage of base ball and at one time hired Chadwick as a writer.  My goal is not to try to literally recreate their writing style, but their point of view.  I've gone through both papers for the 1864 season (the Neshanock most frequently plays games by 1864 rules) and there is definitely a pattern to how they wrote about games especially their emphasis on defense over offense.  My goal is to try to see games how they saw them and then describe matches to blog readers in the same manner these sports writing pioneers used over 150 years ago.  It's an experiment and we'll see how it goes, but I'm excited about trying to recreate another aspect of 19th century base ball.