Remembering the "Babe Ruth" of South Jersey

On Saturday, the Neshanock's June in Jersey tour made its final stop in Delanco Township where Flemington was privileged for the second time to take part in the south Jersey community's Babe Ruth Day event.  The Neshanock are grateful to our host Peter Fritz and all the participants who made us feel welcome and helped us cope with the extreme heat.  One interesting baseball history note was provided by Civil War re-enactors from the 23rd New Jersey, a regiment that came primarily from Burlington County.  In addition to presenting the colors, a member of the regiment (I believe Ron Naylor, Jr.) distributed a handout with excerpts from the Civil War Diary of Josiah Crispin that detail how the members of the regiment learned about baseball during their Civil War service.  While the war's role in baseball expansion has probably been exaggerated, I believe that in New Jersey it helped the game reach new areas of the state.  To date, no evidence has been found of baseball clubs in south Jersey before the war and these excerpts illustrated how watching other soldiers play the game helped baseball spread throughout the state. This new source, at least to me, probably merits further exploration.

Game action 

Chris "Low Ball" Lowry (left) and Rene "Mango" Marrero examine bat smashed by Danny "Lefty"Gallagher while Joe "Mick" Murray looks on

Flemington was joined in Delanco by the Monmouth Furnace Club, still, a relatively new team formed and led by Russ McIver.  Starting a new club is never easy and vintage baseball in our state needs the Furnace so we hope they stay with it no matter the rough spots along the way.  In the first game, the Monmouth team played a solid game in the field catching a number of unsuspecting Neshanock base runners off guard, but Flemington generated enough offense to tally 11 times.  Dan "Lefty" Gallagher, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri and Jeff "Duke" Schneider" led the attack with two hits apiece.  In the field, the Neshanock used a strong defensive effort behind the pitching of Dave "Illinois" Harris and Scott "Snuffy" Hengst to keep Monmouth off the scoreboard.  Two strong throws by "Snuffy" and Rene "Mango" Marerro highlighted the Neshanock defensive effort.

Photo by Doreen Harris

After a 30 minute break to re-hydrate, the second game began with the Neshanock at the striker's line for what turned out to be one of those innings where everything goes right for one team and wrong for the other.  At one point, the Neshanock had nine straight strikers reach base and when the dust had cleared, Flemington had scored 11 times. "Lefty," Joe "Mick" Murray, "Jersey" Jim Nunn, and Matt "Fly" Nunn each had three hits apiece for the Neshanock.  Both "Lefty" and "Mick" lost clear scores on the bases, but the father and son Nunn tandem earned their first clear scores of the season.  Ken "Tumbles" Mandel contributed one of his characteristic clear scores, reaching base three times with the benefit of only one hit.  Among those with two hits for Flemington were Chris "Low Ball" Lowry and Chris "Sideshow" Nunn.  The big first inning basically decided the game which was called after five innings due to the excessive heat.  Making his Neshanock debut was Dan "Muffin" Mahony who played a strong game in the field and we hope he will join us again.  With the two wins, Flemington is 9-3 on the season heading into our next game on July 6th in New Bridge Landing, River Edge, New Jersey.

The primary purpose of today's event was to commemorate the anniversary of a July 1, 1924 game when on this same field in Delanco, Babe Ruth hit a home run in an exhibition game, something that no one who saw it likely ever forgot.  While much in baseball is debatable, it's unlikely there would be many who would dispute the idea that the Bambino was the embodiment of what it means to be "larger than life," not just in baseball, but probably in almost every aspect of life.  One of the side effects of that kind of status is that other players who have done something significant are referred to as the Babe Ruth of their time, team, league or almost anything we can think of.  One example that I recently encountered was Hardy Richardson, one of a number of nineteenth-century major league players who got their start in New Jersey.  Richardson was born on April 21, 1855, in nearby Clarksboro and after playing for a Gloucester, New Jersey team in 1875 started his journey to the major leagues, beginning a 14-year major league career with Buffalo in 1879.

Richardson as a member of the 1882 Buffalo Bisons of the National League, note Purcell at the bottom of the picture is William "Blondie" Purcell from Paterson

Over the course of his career, Richardson played for six different teams but spent most of his time with Buffalo and Detroit, compiling a .299 lifetime batting average.  When the Buffalo team disbanded after the 1886 season, Richardson and three of his teammates were acquired by the Detroit Wolverines where they became known as the "Big Four," or perhaps more accurately, the "Second Big Four."  The first quartet to earn that title were Albert Spalding, Cal McVey, Deacon White, and Ross Barnes who William Hulbert lured away from Boston to join his Chicago team for the 1876 season.  White, a Hall of Famer, had the distinction of being part of both foursomes, joined in Detroit by fellow Hall of Famer, Dan Brothers, Jack Rowe, and, of course, Richardson.  The Detroit acquisitions lived up to their billing, helping their new team win the 1887 National League championship, and then defeated the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in a 15 game "World Series," played in nine different cities.  All in all, Richardson has a very impressive resume, but the "Babe Ruth" reference seemed questionable since his 73 career home runs didn't even put him in the top 14 home run hitters of the nineteenth century, a group led by Roger Connors with 138.

Richardson as a member of the 1887 National League champion Detroit Wolverines 

Boston's Congress Street Grounds 

The primary source for the title seems to be Richardson's obituary in the January 22, 1931 issue of The Sporting News which called him both the "Babe Ruth of 80's" and the "Babe Ruth of the Nineteenth Century."  Similar to Frank Baker who became known as "Home Run" Baker because of two dramatic World Series home runs rather than the number of homers he hit, Richardson seems to have "earned" the title because he was the first player to hit home runs in five consecutive games. Ruth then repeated the feat in 1921.  Interestingly, Ruth was apparently given credit by some for having set the record rather than tying it.  Fortunately, Ernest J. Lanigan of the Pittsburgh Press confirmed that Richardson, then a member of the Boston Reds of the Players League, homered in five straight games in July of 1890, all over the left field fence at Boston's Congress Street Grounds. The New Jersey native led the upstart league in both home runs (16) and runs batted in (152) as he apparently benefited from the league's use of a "lively" ball and a short left field fence.  While the "Babe Ruth" title may not be totally appropriate, it doesn't detract from the fine record of another new Jersey baseball player.