"I'd Rather be in Philadelphia"

Photo by Mark Granieri

Much like the singer in Simon and Garfinkel's 1968 hit song "America," I spent a fair amount of time over the weekend on the New Jersey Turnpike, not "counting the cars" or trying to"look for America," but rather on my way to and from Philadelphia in order to count tallies and outs at the Philadelphia Naval Yard Classic.  Played every other year, the event is hosted by the Athletic Club who once again did a fine job of bringing together vintage base ball clubs from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and, of course, Pennsylvania to play four matches over two days.  The games were played on the parade grounds of the former Naval Yard, an appropriate place to recreate 19th century base ball since Union troops used some of their off duty hours to play base ball on fields more typically devoted to drilling and military training.  Never doing anything by half measures, the Neshanock's first match on Saturday was against the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn, one of the country's top teams and long time friends of the Neshanock.  It would be great to say the two clubs are friendly rivals, but while the first word is accurate, it's hard to consider it a rivalry when one club (Flemington) has won only once in over a decade.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Vintage base ball is, of course, about recreating the game the way it was played in the 19th century, in this case 1864, but there are always differences, both intentional and otherwise.  One aspect, however, where the vintage game mirrors the original, is the importance of who shows up for a given game.  That this was an issue back in the day is confirmed by the way pioneering sports writers, William Cauldwell and Henry Chadwick typically began 1864 game accounts in the Sunday Mercury and the New York Clipper by evaluating the turnout, not of fans, but players.  Had both gentlemen been transported to the Naval Yard on Saturday, they would have quickly concluded that the Atlantic were missing some of their key players, especially the left side of their infield, one of the best in the country.  The Brooklyn team, however, didn't get to be a top team by relying on just a few players and those present were more than worthy of the club's reputation especially in terms of its defense.  While the Atlantic players are fully capable of making spectacular plays, their strength, in my view, is the way they consistently make the routine play, thereby giving opponents the minimum number of offensive opportunities. 

Photo by Mark Granieri

Flemington was also not at full strength and fortunate to have Chris Lauber, a muffin playing his first game and Matt Nunn, returning to action for the first time in several years.  Playing some good defense of its own, the Neshanock held the Atlantics scoreless for the first three inning while tallying five times for a 5-0 lead going to the bottom of the fourth.  No one thought that trend would continue and the Brooklyn club scored twice in both the fourth and fifth innings to trail by only one tally.  The Atlantic comeback was aided by one of the Neshanock's characteristic multiple out innings, in this case, combining three errors with the standard three outs.   Fortunately, and uncharacteristically, however, the damage was limited to only two tallies.  From that point on, however, it was the Neshanock's day, Flemington tallied seven more times while holding the Atlantic to only two runs for a 12-6 Neshanock victory.  Offensively, Flemington was led by Jeff "Duke" Schneider and Mark "Gaslight"Granieri with three hits each, "Gaslight" recording a clear score in the process.  They were ably supported by Adam "Beast" Leffler and the Neshanock's three Nunns - "Jersey" Jim, Chris "Sideshow" and the aforementioned Matt with two each.  Scott "Snuffy" Hengst,in only his second career start, pitched very effectively and, with the one exception, was well supported by his defense. 

Photo by Mark Granieri

After taking on one of vintage base ball' senior clubs in the first Saturday match (the vintage version of the Atlantics were founded in 1997), the Neshanock next played a relatively new team, the Brandywine Club out of West Chester, Pennsylvania, founded in 2013.  Flemington has enjoyed playing Brandywine at various locations ranging from Ringwood Manor State Park in New Jersey to two memorable contests a year ago at the Hecklerfest in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.  Flemington again got off to a fast start, scoring twice in the first and leading 7-0 after four innings.  Brandywine is too good a team to go down easily, however, and they rallied to close to within 9-6 as the game went to the bottom of the seventh.  Fortunately, Flemington tallied four times, for a 13-6 lead and held on for a 13-8 victory.  Sadly, the win was marred by a broken finger suffered by "Sideshow"which will sideline him for the rest of the season.  Flemington got another strong pitching performance from "Snuffy" and the offense was led by Ken "Tumbles" Mandel and "Gaslight" with three hits apiece, "Gaslight" coming up just one at bat short of another clear score.  Five other Neshanock's had two hits apiece and even more impressively, 10 of the 11 Flemington players tallied at least once.

Photo by Mark Granieri

After round trips of varying distances, early Sunday morning found the Neshanock in reduced numbers back at the Navy Yard for the festival's second day.  Fortunately the remnant from Saturday was joined by some regulars plus two muffins, Nick Mendell and Joel Price both of whom made important contributions.  First up for the Neshanock was the host Athletic Club already with one win under the their collective belts, and another to come, led by former Neshanock and old friend Greg "Southwark" Stoloski.  Once again, (are we noticing a pattern here), Flemington got off to a quick start leading 6-0 after just two innings.  At that point, however, the Athletics shut down the Neshanock and closed to within 6-3 as Flemington batted in the sixth.  Fortunately, the Athletics, according to "Southwark," have a tendency to give up the ten run inning, much like the Neshanock's susceptibility to the multiple out inning.  On this occasion it turned out to be eight runs, but it was more than enough to propel Flemington to a 17-4 win, nowhere near as decisive as the score suggested.  Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner led the Neshanock with five hits while Renee "Mango" Marrero and Joel (in his first game) added four apiece.  Continuing the offensive balance of Saturday's second game every Neshanock had at least two hits.   

Photo by Mark Granieri 

By the time Flemington's final match of the classic began, my sense was both teams were tired from the heat, the travel and two full days of baseball.  I know I was and, other than hitting the dirt twice to avoid foul line drives, I hadn't been moving around that much.  After opening the weekend against, one of the country's top vintage teams, the Neshanock finished up with another, the Talbot Fairplays from Maryland.  Like Flemington, Talbot didn't have its full roster, but those present took a back seat to nobody.   While the Neshanock again scored first, Talbot quickly took the lead in the bottom of the first and led 8-6 after four innings before Flemington tied it in the fifth. The Neshanock then retook the lead, scoring twice in the fifth and five times in the seventh to lead 13-8.  Unfortunately, the multi-out inning once again raised its ugly head and along with some solid hitting, Talbot closed the gap to 13-11.  Flemington only had one base runner over the next two innings which might have spelled disaster, but Talbot managed only a single run in the eighth and the game headed to the last inning with the Neshanock clinging to a one run lead.  In its last at bat of the weekend, however, the lower half of the Flemington order added two badly needed insurance runs and the Neshanock earned a very hard fought 15-12 victory over a very worthy adversary.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Dan "Sledge" Hammer led the Neshanock attack with four hits, including two triples and tallied four times, once more than "Duke" who had two hits of his own.  "Thumbs," "Mango," "Jersey" and Chris "Lowball" Lowry each added three hits with "Lowball's" especially important since they came from the bottom of the batting order.  Now 15-6 on the season, Flemington will be off for the Labor Day weekend before returning to action at 4:00 (yes 4:00) on Saturday, September 8th in Long Valley, New Jersey against the Diamond State Club of Delaware.  The quote at the head of this post is from a popular urban legend about the comedian, W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946), who was born in Philadelphia and made countless jokes at the expense of his native city.  Supposedly his tombstone bears one last shot at the City of Brotherly Love of which there are various versions including  "Better here than in Philadelphia."  According to the website, www.legendsrevealed.com, the story is in fact only a joke he told many years before his death.  For those of us in the vintage base ball community fortunate enough to attend the classic, it's safe to say that thanks to the Athletic Club, there was no place we would rather have been this past weekend than in Philadelphia!