Historic Happenings Blog

19th Century Baseball Game Join us for a 19th century Baseball game. About this Event Take me out to the ball game!!!! Join us for 1864 Base Ball (two words), as Mid Atlantic Vintage Base Ball New Jersey representatives, the Flemington Neshanock, New Brunswick Liberty, our own Monmouth Furnace, as well as a “pick nine” of players from other regional teams take the field! Enjoy the peanuts, hotdogs, and popcorn, and choose your favorite team as our village roots for hometown favorites going head to head! Games will feature the rules, uniforms, equipment, and customs of 1864! A day of old-fashioned entertainment, music, food, and fun! Learn about the history of America’s favorite sport and watch our local “boys of summer”! Play Ball! Pre Registration Price: Child (2-12)- $5.00 Adult-$3.00 Day of Pricing: Child(2-12)- $4.00 Adult-$7.00 Under 2 Free Facebook Facebook Messenger LinkedIn Twitter email Date And Time Sun, May 3, 2020 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT Add to Calendar Location The Historic...

Image credit: Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey, c. 1910. Underwood & Underwood (copyright September 30, 1911). Stereograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. New Jersey Baseball: From the Cradle to the Major Leagues, 1855–1915 Open June 7 - October 27, 2019 Opening Reception, Thursday, June 6 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.  Reception is free and open to the public Perhaps more than any other American sport, the history, and origins of baseball are shrouded in myth and mystery.  While a game called baseball was played in this country as early as the colonial period, organized baseball, the direct ancestor of today’s game, began in New York City in the 1840s.  About 1855, baseball began a growth spurt, especially in New Jersey where population density along with relatively sophisticated transportation and communication systems greatly facilitated the game’s expansion. During that period some notable baseball firsts, including the founding of the first African-Americ...

Saturday, September 7 -- Mercer County Baseball’s Outsiders: Race and Gender in the Early Years CLICK HERE TO REGISTER : For more information,  click HERE Saturday, September 7 at 2:00 p.m. Doors open 1:30 p.m. $15; $10 for Friends of Morven In the 1890s daring “bloomer girls” played baseball while the National Association of Base Ball Players rejected African Americans from playing in their leagues despite more than 200 black teams formed around the country after the Civil War.  Join Dr. Leslie Heaphy for an enlightening afternoon highlighting both women’s baseball before 1915 and 19th-century black baseball in New Jersey. Dr. Heaphy, chair of the Women in Baseball Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research, is an Associate Professor of History at Kent State University at Stark and published author in the area of the Negro Leagues and women’s baseball. Museum galleries open before and until 4:00 p.m. following the program. Ticket includes same-day museum admissio...

Friday, June 21 – Mercer County Vintage Baseball Movie /Game Weekend       Movie: Friday, June 21 at 6:30 p.m., Doors open 6:00 p.m. $15 per family; $10 for member families Please limit families to 2 adults and all children under 18 from the same household.   Friday night features a viewing of the star-studded classic  A League of Their Own  with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna and more on Morven’s big indoor screen (snacks included). Bring your own blanket, favorite team cushion, or beach towel and enjoy an indoor, air-conditioned movie night.  Ticket includes same-day Museum admission.  Ticket link:   Join us for a special weekend celebrating Morven’s exhibition from  the Cradle to the Major Leagues: New Jersey Base Ball 1855 – 1915 .   Vintage Baseball Game : Saturday, June 22 at 11:00 a.m. Free and Open to the Public On Saturday, attend a vintage baseball game in collaboration with the Historical Society of P...

