On a sunny Saturday in June the Elizabeth Resolutes joined the Atlantics to honor the memory of their founder Al ‘Old Dutch’ Dieckmann. Alongside them was his daughter Candice who traveled up from North Carolina to attend the event. These games hold a special meaning to the veteran Atlantics who remember Old Dutch well.
 
The first game featured a pitching matchup between Vincent ‘Tuna’ Aurora of the Atlantics against Danny Jurgens of the Resolutes. The Atlantics struck early and often scoring one ace in the first, three more in the second and three more in the third inning to take an insurmountable lead. The Atlantics combined hits with some opportunistic baserunning to take the first game in a shutout 12-0. Dean ‘Dreambucket’ Emma led the Atlantics with three doubles while Richard ‘Cuz’ Baruso and Kevin ‘Flash’ Harrison struck two hits each off the Resolute pitcher.

At the between game ceremony Atlantic Captain Ed ‘Pigtail’ Elmore presented Candice Dieckmann with a token of appreciation from the squad and also awarded the “Old Dutch Day” award to George ‘Wildhorse’ Ferchland for all of his efforts to support the Atlantics and vintage base ball over the years.
 
The second match was played to the rules of baseball as they were written in 1870 where there was no longer a bound out in fair territory and the first tossed pitch was never called. Although George ‘Blackjack’ Pappas was outwitted by Resolutes Captain Paul ‘Quickstep’ Salomone in the bat toss that would be the last misfire by the Atlantics that day. Five aces tallied in the first inning followed by seven more in the second. In fact the Atlantics scored in every inning except the eighth leading to a 41-4 victory.
 
Wildhorse pitched the second game and had four hits alongside Greg ‘Hawk’ Dengel, and Sean ‘Toothpick’ Ness. But four others managed to swing their lumber even better as Blackjack, Dreambucket, Flash and Richard ‘Fingers’ Effinger all accumulated five hits in this game.
 
Next week the Atlantics travel down to Maryland and Delaware where they will take on some of the best teams in the Mid-Atlantic region. On Saturday they will play the Lewes Base Ball Club and Milford Excelsiors, while on Sunday they will play the Diamond State Base Ball Club and the Fairplays Base Ball Club of Talbot where they will commemorate one of Talbots fallen leaders ‘Curly’.

Teams from four states converged near the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York this weekend on the grounds of the Ommegang Brewery.
Celebrating the history of base ball and the launch of Ommegangs new brew, the ‘Cooperstown Ale’, brought many a base ballist from near and far.
The games began with the Keystone Base Ball Club from Harrisburg Pennsylvania lining up against the hosting Atlantics who organized the games.

Keystone struck first scoring two aces in the first and one in the second to take a three run lead.  The Atlantic offense though slow to wake, once stirred was relentless as the boys from Brooklyn scored 14 aces in the match.
Keystone scored two more in the fourth inning and one in the seventh inning but would fall to the score of 14-6.
In support of Atlantic pitcher, Ed ‘Pigtail’ Elmore, Dean ‘Dreambucket’ Emma and Billy ‘Goat’ Kowalczyk had three hits each while Tim ‘Ducky’ Keenan, Richard ‘Cuz’ Baruso, Anthony ‘Dirty Pirate’ Cannino, Sean ‘Toothpick’ Ness, Kevin ‘Flash’ Harrison and Pigtail himself had two hits each.
 
The second Atlantic match was against the Lewes Base Ball Club from Delaware who had just defeated the Flemington Neshanock in a close match 16-14.
The Atlantics scored first but Lewes answered back with two in the first to take the lead. Not to be outdone, the Atlantics put up three aces in the second and two more in the third inning to take the lead and extend it.

The Lewes boys battled back though scoring 9 more aces throughout the game including three in the final frame but would fall to the Atlantics 14-11.
The Dirty Pirate came up big in this match with four hits, followed by Matt ‘Krawler’ Kouyoumdjian and Flash with three hits each.
Rounding out the Atlantic onslaught was Richard ‘Fingers’ Effinger, Cuz, Ducky, Pigtail, Dreambucket and Toothpick with two hits a piece.
Pigtail celebrated his second victory of the day with a freshly poured beverage from the brewery.
 
The next day, in a game Flemington Captain Brad ‘Brooklyn’ Shaw swore he would win, the Neshanock of New Jersey took on the Atlantics of Brooklyn.
Backing their captain the Neshanock struck early scoring three aces in the first enroute to eight runs over the first four innings.
No slouches at the plate either, the Atlantics put up eight of their own aces in an equal number of innings.

