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May 12, Chester, NJ - On a beautiful sunny afternoon in Chester, New Jersey a wild an festive affair was had on the ball field between the Neshanock of Flemington and the Gothams of New York. Aces were tallied at a frantic pace from both sides, but in the end the team from Flemington prevailed by an amazing tally of 30-24. The bountiful spectators of Chester enjoyed this exciting match and even sang and danced throughout the contest. Game 1 Vs. Flemington Neshanock: The Gothams began the game on fire. Flytrap, Ringer, Shoeless, Trolley, and Homer all had one-base hits and a theft of 2nd base, resulting in 4 aces before any hands were made. The Gothams were also aided by several Neshanock revolvers (Hammer, Low Ball, San Antonio, and Cappy), who were clearly dissatisfied with the management of the Flemington club by Captain Brooklyn that they begged to join the Gotham club for the day. Contracts for the remainder of the season may be discussed as well. Flemington tallied one ace in their half of the 1st, but would have had more if it weren't for the trickery of the Gotham catcher Trolley. He let a passed ball get by him and Intentionally through wildly to the plate to induce the Neshanock runner to dash towards home, Ironweed swiftly picked up the ball and threw to Low Ball covering at home for the out. The fleet-footed Flytrap began the 2nd with a one-base hit and thefts of the next 2 bases and was brought home to tally his ace on a 3-base hit by Shoeless. The game was held up for a few minutes thereafter as Shoeless passed out at 3rd, before being revived in time to remain in the game. The Neshanock tallied 3 times in the 2nd despite a fine twin-killing by Weed stepping on 3rd and firing to the revived Shoeless at first and Low Ball retiring the final Neshanock striker on a 3rd strike. Then 3 of the revolving Neshanock ballists playing for the Gothams (Hammer, Low Ball, and San Antonio) combined to tally 2 additional aces in the Gotham 3rd. However, the Flemington club continued to be relentless by tallying 3 aces of their own to bring the score to 7-7 after 3 frames. The Gotham attack remained strong in the 4th, led by one-base hits by Flytrap, Shoeless, and Homer and a monstrous 2-base hit by the Ringer, they tallied 2 aces to take a 9-7 lead. The bottom of the 4th brought out an ugly beast from the past, known as the Gotham inning, which had been contained previously this season. 7 Flemington aces were had by a combination of poor Gotham field work and precise and powerful hitting by the Neshanock strikers, which temporarily deflated the Gotham spirits and gave the Neshanock a 14-9 edge. Low Ball, Stacks, and San Antonio led off the 5th with 3 clean one-base hits. Ironweed attempted to bring all 3 base-runners home with a 2-base hit over the head of the Neshanock left fielder, but San Antonio was easily put out a home plate. Incidentally, Hammer was fined 25 cents for sending the runner home. More Gotham history was to be had today as a booming 3-base hit for Rugs allowed him to join Trolley and another un-named Gotham (heard to be called a Wuss by the Flemington captain) in the 100 hit club. Additional one-base hits by Cappy, Rider, and Flytrap brought in 2 more aces to tie the score again at 14 each. The Gothams were Chicagoed for the first time in the 6th, but the Neshanock took advantage of the 2nd Gotham inning of the afternoon to tally an additional 7 aces and a commanding 22-14 lead after 6 innings. This Gotham club would not quit despite the dour circumstances. Trolley, Hammer, and Low Ball all reached base safely, swiped an additional base and tallied an ace to get within 4 of the powerful Flemington club. The only painful moment of the inning occurred when Home made a beautiful stop on a line drive smashed by Weed, the only problem being that Homer was the 3rd base coach at the time and he stopped the ball with his posterior. Just as the Gotham hopes began to rise, they were knocked down again by the Neshanock's striking ability by stroking hit after hit, some of which went directly through Gotham fingers, to tick off 5 more aces to build their lead up to 10. The Gothams had