Clutch

After a month without a Saturday game (remind me to speak to the schedule maker), yesterday, the Neshanock visited the Howell Living History Farm. At Howell, unlike other regular venues, we've played on multiple fields.  Saturday was at least the fourth different "field" on the farm's 100 or so acres.  Apparently, the choice is driven by the hay harvesting schedule which may suggest why organized baseball got started in the cities not the farm belt.  Once again, the Elizabeth Resolutes were our opponent, a renewal of New Jersey's oldest vintage baseball rivalry.  The Neshanock were very fortunate to have two new players with us. Sean Christman made his debut and Pete DiSciascio played, I believe, for the second time.  We would love to have them join us on a regular basis.

All photos by Mark Granieri

Having lost the coin toss, Flemington started out at the striker's line and tallied three times due in large measure to doubles by Don "Splinter" Becker and Sean.  Elizabeth got one back in their half then closed the margin to 4-3 after three innings and 5-4 after five.  But the Neshanock added two in the top of the sixth sparked by Chris "Sideshow" Nunn's double and his aggressive baserunning.  And the Flemington offense was far from done adding four more tallies over the last three innings on the way to an 11-6 victory.

With these four in charge what could possibly go wrong?

Rene "Mango" Marrero led the Neshanock attack with four hits including two doubles.  Right after him were our two newcomers, Sean and Pete who contributed three hits apiece.  "Sideshow" and Mark "Gaslight" Granieri chipped in with two hits each.  Usually a singles hitting team, Flemington struck six doubles with Chris "Lowball" Lowery also joining the club.  Although there were some muffs by the Flemington defense, in almost every case, the Neshanock fielders limited the damage. At second base, Paul "O'Neill" Cincotta had three assists and three putouts.  

Muffin Pete DiSciascio

If there was a theme to the win, it was clutch play both at the striker's line and in the field.  Two of Pete's three hits were two out hits, late in the game, sending three tallies across the plate.  Especially noteworthy on the defensive side was "Gaslight's" play in the seventh and eighth innings when he retired four Resolute strikers on foul bound outs.  The importance of foul bound outs can't be overemphasized as it's an at bat where the opposition doesn't even put the ball in play.  Bobby "Melky" Ritter's pitching was effective, as usual.  He also recorded two strikeouts, a fairly rare occurrence in vintage baseball.

Sam Bernstein keeps a watchful eye on muffin Sean Christman in his first time at the striker's line

In the last post, I used an 1858 box score to illustrate the long history of prep school baseball in New Jersey. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details, but little escapes “Gaslight’s” eagle eyes. He was quick to point out three things that differ from the modern game beginning with the description of the contest as a conquering game.  It’s a fairly common term in the 1850s and 1860s for the deciding game of what was effectively a best of three game series.  I was not, however, familiar with the abbreviation “L.S” instead of “C.F” for center field. “L.S.” stands for “long stop” and was apparently originally a cricket term. 

1858 Box Score probably from the New York Clipper

Most interesting of the three, however, were two almost identical batting orders with the places determined by the players’ defensive positions.  A look at the New York Clipper for the same month revealed at least five other games with similar batting orders.  This approach especially with boy's teams suggests that since captains had limited knowledge of their players hitting ability, they used a method that was systematic and probably limited debate. It didn't take long though for teams to begin strategizing how to effectively use their best hitters, a debate that continues to this day. These box scores capture one phase of baseball's evolution.  A process that also continues and always will.