"Freshly Remembered"

Newark Evening News - October 21, 1929

Having survived, if not recovered, from last week's three hour, rain soaked marathon, Saturday saw the Neshanock at historic Cameron Field in South Orange (much more about that later) for what, I believe was the fourth time.  As always, the opposition was provided by the home standing South Orange Villagers, a team which comes together annually just for this game.  Last year the locals pulled out a dramatic win in the bottom of the ninth so Flemington had a full squad on hand for this year's renewal.  Striking first, South Orange tallied once and then added two in the second, matching the three runs Flemington scored in the bottom of the first.  In their half of the second, however, the Neshanock tallied six times and added four in the third for a commanding 13-3 lead and never looked back on the way to a 24-12 victory.  Despite being behind almost from the very beginning the local team played hard and put forward a very manly effort.  Playing 19th century base ball just once a year is very difficult and the South Orange team always puts forth a solid effort.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Danny "Lefty" Gallagher led the Neshanock attack with a five hit clear score, tallying all five times in the process.  Not far behind were Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner and Dave "Illinois" Harris with four apiece while "Jersey" Jim Nunn and Bob "Melky" Ritter each contributed three hits to the Neshanock attack.   Ken "Tumbles" Mandel also had three hits and reached once on a muff thereby earning Flemington's second clear score of the day.  Of special note on the defensive side was Mark "Gaslight" Granieri who "gunned" down an opposing runner, a feat he usually saves only for matches in Hudson County or Long Island.  Also, for what seemed like the first time this season, Flemington twice took advantage of the fact that there was no infield fly rule in 1864, recording a double play on each occasion.  Flemington recorded two other double plays, giving plenty of support for "Melky" and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst in the pitcher's box.  With the win, Flemington is now 16-7 on the season with six matches left over the next three weekends, beginning next Saturday in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

Photo by Mark Granieri

Mention Cameron Field to almost anyone in Essex County and invariably the response is that Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played there.  It says something about the importance of memory and history in base ball, perhaps more so than in any other sport.  Being reminded again of this historic event motivated me to look at the contemporary newspaper accounts of the game played on Sunday, October 27, 1929 when our country was on the precipice of the stock market crash and the great depression.  Looking at the reports in the Newark Evening News and the Daily Home News yielded further information including the fact that over the course of eight days, Cameron Field hosted base ball royalty not once, but twice.  On the preceding Sunday, the local team supplemented their lineup with the addition of three members of the Philadelphia Athletics fresh off winning the World Series from the Chicago Cubs.  Understandably we think of the Yankees of Ruth and Gehrig as being invincible, but 1929 was the exception.  Even though the Bronx Bombers had eight future Hall of Fame inductees on their roster, they were no match for a Philadelphia Athletic squad with four players bound for Cooperstown that won 104 games, finishing 18 games ahead of second place New York.

Left to right, Mule Haas, Howard Ehmke and Mickey Cochrane, Newark Evening News, October 21, 1929 

Both sets of major league reinforcements strengthened a semi-pro South Orange team that was enjoying plenty of success in its own right.   On Sunday, October 13, the local team defeated a squad from neighboring Maplewood for their 11th straight win, improving their overall record to 25-4.  Present at that game was George "Mule" Haas, a native of nearby Montclair and the center fielder on the Athletics, a lifetime .292 hitter who had just batted .313 for the World Series champions.  In mentioning Haas' presence, the Newark Evening News reported that he and pitcher Howard Emhke plus catcher Mickey Cochrane (one of Philadelphia's Hall of Fame players) would play for the South Orange club in next Sunday's game against the Doherty Silk Sox.   Ehmke and Cochrane were the same pitching/catching combination that won the first game of the 1929 World Series for Philadelphia.  While Cochrane's role was no surprise, Connie Mack's choice of the journeyman Ehmke over Lefty Grove and other star Athletics pitchers to start the first game of the World Series is a story that may merit a post in its own right.  Suffice it to say that Ehmke, a career .500 pitcher, not only won the game 3-1, he set a World Series record for strike outs with 13.

Daily Home News - October 28, 1929

While the addition of the three major leaguers to the already powerful South Orange lineup might suggest an impending rout, the Doherty Silk Sox (better known as the Paterson Silk Sox) were another strong semi-pro club with a long track record of playing and sometimes defeating major league teams.  Nor had the Paterson club stood pat with its own lineup adding three players with major league experience especially third baseman Joe Stripp.  Stripp from Harrison, New Jersey had just begun a ten year major league career that would see him hit over .300 on six different occasions.  Although Ruth and Gehrig obviously had more star quality, it was the October 20 game with the three Athletics which drew the bigger crowd, estimated at 12,000 by the Newark Evening News.  The crowd which the paper claimed "topped all records for semi-pro games in the state," got their money's worth in a game that saw the home team hold off a ninth inning Silk Sox rally and prevail, 7-6.  Cochrane managed two hits, but Haas, the local hero was only able reach base safely once.

