Flemington Neshanocks Coming to Town

Flemington Neshanocks

The Essex Base Ball Organization is happy to announce that the Flemington Neshanocks of NJ will be coming up to visit the great state of Massachusetts this coming weekend. On Saturday we will be at Spencer Peirce Little Farm in Newbury, MA playing a triple header. The first game will start at 11am featuring the Lowell Base Ball Club against the Portsmouth Rockinghams, game 2 will be the Flemington Neshanocks vs. Portsmouth Rockinghams, and game three will be the Lowell Base Ball Club vs. Flemington Neshanocks. After the games the teams will be heading to the Port Tavern in Newburyport. Come on down and meet your favorite players. Brad Shaw of the Flemington Neshanocks might even be willing to do a rendition of “Casey At Bat”.

Sunday Flemington will travel out to Georges Island to play a mixture of the Lynn Live Oaks and Newburyport Clamdiggers.

History Repeated Itself…. Barely

Portsmouth Rockinghams vs. Concord Kearsarge April 15th 2015 Leary Field Portsmouth NH

In September of 1866 the mighty Concord Kearsarge matched up in a series of matches against the Portsmouth Rockinghams, and in both instances the boys from Concord came out victorious. Fast forward 149 years later to Leary Field in Portsmouth for the rematch sponsored by the Portsmouth Athenaeum. In the first match the game was a tug of war affair in which both sides exchanged the lead back and forth until the bottom of the 9^th when the Rockingham pitcher walked in winning run securing the win for the Kearsarge. In game two in much the same way the game went back and forth and saw the lead change hands several times but in the end the Kearsarge held on for the victory. We would like to thank the people of Portsmouth for coming out and the Portsmouth Athenaeum for sponsoring the game.

Concord Kearsarge Players

1867 Portsmouth Rockinghams

Schedule Changes

Due to the weather this season we have adjusted our September schedule to accommodate some of the make up games and provide our players more opportunities to play this season.  Therefore we have changed the September 12th Ipswichfest to a quadruple header starting at 10am featuring the Newburyport Clamdiggers vs. Portsmouth Rockinghams in games one and two, followed by the Lowell Nine vs. Lynn Live Oaks in games three and four. Saturday Sept 26 will be another quadruple header with Lowell Nine vs. Newburyport Clamdiggers and Lynn Live Oaks vs. Portsmouth Rockinghams starting at 10am. Sunday Sept 27^th will be the Boston Beaneaters, Dirigo BBC, and Mixed Nine 11am

3rd Annual Recreation Game in Portsmouth NH

This year we will be participating in our third annual recreation game in Portsmouth NH sponsored by the Portsmouth Athenaeum at Leary Field at 12pm.  The first year saw the Lowell Base Ball Nine take on the Portsmouth Rockinghams, then in year two the Essex Base Ball Club took on the Portsmouth Rockinghams.  This year we are recreating a series of games that took place in September of 1866 between the Concord Kearsarge and Portsmouth Rockinghams.

So come on out and enjoy the rematch.

Silver Ball and Fiber Revival

On August 7^th & 8^th several members of the EBBL travelled to Genesee Country Village in Mumford NY as the Melrose Pondfeilders to compete in the 2015 National Silverball Tournament against teams from around the country and Canada. In Game 1 a somewhat road weary Melrose team fell back quickly on Friday afternoon against Spring Creek of Rochester NY and couldn’t recover in time to pull out the victory but played well enough to rally near the end of the match which lifted the spirits of the entire team in preparation for Saturday’s three games.

 On Saturday the team got off to quick start with a solid morning victory in Game 2 against their old rivals the Black Stockings of Akron Ohio. Overall it was one of the best offensive and defensive games played by the Melrose squad in several years. Game 3 on was an offensive onslaught of 21 runs with commanding win over of the Great Black Swamp Frogs from Toledo Ohio giving Melrose a clean sweep of the two Ohio teams they faced. The third game on Saturday was Game 4 which pitted Melrose against another long standing rival the Victory BBC of Rochester. Victory took an early lead but Melrose bounced back quickly. The match stayed tight until late in the game when Victory’s bats came alive and secured the win against a very tired but noble group of Pondeilders.

2015 Silverball

The two game balls earned by Melrose were presented at the annual evening banquet to two individuals who most provided the most consistent contributions all weekend. The first game ball was presented to Cam “Shaggy” Champey for what must be considered his breakout games of his young vintage career. Cam played solid defense all weekend from SS and 2B making difficult plays look routine but most impressive was Cam’s bat which was on fire from the first inning onward. The other game ball was not presented to a player but rather to Tonya Leopardi one of the many cranks that travelled with the team. Tonya tirelessly led the Melrose contingency of rooters all weekend with her never ending cheering and well wishes as she and the other cranks made us feel at home and kept us focused.

The experience was exceptional as always and we’re already looking forward to next year’s tournament.

Back in Newbury the Live Oaks and Newburyport Clamdiggers squared off at Spencer Peirce Little Farm in the annual Fiber Revival celebration. In both ends of the doubleheader the Newburyport Clamdiggers were able to defeat the Live Oaks.