Saturday, June 15 – Mercer County Inside Early New Jersey Base Ball with historian John Zinn  at 2:00 p.m. Doors open 1:30 p.m.  $15; $10 for Friends of Morven.    Discussion and Q&A with vintage baseball historian and co-curator of Morven’s base ball exhibition.  Museum galleries open before and until 4:00 p.m. following program. Ticket includes same-day Museum admission.     Ticket link

S aturday, June 15  - Piscataway, Middlesex County Father's Day Vintage Baseball Game & Concert

Piscataway, Middlesex County The Liberty Base Ball Club 2019 Schedule

S aturday, June 8  - Hopewell Township, Mercer County Old Time Base Ball Two New Jersey "farm teams" will take to the field when the Mercer County Park Commission hosts its Annual Old Time Base Ball Game. The match-up features the Howell Farm Hogs vs. the Jersey Bulls, teams that play according to the rules that governed baseball in those early days when bats were made of axe handles and wagon tongues, and when pitchers (called "throwers") could be fined for delivering unhittable balls. The public is invited to watch or play in the game at Howell Living History Farm. Rules will be taught to prospective players during an ongoing practice period. Fans of early baseball will also enjoy seeing the match-up of the Flemington Neshanocks and Elkton Eclipse, teams that play in the Mid-Atlantic Vintage Baseball League. Howell Living Farm represents typical farm life between 1890 and 1910. The farm is operated by the Mercer County Parks Commission. It is located at 70 Wooden...

Saturday, May 18 - Essex County 5th ANNUAL BASE BALL CLASSIC at Yanticaw Boys Park Nutley, NJ 07110 Love Baseball? Love history? Watch 1860s Base Ball! The Kingsland Manor Presents The Flemington Neshanock Base Ball Club vs. Kingsland Colonels of Nutley Base Ball Club (pictured) for the 5 th  Annual Base Ball Classic, May 18 th , 2019 at Yanticaw Park, Nutley       The Flemington Neshanock Base Ball Club plays by  19 th -century rules, uses authentic replicas of 19th Century equipment and wears 19th Century uniforms. As was the custom in the mid-19 th  Century, all fielders play barehanded - they do not wear gloves. Today’s Neshanock were re-established in 2001 by Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw, proudly reviving the original name of the team.  The Nutley Colonels was a semi-professional base ball club that was managed by a local All-State baseball star, Anthony J. San Giacomo. The Kingsland Manor is re-establishing that classic base...

Piscataway, Middlesex County The Liberty Base Ball Club 2019 Schedule

S aturday, May 4  - Holmdel, Monmouth County Vintage Base Ball Game & Quilting Demonstration O n Saturday, visit Historic Longstreet Farm in Holmdel  from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, spend a summer afternoon at Holmdel Park and enjoy one of America’s favorite pastimes to see how it started. Monmouth Furnace Boys (formerly known as the Bog Iron Boys) will be playing vintage base ball, using rules from the 19th century. Players will be dressed in uniforms appropriate to the time period, and the style and terms of the 19th century are used during the game. F rom 1:00 - 3:00 pm to view traditional hand quilting demonstration in the Longstreet Farmhouse. Historic Longstreet Farm is located at 44 Longstreet Road, Holmdel, NJ. For more information, call 732-946-3758 or visit  www.monmouthcountyparks.com .

Piscataway, Middlesex County The Liberty Base Ball Club 2019 Schedule

Saturday, April 27 – Atlantic County Vintage “Base Ball” game at historic Batsto Village  The boys of summer - actually in the tradition of the boys of many summers ago - will take to the diamond at Batsto Village in Wharton State Forest on April 27th for the third annual Vintage Base Ball game. The game begins at 12 noon and there is no admission fee.    Playing this year will be the Hoboken Nine (photo) versus the Bog Brandywine. The teams are part of the Vintage Base Ball Association, a Columbus, Ohio-based organization founded in 1996 which includes more than 200 teams from around the U.S. The mission of the VBBA is to promote the games of “Base Ball” as it was known - and played - during the sports’ formative years in the 19th century. At the April game at Batsto, players - sometimes called ballists - will wear reproduction period uniforms which will consist of either a long trouser and shield shirt or a later-style lace shirt and knickers.  The teams will recre...

Piscataway, Middlesex County The Liberty Base Ball Club 2019 Schedule