Essex & Atlantics Split a Pair

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Saturday August 11 2012
In a heated double header between two of the better teams on the Eastern Seaboard, Essex Base Ball Club & The Atlantic Base Ball Club split a pair of games. Essex held off a fierce 9th inning charge to preserve the game 1 victory 8-7, while the Atlantics flipped the table in game 2 to win 5-4. Both games saw an uncountable number of fantastic defensive plays, and both teams had nothing left to give by the time hats were raised to salute the crowd. EBBA would like to thank the ABBC for traveling North to MA; we look forward to playing two more soon. We can only hope to have games this good for the rest of the season.

Bringing the perfect touch to the afternoon was Matthew Muise and his imagery. Please enjoy Matthew’s shots and visit his website & blog

Great Day of Lectures, Wicket and Baseball…

On Sunday members of the public and Essex Base Ball Association gathered at Spencer Peirce Little Farm for a full day of lectures and games. In the morning Larry McCray, John Shannahan, and William Peebles of the Huntington Baseball Company all gave great lectures that covered the crazy game of wicket, the Boston Red Stockings, and the evolution of gloves. We would like to thank all of the speakers for providing interesting topics for us.

After a lunch provided by our sponsor Oregano’s we tried our hand at 19th century wicket. Wicket was a game primarily played in Western MA and CT in which the bowler attempts to knock off a bail that is on two stumps. The batter must protect the bail and can score runs when they reach the other wicket located 75 feet away. The game may sound a little like cricket but the stumps are only 6 inches off the ground and the bail is 6 feet long. After a lot of experimenting with the game players finally got the hang of it. We all look forward to playing wicket again June 9th.

After our experiment with wicket we played a baseball game. While it is still preseason, the Newburyport Clamdiggers looked very strong erasing a 9 run deficit to win handily.

We return to practice this Sunday April 22nd at 11am and kick off the season April 29th at 12pm.

Experience Takes The Day

The Essex Nine traveled to historic Cooney Field in Beverly this past weekend to take on the Hingham Derbies. The Derbies being new to the vintage game were no match for the seasoned veterans of the Essex Nine. Both games only saw 7 innings of action but that was enough for the Essex Nine to win 13-1 and 14-2. We would like to thank the Hingham Derbies for making the trip up to play us. Photos from the game https://picasaweb.google.com/116391025279328307038/VintageBaseballAug6?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPmm-4DAp8P17wE&feat=directlink

Next Game
Saturday August 13th the Cincinnati Red Stockings make the trip to Spencer Peirce Little Farm in Newbury to take part in a triple header against the Melrose Pondfielders (11am), the Lynn Live Oaks (1pm), and the 3pm game will be played between the Mudville BBC and the Ipswich Brewers.

Sunday August 14th the Essex Nine will take on the Red Stockings at 12pm on the Boston Common

Essex Base Ball Organization to work with Lowell Spinners

The Essex Base Ball Club is excited to announce its new relationship with the Boston Red Sox single A affiliate club the Lowell Spinners. This season the Spinners program will feature a full page ad featuring the Essex Base Ball Club. Along with the program members of the Essex Nine will be setting up an information table at several of the Spinners home games.
The dates include:
Thursday June 30th
Tuesday July 19th
Wednesday August 3rd
Saturday August 20th

Come to a game and check out the future Red Sox, and while you are there stop by our table and learn about 19th century base ball. For tickets check out their web site http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t558

2012 League Forming

The Essex Base Ball Organization in looking to form a small league based out of Spencer Peirce Little Farm in Newbury next year so we are looking for new players to fill out our new teams. We will be looking for sponsors, volunteers, umpires, and score keepers. If you are interested contact Brian Sheehy at historyball@yahoo.com

Recruiting Poster

Empire State of Mind

The Essex boys traveled to the Empire State this past weekend to take on the always powerful NY Mutuals and Brooklyn Atlantics.

Saturday we went to the beautiful Old Bethpage Village to challenge the Mutuals, both games were dominated by the Essex boys, winning easily 15-7 and 17-3. The pitching was handled by Cappy Sheehy and he was lucky to have a superior fielding behind him. Swifty and Murph caught every ball hit to them in the outfield and the left side of the infield was solid with Monkey and Goose making tough throws in the holes. We would like to thank the people at the Village for their hospitality.

On Sunday the boys traveled to Sayville, NY for a rematch against the dangerous Brooklyn Atlantics. After defeating the Atlantics the previous weekend the Essex boys knew that they would have to come out strong and play a tight game because the Atlantics were out for blood. The first match was a back and forth battle until the 6th when hurler Cappy could not get the ball over the plate walking several batters and allowing a few very long hits. The Atlantics were able to put up seven runs and take a comfortable lead. The Essex Nine chipped away but ended up falling short 18-13. The second game saw the Essex boys take full advantage of the short right field and take a commanding lead. The offense was led by Mike Levy, who was able to get quite a few licks in. Essex was able to hold on in the second game 14-11. Essex was able to deal the Atlantics three losses in four games which is quite a feats seeing as the Atlantics only lost six games all of last year.

Memorial Day weekend the Essex Nine will be participating in the Colt Meadows Invitational on Saturday being matched up against the Melrose Pondfielders and Providence Grays.

Kids Camp

Brian “Cappy” Sheehy and Chris “Monkey” Sheehy traveled to The Buttonwoods Museum: Haverhill Historical Society last Thursday to participate in “Hillies at Bat: Haverhill’s Baseball History”. Nine third graders learned the history of 19th century base ball, did some arts and crafts, and then tried their hand at batting. The highlight of the day was the very popular “Monkey”. All of the kids loved his nickname and wanted to take him home with them. Fun was had by all and it was fun to teach the kids about 19th century base ball. We look forward to more kids camps in the future.

Essex kicks off the season Sunday May 1st 12pm at Endicott Park in Danvers, MA against their long time friends the Melrose Pondfielders.