"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."