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Vintage Base Ball Report: Excelsiors vs. Knickerbockers

A note about my reports: I don’t really know how to keep a real box score, which is why my match recaps contain fewer fielding notes than you might expect. If you want good stats, talk to Dick Terboss. If you want fairly shallow and uninformed opinions of the match, keep reading. Huzzah!

The players in today’s match had no problem getting on base. In fact, they excelled at it. Getting back home again … let’s just say that came a little harder.

First Inning: The Knickerbockers get off to a nice start, as Harvey “Kid Brooklyn” Shapiro tallies an ace on his first trip to the line. But in a harbinger of coming events (and really, what other kind of harbinger is there?), the Knicks leave three men on base to end the inning. The Excelsiors answer the challenge, with team captain Ryan “Doc” Brecker tallying his own first-strike ace. The inning ends with two men on. Score tied at 1 apiece.

Second Inning: No aces for either side, one man left on for both teams. Score still tied.

Third Inning: Nick “Leprechaun” Dobbertin (who had a fine game) makes it to second base. But that’s it for the side, as Rich “Professor” Dolan retires the next three strikers. (And yes, I know it’s not really a pitcher’s game. I just enjoy being needlessly anachronistic. Zing!) The Excelsiors’ bats warm up, though, with aces tallied by Dr. Brecker (his second) and by Mr. Dolan (his first). And Kevin “Longarm” Owens, playing third base for the Knicks, makes a couple amazing catches in a row, before leaving the game with an injured ankle. (I encouraged him to stay in, given his ability to catch the ball without moving. He rightly pointed out that not moving makes it slightly more difficult to run the bases when your team is up to bat.) Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 1.

Fourth Inning: The first striker, Jim “T-Bone” Cook, tallies an ace. The Knicks leave one man on to end the inning. The Excelsiors go down in order. They don’t know it, but they won’t send a man around the bases for the next six innings. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 2.

Fifth Inning: The Knicks leave one man on. The Excelsiors leave three, after loading the bases with two outs. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 2.

Sixth Inning: The Knicks go down in order. The Excelsiors leave two men on. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 2.

Seventh Inning: Tim “Kid” Zimmer, in for his brother, Matt, tallies an ace on his first trip to the line. This is the first ace tallied by either team since the fourth inning. The Knicks leave two more men on to end the inning. The Excelsiors go down in order. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 3.

Eighth Inning: No aces, no men left on for the Knicks. No aces, one man left on for the Excelsiors. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 3.

Ninth Inning: The Knicks go down in order. The Excelsiors leave two on. And that means we go to extra innings for the first time this season! Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 3.

Tenth Inning: The Knicks go down in order. OK, this isn’t a pitcher’s game, but that happened a lot today. The Excelsiors leave one man on. Score: Excelsiors 3, Knickerbockers 3. So we go to the…

Eleventh Inning: The Knickerbockers leave one man on. But the ice finally cracks, as Doc Brecker tallies his third ace (from five hits — nice work!) to win the game for the Excelsiors. Final score: Excelsiors 4, Knickerbockers 3.

Some items of interest:

  • Matt “Pins” Zimmer tallied his ninth ace of the season, after playing only three games. He also celebrated his birthday!
  • Dr. Brecker and Mr. Dolan both “made their first” five times. As noted above, Dr. Brecker tallied three aces, Mr. Dolan one.
  • The teams left a combined total of 24 men on, by my count — 10 for the Knickerbockers, 14 for the Excelsiors.
  • Glenn “Geezer” Drinkwater did an exceptional job of umpiring the match.
  • Everyone thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Bronte sisters. What’s that you say? Enough about the Bronte sisters? Fie, sir, fie!

Published in Sports Vintage Base Ball

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