one last fierce attack left in them, which was induced by Flemington's captain Brooklyn bringing in a new pitcher and that was himself. The Gothams proceeded to act is if they were taking batting practice as Rugs, Cappy, and Rider each had one-base hits, then the fun began. The speedy Cappy was on 2nd base. He took a big lead to draw the ire of Brooklyn who took off running for him all the whilst Rugs was breaking for home, but by the time Brooklyn threw home the Gothams had pulled off there 1st ever triple steal and tallied an ace. That Cappy was the master of trickery! Brooklyn managed to put the next to Gothams down. Shoeless then led the next charge with a one-base hit and a theft of 2nd and tallied an ace on a one-base hit by Trolley, who also took 2nd base on the throw. A battle between the 2 captains then ensued as Trolley took off for 3rd and induced Brooklyn to Balk. Homer, Hammer, and Low Ball continued the hitting spree to bring the Gothams within 3 aces at 27-24, before Low Ball was thrown out attempting a theft of third by the Neshanock catcher for the final hand of the frame. After the Neshanock tallied 3 more times in their part of the 8th inning, Brooklyn settled down in the pitchers box and retired the Gothams in order to preserve the Neshanock victory at a final tally of 30-24. The Gothams have nothing to be ashamed of on this day. Newcomers Ringer and Rider displayed excellent field work in the outfield as did fellow rookie Flytrap. Revolvers Low Ball and Hammer also made excellent fielding plays. Bottom line though, the Gothams had to tip their caps to the Splendiferous play of the Flemington ball club. Until next time…Huzzah!! Individual Stats: Flytrap - 4-6, 3 Aces, 4 SB Ringer - 2-5, 1 2B, 2 Aces, 2 SB Shoeless - 4-6, 1 3B, 2 Aces, 1 SB Trolley - 3-5, 3 Aces, 3 SB Homer - 3-5, 1 Ace, 2 SB Hammer - 3-5, 3 Aces, 3 SB Low Ball - 5-5, 2 2B, 3 Aces, 4 SB Stacks - 1-5, 1 Ace San Antonio - 3-5 Weed - 1-5, 1 2B, 1 Ace, 1 SB Rugs - 2-3, 1 3B, 2 Aces, 1 SB Cappy - 2-2, 2 Aces, 1 SB Rider - 2-2, 1 Ace, 1 SB NY/NJ Cup 4/29/07 Old Bethpage, Long Island - Today the annual New York/New Jersey Cup was played between 4 fierce base ball clubs; The New York Mutuals, The New York Gothams, the Mineola Washingtons, and the Flemington Neshanock, with the Mutual Club winning the Cup with an undefeated record of 2 wins and no losses. Mineola and Flemington each had 1 win and 1 loss, while the Mighty Gothams were thwarted in each of there 2 contests by tallies of 17-7 against the Mutuals and 18-12 against the Washingtons. Game 1vs New York Mutuals - 1864 Rules: As it usually turns out, the Gothams played a hard and tough game against the vaunted Mutual club. The Gothams tallied first in the top of the first inning. Scratch began the scoring with a one-base hit and a theft of the second base and was able to tally his ace on a well struck hit by Shoeless to give the Gothams their first lead of this young season by a tally of 1-0. Stacks fine pitching chicagoed the Mutuals in their half of the first on what was appearing to be a low scoring affair. The Mutual pitching tandem of Express and Frank proceeded to mystify the Gotham strikers as they were chicagoed for the next 4 innings. The Mutuals mustered a rally to tally an ace in the 2nd frame, but were stopped in dramatic fashion in the 3rd when the Scratch the Gotham left fielder made a fine catch in deep left field and proceeded to fire a cannon shot to Trolley behind the plate to cut down the overzealous Express at Home Base for a double play. This accomplished the amazing feat of rendering Express speechless for the first time in his life as he was tagged out by Trolley. The 4th and 5th frames were, however, a different story. The mutuals struck back with a vengeance by tallying 5 aces in the 4th and 4 more in the 5th to take a commanding 10-1 lead. The Gothams were not yet finished though. Trolley, Cookie (replacing the valiant, but injured Wombat at 2B), Weed, Flytrap, and Stacks strung together consecutive one-base hits to get back within 10-5. Stacks followed that offensive outburst by chicagoing the Mutuals in their half of the 6th. Scratch and Shoeless teamed up a 2nd time in the 7th