Playing (Or Not PLaying) on the Fourth of July

In all the posts about Neshanock games in this blog, I don't think the attendance has ever been mentioned, probably for one of two reasons - either there weren't enough people to count or no one bothered to do so.  As a result, Saturday's games at New Bridge Landing in River Edge, New Jersey are a Flemington first.  According to a reliable source (Carol Zinn), the Bergen County Historical Society's official count was 350, some 50 more than a year ago.  Even if that number is a little off, it was still an excellent crowd which enjoyed two games between the Neshanock and a new local team, the Enterprise Club of New Bridge.  Flemington had somewhat diminished numbers and the local team kindly lent the Neshanock two players - Kyle and Don.  The first of two seven-inning games got underway with the Enterprise Club at the striker's line and they wasted no time in scoring their first two tallies in an inning where Flemington was fortunate to limit the damage.  Nor did the Neshanock do much at the striker's line in their first two attempts and New Bridge led 2-0 going to the bottom of the third.  Flemington finally got its offense untracked in that inning, scoring five times, but the Bergen County team quickly got two back in the top of the fourth, to narrow the deficit to one tally.  

Fortunately for Flemington, they broke things open in their half of the fourth, tallying five times, keyed by a two-out, three-run home run by Kyle playing in his first vintage game.  Leading 10-4 at that point, the Neshanock coasted home to a 20-7 victory.  Kyle and Chris "Low Ball" Lowry led the Flemington attack with three hits apiece, aided by Jeff "Duke" Schneider, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri, Dave "Illinois" Harris, and Brian "Spoons" Lo Pinto with two each.  After a break, the two teams returned to the field and similar to two weeks ago in Delanco, Flemington used an early big inning to take a commanding lead in route to a 21-6 win.  "Duke" and "Gaslight" contributed four hits each to the Neshanock's offense while "Illinois" and Kyle had three apiece, Kyle hitting a second home run.  Among those with two hits were Joe "Mick" Murray, Scott "Snuffy" Hengst, and Don who recorded Flemington's only clear score of the day.  "Illinois" and Bobby "Melky" Ritter divided the pitching responsibilities with "Duke" making his first appearance between the pitching lines to close out the second game.  While the Neshanock won both games, the Enterprise Club acquitted themselves admirably in their first two matches and Flemington hopes to see them on the field again.  Next weekend, Flemington travels to Gettysburg to take part in the 10th annual nineteenth-century,  baseball festival, one of 24 teams playing four games over two days.

A baseball game at Sauk Centre, Minnesota, July 4, 1908

The New Bridge Landing historical site is located in River Edge, a Bergen County community bordering on Hackensack, County Seat of Bergen County and ancestral home of the Zinn family.  In past posts, I've noted that despite its proximity to New York City, baseball didn't really take hold in Bergen County until the post Civil War years.  It appears the first team in Hackensack itself was the Ionic Club which interestingly played its first game on July 4, 1866, a 54-8 loss to the Everett Club of New York City.  Interesting primarily because the game was played on July 4th, our country's national holiday.  Playing (or not playing) on the Fourth of July, caught my attention because this year there were no major league baseball games in New York City on Independence Day, partially because the Yankees were on the road, but primarily because the Mets were not scheduled.  Baseball may no longer be the National Pastime, but not playing on the anniversary of the country's birth still seems more than a little incongruous.

A little research and reflection, although far from exhaustive, suggests that baseball's early connection with July 4th was more driven by economics (read filthy lucre) than identifying the national holiday with the national pastime.  References to baseball as the country's national game date back to before the Civil War, but in 1860, the last year of baseball's first growth spurt, precious little baseball was played on Independence Day, at least in the New York area.  According to the two major sports weeklies, the New York Clipper and the New York Mercury, only five games were scheduled for July 4, 1860, and one of those was an inter-squad game.  Indeed, Marshall Wright's compilation of the records of 21 teams for the 1860 season doesn't show a single game played on the Fourth.   According to a study of baseball's antebellum growth by Bruce Allardice, in 1860, there were 426 teams in Brooklyn (then an independent city) and Manhattan alone less than 2% of which played on Independence Day.  Nor do the numbers increase significantly in 1866, Wright chronicles 58 teams for that season only 12 (21%) of which played on the Fourth.

Things appear to have changed, however, when professional baseball became the order of the day.  In order to survive professional clubs needed paying customers when the potential customer base was significantly limited in the population centers on the East Coast because Sunday baseball was illegal, the one day when most people were off from work.  That made any holiday, especially Decoration Day and Independence Day, the two national holidays, important days to play and try to attract large crowds.  It was primarily for that reason on July 4, 1873 that Harry Wright, manager of the Boston Red Stockings, trying to overcome the Elizabeth Resolutes almost non-existent gate appeal, decided to play the first professional doubleheader (separate admission, of course), hoping thereby to convince those in the city for the holiday to use some of their time and money to see at least one game.

18,000 fans take in the afternoon game of a July 4, 1907, morning/afternoon doubleheader at Washington Park in Brooklyn - Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 1907 

As professional baseball expanded in the 1880s and 1890s, playing at home on holidays became a priority for clubs to the point that league meetings on the schedule became very acrimonious with the 1888 National League schedule meeting lasting until 3:00 a.m. after a 12-hour debate.  Charles Ebbets first made a name for himself in baseball circles by developing schedules that won such quick approval that the 1891 National League version was approved in a mere 20 minutes. The key to Ebbets approach was fairness and he resolved the quarrels over key holidays (known as plums) by what would seem to be the obvious solution of alternating the best dates on an every other year basis.  Another reason the competition for the Fourth and other holidays was so intense was that gate receipts were by far the largest source of club revenue which also drove game times and other factors that impacted fans willingness to plunk their quarters down for a game.  Today, of course, baseball is very different, ticket revenue may be important, but television has far outstripped it.  As a result, national holidays are for the most part, no different than any other day to the point that when necessary, skipping one is really no big deal, at least not to the "powers that be."