The Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum

A truly fantastic day of base ball.

On June 11^th, your Elizabeth Resolutes once again graciously accepted the invitation from The Neshanock Base Ball Club of Flemington to play at the beautiful grounds of The Howell Living History Farm near Lambertville, NJ. The staff at the farm are always accommodating and welcoming, and we enjoy our matches played here immensely. Not just because of the welcoming atmosphere, the spectators on hand, or the beautiful scenery, but we match up against a team that scorekeeper John Zinn of The Neshanock confirms as “New Jersey’s oldest vintage baseball rivalry”. The field was a bit smaller than one would expect, given the trees that were in the outfield, but once the ground rules were agreed upon, we moved on to play a game of 1864 rules base ball. (more below slideshow)

The Flemington Neshanock and The Elizabeth Resolutes have been playing vintage base ball together in The Garden State for over twenty years, and the history between the two clubs is highly respected and our games are eagerly anticipated each season. Saturday, June 11^th was yet another crackerjack game that saw close and fun competition right up to the last at bat for Flemington. Having won the coin toss (a rarity in Resolutes history!), The Resolutes opted to strike at the bottom of the inning, bringing The Neshanock up to bat first. Defense was strong on both sides, though “muffs” were made by both teams, though pitching was a strong point on both sides. The Resolutes captain, Craig Combs, started the game and kept Flemington honest through seven innings, only allowing 13 runs total. Paul Wortman traded first base duties with Craig to finish out the game, not allowing another Flemington run while pitching. It must be mentioned that Flemington had incredibly strong pitching as well from Bob Ritter and Dave Harris to keep the score close.

Ultimately, The Resolutes came up victorious, tallying 14 runs to Flemington’s 13 at the bottom of the ninth inning. And while a victory is always nice to take away from a game, more importantly is the camaraderie that we share with The Neshanock Base Ball Club of Flemington, who share our passion to recreate the game as it was presented for the era that we play, share insights with the spectators on the differences in the game now as opposed to the era we play in, and to ultimately have fun on field with teammates and opponents alike. Our next match-up is another home game, and sure to be a slap-up day for base ball fans of any fanbase! We play host to The Connecticut Bulldogs of Hartford, CT and The Rising Sun Base Ball Club of Rising Sun, MD in a triple header that is sure to provide a clipping day of vintage base ball excitement!