Photo by Mark Granieri - note the 350 sign on the scoreboard, the railroad tracks are above and behind the fence so depending on exactly where Gehrig's first home run landed it probably traveled in the 375 to 400 range to left center.

Apparently not satisfied with giving the local fans one taste of base ball's best, the South Orange club hit the jackpot the following Sunday with Ruth and Gehrig.  Nor would the addition of the talented duo hurt the local club's chances of gaining a measure of revenge against their opponents, the New Brunswick Eagles who had handed South Orange one of its four losses.  Before a crowd, the Daily Home News of New Brunswick estimated at 10,000, the visitors took a quick 1-0 lead, but Eagles pitcher Mike Lauer quickly, and understandably, got in trouble in the bottom of the first.  With two on (Ruth via a single), Gehrig hit one "to the railroad tracks," his first of three circuit clouts on the day.  Ruth managed only one home run, a blast the Home News put at improbable 600 feet.  There was no further scoring until the top of the fourth when South Orange pitcher William "Wuzzy" Fullerton (supposedly a high minors pitcher) came unglued allowing five runs before Ruth came on in relief and struck out the last batter.

Daily Home News - October 28, 1929 - note the name of the umpire 

South Orange and its imported stars eventually restored order and the home club prevailed 14-7 in a game that was stopped in the eighth inning.  The Home News claimed the game was stopped because the supply of baseballs was exhausted (between 50 and 75) since unlike regular semi-pro games, fans were allowed to keep souvenirs.  The Newark Evening News offered a different explanation, claiming that the game was called when the crowd began "swarming out on the field" seeking Ruth's autograph.  Although Lauer, the New Brunswick pitcher had been predictably pounded by the two Yankees, he did have the satisfaction of striking out Ruth, a story he doubtless told ever thereafter to anyone who would listen.  Similarly fans from five to fifty-five, with or without autographs, had seen base ball royalty not as a distant speck from the bleachers, but much closer up and on their local field.  Clearly those memories have been repeated over almost a century so that the story is now a permanent part of community lore.  Doubtless there were many cold winter nights and hot summer days when those two Sundays in October were "in their flowing cups freshly remembered."

"A Time to Every Purpose"

Base ball is a very difficult game to play.  Perhaps it's the sport's unique nature - no clock and the only one I'm aware of where the defense handles the ball.  Regardless of the reason, however, no basketball player or football quarterback would make their respective Hall of Fame, if they were successful only 30% of the time, but base ball hitters who do so are lauded as being the best in the history of the sport.  It's a game, therefore, that's hard to play under the best of conditions and on Saturday, the Neshanock and their guests, the Diamond State Club of Delaware, found out what it's like playing in some of the worst conditions imaginable.  Played as part of Long Valley, New Jersey's green festival, the game took place like many vintage matches on a field that was far from level, but on "grass" that was at least ankle high making every ground ball a challenge.  That would have been bad enough by itself, but steady rain, as per usual not predicted, made bats, balls and hands so wet that it's safe to say there were no easy plays throughout the match.  On reflection, both teams and the umpire deserve a tremendous amount of credit for how, in spite of the difficult conditions, they gave it everything they had and then some.

Photo by Mark Granieri

The Diamond State Club is one of the east's best teams as evidenced by their winning the National Silver Ball Tournament in Rochester, New York only a few weeks ago.  A team that combines good hitting plus solid defense and pitching, Diamond State is not a team to play catch up against, but on this afternoon the Neshanock tried to so on an epic scale.  The game began at 4:08 (more on that later) with what has to have been the worst defensive inning in Flemington history (if there is ever a worse one I don't want to see it).   Diamond State's usual good hitting combined with double digit muffs and walks gave the Delaware Club a 13-0 lead before they even took the field.  The Neshanock, however, quickly got their bats going and aided and abetted by the poor conditions tallied 15 times in the first three innings while holding Diamond State to only four more runs so that incredibly, Flemington trailed only 17-15.  From that point the game consisted of the Neshanock trying to match however many runs Diamond State scored and always coming up a little short.  

