(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) caption: BLAST FROM THE PAST: Pitcher Chris “Lowball” Lowry delivers a pitch for the Flemington Neshanock last Saturday at Valley Road diamond as the team faced the Elizabeth Resolutes in a reenactment of 19th century baseball. Lowry was throwing underhanded and playing without a glove as per the rules of 1860s. The Neshanock and Resolutes split a doubleheader with Flemington winning the opener 9-4 and Elizabeth rebounding for a 14-11 victory.

Blast From the Past Hits Valley Road Diamond as Historical Society Hosts Baseball Reenactment

Bill Alden

At first glance, someone passing by the Valley Road baseball fields last Saturday afternoon might have assumed that the baseball game being played on a corner diamond was nothing out of the ordinary.

But upon closer inspection, it would become clear that something different was afoot. Instead of the fancy leather gloves, dry-fit nylon uniforms and aluminum bats that come with today’s game, the players were barehanded, wore rumpled uniforms with strangely-stitched pullover tops and fluffy hats, and wielded clunky wooden bats.

The blast from the past taking place at Valley Road was a reenactment of a 19th century game featuring the Flemington Neshanock against the Elizabeth Resolutes put together by the Historical Society of Princeton (HSP).

Despite a persistent rain in the late morning and early afternoon, the event drew a hardy crowd of around 100 as the Neshanock and Resolutes split a doubleheader with Flemington winning the opener 9-4 and Elizabeth rebounding for a 14-11 victory.

In the view of Jennifer Jang, the Curator of Education for the HSP, the baseball game was a great way for the organization to branch out.

“It was a great opportunity for us to break into sports,” said Jang. “Historically, the historical society has focused on the colonial and academic areas of Princeton.

“It is another way to tap into the connection between peoples’ interests and things that happened in history. We want to reach out to people who might not consider themselves history buffs and we are trying to do things that are more family friendly.”

For Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw, who founded the current version of the Neshanock in 2001, getting into 19th century baseball has been a way for him to tap into his dual loves of history and baseball.

“I am a big history buff and a big baseball fan,” said Shaw, a Flemington resident who is a software manager for JPMorgan Chase when he isn’t on the diamond.

“I saw a copy of a Smithsonian Magazine with a guy in an old baseball uniform. I read the story and found out that there were people who played 19th century baseball.”

Shaw headed up to Long Island for a 19th century baseball event and found out about the Resolutes. After playing for a year with that club, Shaw decided to revive the Neshanock, which had played in the mid-1860s and featured some of Flemington’s most prominent citizens.

Currently, the team plays a full schedule which sees it in action most weekends from April into October.

“We have players from ages 17 to 53,” said Shaw, whose club’s history and schedule can be found at www.neshanock.org.

“Many have played high school or college ball. We are re-creators. Civil War re-enactors follow a script; we play a real game.

That game the Neshanocks play is quite different from today’s version. In addition to playing without gloves, the pitchers throw underhanded from a distance of 45 feet rather than 60’ 6. Under 1864 rules, a player can catch a ball on one hop to make an out. The bats are heavier and the balls are stitched differently than the modern version and are softer since the players are barehanded.

Shaw was thrilled to bring the game to Princeton, noting that his daughter had put him in touch with the HSP when she had learned of the organization while doing an internship with the Chamber of Commerce.

“I think we had 75-100 people on Saturday which was quite good since we probably should not have played because of the rain,” said Shaw. “The response was excellent; the people asked very intelligent questions.”

For Shaw, educating fans is one of the underlying goals of the Neshanock.

“I want people to appreciate the way the game used to be played,” added Shaw. “We are playing for the love of the game. In the 1860s, every town had a baseball team; it was a matter of civic pride to have a good team.”

In the view of Jang, that goal was certainly achieved last Saturday by Shaw and his fellow ballplayers.

“It is useful and refreshing to see what sports were like before things got commercialized and what pastimes were really like in a community,” said Jang.

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