After opening the season in less than ideal weather, there was some understandable concern about the outlook for yesterday's match in Morristown. The Neshanock were scheduled to play long-time in-state rival, the Hoboken Nine at Fosterfields Living History Farm. Fortunately, the rain stopped early in the morning and by the time I was approaching Morristown, the sun was starting to break through the clouds, a promising sign if there ever was one. Such proved to be the case as the sunny and relatively warm conditions brought out a good and attentive crowd who seemed to enjoy baseball played by the 1864 rules. The staff at Fosterfields makes every effort to accommodate our needs and we hope this match continues to be an annual event for the Neshanock.
Unfortunately, Hoboken arrived short-handed, but Andrew "Sun Dial" Moschella and Don Becker manfully agreed to fill in along with Sebastian, a young man in the crowd who volunteered to help out. The game began with Hoboken at the striker's line and they quickly took a 2-0 lead. However, the Neshanock rallied for five tallies in their half of the inning and led 5-3, coming to bat in the bottom of the third. Flemington added three more runs that inning and then erupted for nine tallies in the fourth for a commanding 17-3 lead. Although the Neshanock only added four more runs the rest of the way, another solid defensive effort kept Hoboken off the scoreboard until the eighth inning. The 21-6 victory was a second solid all-around effort by Flemington and hopefully prepares the Neshanock for some very challenging games over the next few weeks.
Paul "O'Neill" Cincotta led Flemington's attack with four hits, followed by Thomas "Hawk" Prioli and Dan "Sledge" Hammer with three each. "Hawk" topped off his day with the Neshanock's first home run of the season and, I believe, the first of his career. Jeff "Duke" Schneider, Sam "Ewing" Ricco, Dave "Illinois" Harris, Mark "Gaslight" Granieri, Ken "Tumbles" Mandel, "Bobby "Melky" Ritter and Chris "Lowball" Lowry also contributed to a very balanced Neshanock attack with two hits apiece. Both of "Melky's" hits came in the same inning. Late in the game, Caleb Kasmin substituted for his uncle "Duke," drawing a walk and playing flawlessly in the field. "Illinois," "Melky" and Bob "Riverboat" Smith (minus the bingo calling) ably handled the pitching duties. Two defensive plays were of special note. "Lowball" grabbed a fly ball to right field out of mid-air with one hand and "Illinois," playing at second, was in the middle of a well-executed ground ball double play.
Ken "Tumbles" Mandel lives up to his nickname under Sam Bernstein's watchful eye
Saturday marked the Neshanock debut, not of a new player, but our new brochure - a successfully completed off-season project. Late last season, Chris Lowry and I decided to create a brochure to provide spectators with some early baseball history and a summary of 1864 rules. Although progress has been made in baseball history, as the sign below indicates, we're far from done. More also needs to be known and appreciated about New Jersey's important role in the early game. While baseball history is usually of interest at our games, by far the most popular topic is the rule differences and when the current rules came into effect.
Clearly there is more work to do in baseball history
This project was high on our agenda for what always seems like a long offseason with plenty of time to accomplish all our goals. I've learned from experience though that offseason projects are somewhat like New Year's resolutions, frequently "more honored in the breech than in the observance." Such, however, was not the case with the brochure, primarily because the project became an informal team effort. Supposedly having a committee design something of this nature produces an end product that is more or less useless. Fortunately, however, the opposite was true of this brochure.
First, we received valuable historical input from Richard Hershberger and Paul Hunkele which improved the content. Brad Shaw then made the invaluable suggestion of shifting from a narrative to a bullet point format - far easier to read and much more accessible. Next, Sam Bernstein took the draft and put it in a tri-part folder which made the brochure even more user-friendly and less expensive to print. Simultaneously, Eve Mandel and Mary Nunn provided helpful edits that improved the final product. Thanks to all those who helped produce what will be a valuable resource in our efforts to teach baseball history. Copies are available on request.
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