Opening Day - 2023

Baseball history sometimes unintentionally repeats itself in ways so subtle the repetition is virtually unnoticed.  A few weeks ago in a post about early baseball in Newark, I wrote that the primary way people learned about baseball in the 1850s was by watching a game or hearing about it from someone else.  Not long afterwards, Neshanock field captain, Chris "Lowball" Lowry reminded me that the same thing is true of vintage baseball today, something I hadn't even considered.  In spite of all our modern modes of communication, most new players, as Chris pointed out, come to us from either attending a game or hearing about it from a friend.  Another example of this unconscious repetition is scheduling the first game of the season where again, without design, modern practice mirrors the past.  

All photos by Mark Granieri

Back in 1855, two Newark teams, probably without any sense they were making history, got together and agreed to play the opening day game of New Jersey's first baseball season. In 2023, of course, there are multiple openers - college, major league baseball, minor league baseball, high school and all the different youth leagues.  Then there is vintage baseball which is different in one important way.  In all of the other forms of baseball, some formal authority either determines the who, when and where of the season's first game or sets the rules for doing so. In vintage baseball, however, teams have almost complete control over when they play their first game, subject only to finding an opponent. And the interesting thing is that's exactly the way teams began their seasons back in the 1850s and 1860s.

While the means of communication have changed, vintage baseball games in 2023 are arranged very much as they were in 1866

For the Flemington Neshanock and the Hoboken Nine, the 2023 season began this past Saturday at Fosterfields Living History Farm outside of Morristown.  It proved to be a very nice venue, the event was well organized by the host and appreciated by a good turnout of spectators.  Hoboken went to the striker's line first and quickly put runners on first and third with none out.  The next striker hit a fly ball to short right field which Tom "Thumbs" Hoepfner caught after a long run.  When the runner on third tagged up and tried to score, "Thumbs" threw a strike to Mark "Gaslight" Granieri who applied the tag for a well executed double play.  Flemington got out of the inning and quickly took charge in the bottom of the first, tallying six times.  The Neshanock added 13 more runs in the next two innings in route to a 28-4 opening day win. 

A very nice opening day turnout

"Thumbs" led the Flemington attack with five hits and his first clear score of the season, followed closely by Joe "Mick" Murray who had four hits plus a clear score of his own.  Marching as usual to a different drummer, and out of step at that, Ken "Tumbles" Mandel had a clear score which featured two walks, a fielder's choice and three hits.  Danny "Lefty" Gallagher didn't have a clear score, but more than made up for it with a prodigious home run blast.  Also joining the three hit parade were Ernie "Shredder" Albanesius, Bob "Riverboat" Smith and the aforementioned "Gaslight." Jim "Jersey" Nunn, Paul Cincotta and Bobby "Melky" Ritter chipped in two hits apiece.  Paul was playing his first Neshanock game and we're glad to have him with us.  "Melky" also contributed in the field both at first base as well as pitching. In addition to "Melky," "Riverboat" and Dave "Illinois" Harris kept the Hoboken strikers off base.  It was good to get back on the field again and the Neshanock look forward to the rest of the 2023 season.

Restoring the backstop

 Fosterfields would be hard pressed to have a more historic location than Morristown, a place of great importance not just to New Jersey, but also the nation.  Properly dubbed the military capital of the American Revolution, Morristown was the home to the Continental Army for two difficult winters.  While for some reason Valley Forge has become the symbol of the suffering for the patriot cause, the soldiers encamped around Morristown in 1779-80 endured the worst winter of the eighteenth century.  When spring finally arrived, it wasn’t accompanied by a new baseball season, but considering the village’s long history, it’s no surprise residents “discovered” baseball relatively early during the game’s spread throughout New Jersey.   

Muffin Paul Cincotta in his Neshanock debut

Two baseball clubs were formed in Morristown in the fall of 1858 – the Niagara Club and the aptly named Morristown Club.  Little information survives about the Niagaras, but the background of William Duncan and John Runyon, the founding president and treasurer respectively of the Morristown team, gives a sense of how they might have learned about the game.  Both men were members of the Morristown fire department, a fertile ground for the formation of new baseball teams.  In addition, Duncan and Runyon owned local businesses.  Runyon, founded a bookstore in 1851 while Duncan was a confectioner which was more like a bakery in the nineteenth century.  The bakery products were likely put to good use in his other business - the historic Arnold Tavern which was extensively used by Washington during the revolution.

Ken "Tumbles" Mandell in action - baseball like it's never been played before

While the fire department connection was a positive, it’s far more likely that Duncan and Runyon learned about baseball through business interactions with people in Newark.  At the time Morristown was home to two weekly newspapers, The Jerseyman and The True Democratic Banner.  Both papers regularly carried ads for Newark businesses with The Jerseyman setting aside a separate section for that purpose.  Clearly those businesses would not have paid for ads in the Morristown papers, if the residents didn’t shop in Newark.  And making trips there was relatively convenient thanks to the availability of daily roundtrip railroad service.  As Duncan and Runyon went about running their respective businesses, it seems highly likely there was interaction with Newark men who played baseball or at least knew about it.  Exactly how it happened is unknown, but it’s no surprise civic leaders like Duncan and Runyon were inspired to make baseball history in one of New Jersey’s most historic places.