The Neshanock scored twice more off the Atlantic defense as George ‘Wildhorse’ Ferchland came in to relieve Pigtail’s arm between the pitching lines.
With victory within sight, the Neshanock could not hold on as the Atlantics scored five tallies in the bottom of the fifth and another run in the sixth.
But with four more aces of their own it was a tie game in the seventh inning when the Atlantic bats kept up the pressure scoring the final five tallies of the game and taking the lead 19-14.
Wildhorse earned the victory while Fingers, Toothpick, the Dirty Pirate and Dreambucket each contributed three hits to the Atlantic arsenal this game.
 
The final match for the Atlantics was against the Keystone club again and Frank ‘Hammy’ Obidienzo made his first pitching appearance at the event.
The teams traded aces in the first inning, while the Atlantics scored eight more over the next four innings as they held the Keystone club from scoring.

The Keystone club was not done yet however, they scored one in the sixth to the Atlantics three, but then followed that with one more in the seventh, six in the eighth and two more in the ninth inning to be within one run.

Time ran out for the boys from Harrisburg and the Atlantics sealed the weekend sweep winning by the score of 12-11.
Hammy recorded his first victory of the season, and was helped by some fine defense.  Wildhorse, Billy Goat, Toothpick, Dreambucket and the Dirty Pirate each backed up Hammy with two hits.

The Atlantics traveled to the territory of Western New Jersey to take on the Flemington Neshanock in a town called Chester.  The town was having an anniversary celebration and as their guests the Neshanock and Atlantics paraded down Main Street through the town to Boro Field.


The crafty Neshanock borrowed Charles ‘Bugs’ Klasman from the New York Gothams to pitch against the Atlantics but while he pitched valiantly he would receive no support from their bats.
Ed ‘Pigtail’ Elmore tossed the sphere for the Atlantics and was backed by some fine defensive efforts behind him.  Matt ‘Krawler’ Kouyoumdjian was on his toes behind the dish making some nice diving grabs of foul balls.  The rare vintage double play happened on a fly ball to center caught by Sean ‘Toothpick’ Ness who relayed to Dean ‘Dreambucket’ Emma who short-hopped Krawler just in time to place the tag on a Flemington runner and seal the shutout.


The Atlantic offense went on a tear as Richer ‘Finger’ Effinger, Anthony ‘Willy Mo’ Stelmach, and Pigtail all had three hits each while Anthony ‘Dirty Pirate’ Cannino, Dreambucket, Krawler and Vincent ‘Tuna’ Aurora all had two hits as well.
The final tally showed the Atlantics leading by the score of 14 aces to none.


The second match began much the same way, this time with Illinois of the Neshanock facing off against Tuna of the Atlantics.
The Neshanock offense was again no match for the sure hands of the gentlemen from Brooklyn, holding the men from Jersey scoreless into the last inning.
With a nine run lead by Brooklyn and the final inning approaching a Neshanock rounded the bases.


  The small victory was short lived as with a runner on third base, the next batter hit a grounder to Willy Mo near the bag who quickly tossed the sphere across the diamond to Kevin ‘Flash’ Harrison at first, who then relayed the ball home to Krawler just in time to tag the last Neshanock out.  A double-play to end the game!


Dreambucket led the Atlantics with three hits, while Greg ‘Hawk’ Dengel, Toothpick, and Fingers each had two hits.
Rookie Richard ‘Cuz’ Baruso roped a triple and scored his ace as well as finely patroling the grass in rightfield.
 

ATHLETICS SWEEP BRANDYWINES TO CLAIM SHARE OF FIRST PLACE

The Athletic BBC of Philadelphia won its season opener for the first time in the 21st century by downing the visiting Brandywine Base Ball Club of West Chester 12-6 in Fairmount Park on Sunday.  Coupled with a 10-6 victory over the Chester County seaters to gain the sweep, the Athletic finds itself in first place in the MAVBBL and the Federal Conference.  A great day of base ball was enjoyed by all on Jackie Robinson day in the City of Brotherly Love.

BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON SPLIT

The Potomac Nine of Washington and the Chesapeake Nine of Baltimore got together to celebrate opening day in the Capitol Conference as well as the League opener for both.  In two well played matches, the Nine from the Nation’s Capital took the first game 20-8 and then the Chessies took the night cap in a squeaker, 15-13.

LEWES ROLLS

The Lewes Base Ball Club welcomed the Rising Sun BBC from Cecil County with a pair of matches at the Verdun Center in Lewes, Delaware.  It was the first match of the year for the visitors and it showed as Lewes jumped on the out of towners from Maryland 29-15.  In the second game Lewes won 20-7 to take a share of first place in the MAVBBL and the Federal Conference.

ATLANTIC WINS PAIR IN RINGWOOD

The Brooklyn Atlantics rolled to 2 easy victories Saturday in Ringwood, New Jersey.  In the first match, they downed the New York Mutuals 33-7 before disposing of the Hoboken Nine 16-5.  The Mutuals will be hosting the New York/New Jersey Cup on April 26 at Old Bethpage Restoration Village.

