brooklyn « Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball League

Rising Sun ventured accross the Mason Dixon line on Sunday May 18 on what was the last match for lead off man Memphis Jackson. The speedy Jackson leads the club in every offensive category and has been the standard for the defensively minded boys from Brick Meetinghouse. The club sent Memphis off to start his military career with a win over the freshmen from Brandywine BBC of West Chester 13-6. Rising Sun rode to victory on the striking of Cisco, Tex and the Mad Scottsman Lindsay Bruce and the speed of Memphis, Bolt and the returning Spider Edwards . Again defense was the order as the boys from south of the Mason Dixon were stingy on defense with many grand plays in the field and Greg Banker Rodenbaugh fanning a season high eight batters in the first contest between the two clubs. The match was officiated by John Medkeff of the Diamond State BBC. The two will meet again in October at the Annual Civil War Encampment in Rising Sun, Md in a special twilight match at 7pm on Friday evening October 4th.

ATLANTICS, RESOLUTES BRING BASEBALL BACK TO BROOKLYN

The Atlantics brought base ball back to Brooklyn on Sunday as they hosted the Elizabeth Resolutes in an exhibition of the national pastime to a large crowd gathered for the Brooklyn Cyclones home match later that afternoon at MCU Park in Coney Island.
Mike ‘Fatts’ Caliendo and Matt ‘Krawler’ Kouyoumdjian called the plays and explained the rule differences from the PA Booth, Rafael ‘Wickets’ Garcia spoke to the fans on the concourse and Ed ‘Pigtail’ Elmore enforced the rules of base ball as they were played in Brooklyn in 1864. Elizabeth managed a base runner in the first against Atlantic pitcher Marc ‘Nice & Easy’ Josloff but could not move him around the bases. Anthony ‘Dirty Pirate’ Cannino started the Atlantic rally in the bottom of the first with a single and then promptly stole second base. Dean ‘Dreambucket’ Emma stroked another single to move him to third and Kevin ‘Flash’ Harrison scored him from third on a bound out to the left fielder. Billy ‘Goat’ Kowalczyk followed that with a clean single to score the second ace of the inning.
While the Atlantic defense continued to suppress the Elizabeth bats the Atlantic offense came through again in the third inning as Chris ‘Pup’ Parente singled and Dreambucket hit the ball solidly for a stand-up double scoring Pup all the way from first base. With a three ace lead the pressure was on Elizabeth who kept threatening with long outs to the outfield. Finally in the fifth inning Elizabeth put their hits together and scored two times closing the score to 3-2. With a strict time limit the exhibition game was called after the bottom of the fifth inning and the match ended to the cheers of the crowd.
Next weekend the Atlantics play a round-robin of overhand and underhand matches against the Providence Grays and Elizabeth Resolutes at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island and then travel to Connecticut to take on the New London Thames at Fort Trumbull State Park on Sunday.

Saturday was Opening Day for Vintage Base Ball on Long Island. On a beautiful sunny day with a light wind, the Vintage season began with ceremonial first pitch by the honorable Vice-President Andrew Johnson. To celebrate the season opener the Atlantics invited the Flemington Neshanock from New Jersey and the Gotham BBC from New York to take part in a round-robin triple header.
The first match between the Flemington Neshanock and the home club Brooklyn Atlantics was umpired by Rafael ‘Wickets’ Garcia of the Gotham BBC and featured a pitching match-up of Richard ‘Tree’ Ness against Robert ‘Bobby’ Ritter The Neshanock batted first but would not score an ace until the sixth inning. Meanwhile the Atlantics offense methodically tallied aces in bunches to take an 11 run lead through five innings. The Neshanock scored 5 aces over the last four innings but ultimately fell to the score of 12-5 to the home team. The second match featured the Flemington Neshanock against the New York Gothams umpired by Dean ‘Dream’ Emma. The teams went back and forth, tieing the game at 4 aces each after two innings and 6 aces each at the end of the four innings. Poor defense by Flemington in the 5th and 6th innings allowed the game to get away and lead to a 17-9 victory for the Gothams. Excellent defensive play by Oates of the Gothams kept the Neshanock players off the bases for most of the game. The third match of the day between the New York Gothams and Brooklyn Atlantics was umpired by Dirt of the Mutual BBC. After both clubs scored in their first at bats, the Gothams tallied 7 aces in the third inning on timely hits and some poor defense by the Atlantics. Meanwhile the Gothams played excellent defense and their pitcher Billy ‘Coach’ Piela kept the Atlantic batters off balance for most of the game.
The Atlantics scored four aces over the final two innings and left two men on base in the 9th to stage a late rally. However it was too late as the Gothams were victorious by the score of 11-7. In a complete game effort, Frank ‘Hammy’ Obidienzo kept the Gothams scoreless in the final four innings but suffered the first loss of the season. The Atlantics next play on Saturday April 14th at 11AM at the Smithtown Historical Society Grounds against the Providence Grays. There will be an underhand/overhand doubleheader featuring games played to the rules of both 1864 and 1884..