Photo by Mark Granieri 

Ahead by just four (nothing on this day) headed to the top of the ninth, Diamond State added four more insurance tallies with two out which was too much for Flemington overcome.  The final score was a hard to believe 37-32 (no football jokes please) in an equally unfathomable two hours and 52 minutes which has to be a Neshanock record, again one I have no interest in seeing matched or repeated.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about a 19th century reporter for the Trenton Evening Times who qualified his box score of a 14 inning game by saying he couldn't vouch to the accuracy because he had run out of paper.  I can now identify with him since my score book got so wet, it was impossible to keep detailed records for the last few innings.  As far as I can tell, Flemington was led by Dave "Illinois" Harris with six hits while Joe "Mick" Murray and Danny "Lefty" Gallagher contributed five apiece.  "Mick" did so, in spite of having to leave early and miss the last three innings.  Also noteworthy were four hits by Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner and Mark "Gaslight" Granieri plus two home runs by Joseph "Sleepy" Soria.  Congratulations to Diamond State on winning a vintage base ball marathon and to both teams plus our umpire Sam "It ain't nothin' til I say" Bernstein for  their efforts under extremely unpleasant conditions. 

Photo by Mark Granieri

Saturday's scheduled start time of 4:00 was a first in my more than ten years of vintage base ball score keeping.  For the most part, the first pitch of Neshanock matches is supposed to take place at 11 or 12:00 o'clock and I gather that's fairly common place with some club preferring a 1:00 start especially on Sundays.  The atypical start time for the Long Valley match brought to mind a recent discussion about start times on the Historical Accuracy in Nineteenth Century Base Ball Face Book page. The pressing issue or question was the practical one of finding the time most conducive to player participation in second decade of the 21st century rather than the page's primary concern about how things were actually done in the second half of the 19th century.  Like most things, start times didn't happen in a vacuum, there was a reason or reasons for picking that specific hour on that specific day.  Typically, the start time was set for the convenience of a certain group or audience which has changed not just as the game has changed, but as the world around it has changed.  A look at start times in two different eras will, hopefully, illustrate the point.

New York Clipper - August 13, 1864

The place to look for historical start times is, of course, contemporary newspapers, but the Neshanock's score book, a replica of Henry Chadwick's 1868 version provides at least one clue to the 1860's.   Included on the pre-printed format is space to record when the match started and ended, with both listed as p.m. so clearly the late morning start times so popular in vintage base ball were not part of 19th century base ball world or at least not as far as Henry Chadwick was concerned.  Scanning through the New York Clipper for the 1864 season, the most popular match times were 2:30 or 3:00, a little bit earlier than I would have thought.  While some players were certainly paid in those days, few, if any, could support themselves and their families by base ball alone so matches had to be played during their free time of which there was precious little in the 1860's.  The only day off was Sunday when base ball and pretty much every other enjoyable activity was verboten to the point of incurring the wrath of the local police.  As a result time had to be found Monday-Saturday, almost all of which were work days, limiting participation to those with at least some control over their time.  The start times, therefore, were primarily driven by the needs of the players, not unlike the start times of vintage games.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle - October 2, 1916

If we fast forward about 50 years to 1916, towards the end of the Deadball Era, a season I'm very familiar with, start times were even later.  A scan of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle confirms that the typical start time for Brooklyn Dodger games that year was 3:30 which even with decreasing day light after Labor Day (there was no Daylight Savings time), wasn't moved up to 3:00 until the very last week of the season.   According to the paper, sunset the first week in October was around 5:30 so there wasn't a big window of daylight, but fortunately games during the Deadball Era typically lasted less than two hours.  Still suspensions for darkness weren't uncommon, raising the question of why not start earlier.  The answer is that by 1916, game times were driven not by the needs of the players, but those of the fans.  Sunday base ball was still illegal in New York City (until 1919) and this was long before night games so most contests were played when people were working.  As a result the target audience became those who again had some control of their time, (typically middle class office workers) this time not to play, but to watch.  In fact, the start time, plus the two hour or so game, let fans see a game and get home in time for dinner, both saving money and helping to preserve the domestic tranquility.

Photo by Mark Granieri

The late afternoon start times are also evidence of how dependent club owners were on fans who paid to come to the ballpark.  At the time, the owners, or magnates as they liked to be called, had only one primary source of revenue - ticket sales.  Radio and television rights, memorabilia and other things were years away forcing owners to pay much more attention to the needs of the average person with a quarter to spend on a game.  Today, of course, its the opposite, television is the biggest source of revenue and it drives game times as well as other things.  Televised base ball is, of course, a wonderful thing, expanding the game's reach far beyond those with the money and time to attend a game.  However, attending a 2015 National League playoff game on a Monday night that ended after Monday Night Football (can't think of the last time I saw the end of a Monday night football game), made me remember fondly the days when the World Series was played during the day even when school forced us to miss the first few innings.  Of course, no matter the start time, it's the game itself that counts and that's always worth waiting for even under conditions like Saturday in Long Valley.