to tally the Gothams 6th ace and bring them within 4 of the Mutes, but that was the last hope for the winless team from New York City. The Mutuals tallied twice more times in the 7th and another 5 in the 8th for an insurmountable 17-6 lead. Scratch would not give up in the 9th as he reached 1st on his 3rd one-base hit of the day, made it to 2nd on his 4th base theft, moved to 3rd, while his captain Trolley suffered the indignity of being thrown out at first base by the Mutual right fielder on a hard struck ball. Shoeless singled to allow Scratch to tally his 3rd and the Gothams 7th and final ace of the game, resulting in the final tally of 17-7 in favor of the Mutuals. It should be noted that the Gotham left fielder Scratch and rookie second sacker Cookie displayed a fine array of field work while the rest of the Gotham fielders had a much more difficult time holding onto the base ball today. Individual Stats: Slider - 0-5 Scratch - 3-5, 3 aces, 4 SB Trolley - 2-5, 1 2B, 1 Ace Shoeless - 3-5 Wombat - 0-2 Cookie - 1-3, 1 Ace Weed - 1-4, 1 Ace Flytrap, 1-4, 1 Ace Stacks - 2-4, 1 SB Wickets - 1-4, 1 SB Game 2 vs. Mineola Washingtons - 1864 Rules: The game started with mishaps for the mighty Gothams. 3 of the first four Gotham strikers reached base on hits, but twice Gotham strikers let down their runners by swinging and hitting foul balls while runners were attempting thievery and each time they were gunned down before they could return to their original bases. Shoeless and Flytrap were each fines 25 cents for their inopportune swings. Shoeless swiped 2 bases and tallied an ace to try and make up for his earlier behavior, but the Gothams only managed that one ace when many more were to be had. Mineola tallied twice themselves in the first to start their string of tallying at least one ace in every frame as well as take a 2-1 lead. A 2-base hit and a theft of 3rd by Slider, followed by a one-base hit by Cookie brought allowed Slider to tie the game at 2. Mineola tally another ace in the 2nd to again take a 1 ace lead. Each team tallied 4 times in the 3rd to bring the tally to 7-6 in favor of Mineola after 3 frames. The Gotham 4 aces were highlighted by 2-base hits from new Gotham Flinstone and Shoeless as well as a fluffy of stolen bases by Wickets, Scratch and Flytrap. Trolley got things moving in the 4th by becoming the 2nd Gotham in team history with 100 career hits (the first Gotham will remain unmentioned). After moving to 2nd on an error and stealing 3rd base, Trolley scored on another one-base hit by Flintsone. Wickets reached on a fielder's choice and tally an ace himself on a one-base hit by Scratch to give the Gotham san 8-7 lead, which would unfortunately be their last lead of the day. The Mineola club tallied 3 times in the 4th for a 10-8 lead they would not relinquish. The Gotham fielder's struggled the rest of the game. Even the previously flawless Scratch and usually steady Shoeless mangled a few plays on the field. The Gotham foibles were highlighted by Slider sliding through a muddy puddle in the outfield while wearing these strange looking white shoes, which after his mud bath were no longer white! The remaining points of interest for the Gothams were 2 more aces for Scratch on his 2nd and 3rd 2-base hits of the game (also his 4th and 5th total hits), a few fine fielding plays by the Gotham 3rd base tender Weed, and the Gothams 2nd double play of the day. This event was also not simple as it occurred when Trolley caught a foul tip for the first out threw to his pitcher Stacks who threw to 3rd for Weed to tag an advancing runner when a simple toss to the 1st base tender Shoeless would have been much easier, but the double play was made any way. The Mineola club continued to hit their way to an 18-12 victory. The festivities ended with the Mutuals Captain, Squidy, accepting the NY/NJ cup in victory and the 3 other clubs cheered in approval. Until next time….Huzzah! Individual Stats: Wickets - 1-5, 2 Aces, 1 SB Scratch - 5-5, 3 2B, 3 Aces, 4 SB Shoeless - 2-5, 1 2B, 2 Aces, 2 SB Weed - 1-5 Flytrap - 2-4, 1 Ace, 4 SB Slider - 1-4, 1 2B, 1 Ace, 1 SB Stacks - 0-4 Cookie - 1-2 Trolley - 2-4, 2 Aces, 2 SB Flintsone - 2-4, 1 2B, 1 Ace |