ELIZABETH, ELKTON, DELAWARE and LEWES SWEEP WEEKEND

The Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League got started on its 6th season at three sites this past weekend:  at Smithtown, Elkton and Hoboken.  Up in Smithtown, 3 long time rivals got together in the Flemington Neshanock, Elizabeth Resolutes and host Brooklyn Atlantics.  In the first match of the day, the Resolutes jumped all over the Neshanock and won the first game of the year 21-4  The Elizabeths came right back with another convincing 12-7 victory over the host Atlantics.  Brooklyn then dealt Flemington its second straight loss 26-1 to end the day.

Meanwhile down in Elkton, Maryland the host Eclipse entertained its longtime friend and rival the Talbot Fair Plays.  Outings between the 2 clubs always ends in something interesting and this day was no different.  In the first game, Elkton jumped all over the Fair Plays to go out to a 24-1 lead before Talbot plated 11 runs in the 9th before finally sucuming to the 3rd hand dead and losing the first match 24-12.  The second match went much better from the visitors from Talbot County as they jumped out to a small lead and finally went up 10-7 in the 6th.  Elkton pecked away at the lead until there were 2 hands dead in the 9th and the score was 10-9.  Elkton was able to get the tying run across the plate in the 9th and then whitewashing Talbot in the 10th before getting the winning run the 10th to sweep the day.

The Diamond State Base Ball Club kicked off their 2014 campaign with a trip to Jersey City, NJ for a pair of matches against the Hoboken Nine. A steady wind whipped around the field and caused excitement for the fielders on both sides.

In the first game, the host club jumped out to an early advantage by tallying seven aces in their first turns at bat. However, the Diamond State strikers came alive quickly with a resounding second inning that saw 18 tallies fill the tallykeeper’s ledger. Despite a strong effort by their opponents, powerful striking and skillful running of the bases allowed the Delaware nine to maintain a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game, finishing with a victory by the final tally of 33-17. The Diamond State club was lead at the striker’s line by Boots with 6 hits. Boots, Buzz and Lobo each smacked home runs.

The second match had the makings of a much closer affair, as the two sides traded the advantage back and forth through their first several innings. However, the Diamond States were able to mount a strong rally in the middle innings to take a double-digit advantage that they were able to maintain for the 27-17 victory. The Blue and Black’s performance was buoyed by 6 hits (including 3 triples) from Blackbart and home runs from Split and El Jefe.

Finally, down on the lower Delaware Shore, the Lewes Base Ball Club started its season off on the right foot with a pair of victories over the Brandywine BBC of West Chester 31-10 and 22-12.

The Elkton Eclipse lost one of its former players this past week. Alberto “Taco” Soto who played on the club from 2009 until 2011 before joining the US Air Force lost his brief battle with cancer. He was 25. Below is his obituary.

Alberto Soto, 25, of Oxford, passed away on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 after a short battle with cancer. He was the beloved husband of Sherry (Madonna) Soto.

Born in Lancaster, Alberto was son of Wanda Soto of Landenburg and Jose Soto of Nottingham.

Alberto was active duty with the United States Air Force. He had been stationed at Dover, DE from June 2012 until December 2013.

He is survived, in addition to his wife and parents, by his three children: Veronika, Kristi and Nathon, all of Oxford; his sister, Nancy Neese of Camden, De., and his foster brothers and sisters, Carrie, Kurt, Ryan and Brian Naus.

The Funeral Service will be held on Monday, January 6, 2014 at 11 AM at the Wilde Funeral Home, 434 Main St., Parkesburg, followed by interment in the Oxford Cemetery. The viewing will be held from 10 until 11 AM.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Eli Seth Matthews Leukemia Foundation, P.O. Box 33, Oxford, Pa. 19363 or to support.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Online condolences can be posted at http://www.wildefuneralhome.com

Calvert, MD–The freshmen from Rising Sun welcomed the Philadelphia Athletics to Brick Meetinghouse on a beautiful day for baseball. The boys from Brick Meetinghouse also welcomed back The Cisco Kid Brian Lighthill after he tore his deltoid in the Maryland State Tournament. The boys from Brick Meetinghouse were down 9 in the first and foyght back to take the win in the bottom of the ninth. Due ro the length of game one and the late hour rhe gentlemen agreed to a truncated game 2. The Rising Sun club got up early and stayed on top throughout to take game 2.
Greg Banker Rodenbaugh picked up the wins. Doug Easy Uhde was the ballist of the day. He was never put and scored the winning run in game on with a steal of home.  In the first game Rising Sun won 19-18 and 14-5 in the nightcap.