"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"

When I do presentations on early New Jersey baseball, I tell the audience there are three ways they can learn about the nineteenth-century game: the program they're attending, reading a book (preferably mine), and/or they can watch vintage baseball in person.  Very rarely does anyone have the chance to do two of the three things on the same day. But that was the experience of some Hun School students this past Friday.  Thanks to Bart Bronk, the Head of School, the Neshanock were again invited to be part of "Baseball: More Than a Pastime," his two-week class which is part of the school's Next Term program.  The class aims to examine how "baseball's history and current day industry" enhances a comprehensive understanding of the game's "unique place in the collective American psyche."

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Mark Granieri

It was clearly a busy two weeks. In addition to classroom work, the students visited three minor league ballparks, the Yogi Berra Museum, the Commissioner's Office and the Phillies R&D department at Citizens Bank Park.  For their final project, the students created a Princeton-based minor league franchise.  The Neshanock's role was to introduce the students to the game's history through a classroom presentation and a match played by 1864 rules.

Sam Bernstein leads the always fascinating discussion of how baseball rules evolved - photo by Sam Ricco

The classroom presentation began with my talk about how organized baseball evolved from the clubs of the 1830s and 1840s through the formation of the major leagues.   Sam Bernstein then gave some background on umpiring and described how he works a game played by 1860s rules.  This included a discussion of how the very different rules of the Civil War era changed into today's rules.  As always, this was the topic the audience was most interested in.  We then adjourned to Hun's WILF field, where the students could play by those rules in a game against the Neshanock.  

WILF Field was ready for baseball, right down to the weather vane

While the Neshanock won the game, the most impressive thing was the tremendous enthusiasm the students displayed from beginning to end.  During the post-game speeches, Hun sophomore Jacob Lilenthal stressed how much fun it was for them to play baseball by the old rules.  Throughout the event, I was reminded of how the New Jersey Historical Society uses "object-based" learning to complement classroom presentations. It's one thing to hear about what it was like to be a Civil War soldier, but wearing a replica uniform and carrying a musket with all the related equipment gives a more complete understanding of the actual experience.

Learning by doing

By all accounts, the students enjoyed the day, as did the Neshanock.  Thanks again to Bart and the Hun students.  We hope to come back next year and would be interested in discussing similar opportunities with other schools.  After all, it's not very often we get to teach in two different ways on the same occasion.  As the song says, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad."