HUZZAH THE SQUIRES:
The Diary of a Vintage "ballist"
By: Jerry Wasserman
2010
29 August: The Cleveland Blues made their inaugural trip to Spiegel Grove for a Sunday afternoon base ball match. At the conclusion of the match, the Squires were on the short end of a 22-21 score on the Williams and Sons Masonry scoreboard. The Blues scored 15 total runs in the first 3 innings to the Squires’ single ace. The Squires rallied back in the later innings but the Blues scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th frame. It was a great game played in a very gentlemanly manner by all participants. Pacing the Squires strikers with 4 hits each were Fly Frey, Diamond Horn, and Birdbath Beier. Fly and Iron Horse Smith each homered for the Squires. Iron Horse, Rosie Williams, and Stockings Bargerstock had 3 hits each. Rosie tripled and doubled. Bat Ward, Wings Wasserman, Numbers Ward, Dealer Beckman and Lefty Bargerstock had 2 safeties each. Dealer also tripled and doubled. Our season is complete with 10 wins, 6 losses and 1 tie. In analyzing our losses three occurred when we were not at full strength and the other three were against really good teams. We enjoyed a fine post game meal at the Hayes Center.
The Squires would like to thank Joan Eckermann for her fine work in scheduling our games and arranging the meals. Thank you to Tallyman Miranda for scorekeeping and his great support. To all of the lovely ladies that attend the games and allow us to participate in this game we love including Claudia, Lady Kay, Pam, Brittney, Judy, Wendy, Justine, Jamie, Tammy and any I may have missed many thanks. Also, thank you to the fans for attending the games. We now eagerly look forward to our annual Squires holiday gathering.
14 & 15 August: The Squires traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, to participate in the World Tournament of Historic Base Ball . Our first match was against the Bonneyville Millers. We were victorious by a score of 39-6. Fly Frey, Rosie Williams and Iron Horse Smith each had 7 hits. Rosie had a double and two triples and Iron Horse three doubles and a home run. Ball Park Franks and Fingers Kinsey had 6 hits each. Ram Gonzalez had 4 hits including a triple. Numbers Ward had three hits, scored three runs and had three RBI. In the second match, the Squires were pitted against the defending champions, the Saginaw Old Golds. We took an early 13-0 lead and held on to win 16-13. Hammer Gonzalez paced the Squires strikers with six hits, two being doubles. Iron Horse had five hits with a double and a triple. Fly had four safeties. Fingers, Rosie and Bat Ward had three hits each. Ram, Numbers, and Speedy Schmidt had two hits each. On Sunday morning we played in the semi-final round against our nemesis, the hometown Greenfield Village La De Dahs. It was a good game with the lead changing hands throughout the play. The La De Dahs prevailed by a score of 19-13. Fly, Rosie, and Iron Horse lead the Squires with three hits each. Hammer, Wings Wasserman, and Bat Ward had two safeties each. We were not at full strength due to minor injuries to Ball Park and Birdbath Beier. We were all exhausted after three games in the oppressive heat and humidity. We always play well in this tournament and this was no exception.
1 August : The Squires made the long drive to Rochester, Michigan, to battle the Rochester Grangers at Van Hoosen Farms Museum. The Grangers took a commanding 5 run lead after the first half inning. The Squires fought valiantly until Dealer Beckman plated the winning run from second base after a game winning hit by Ram Gonzalez in the bottom half of the 11th inning. Final score was Squires 9, Grangers 8. It was a terrific game against a good team that has not had many losses this season. It was a great team effort with everyone from both teams making a contribution. Hammer Gonzalez paced the Squires strikers with a 5-5 effort including a double and three runs batted in. Stockings Bargersock also had 5 safeties. Fly Frey had 4 singles. Wings Wasserman, Ballpark Franks, Block Blodgett, Dealer Beckman and Ram Gonzalez had 3 hits each. Diamond Horn and Lefty Bargersock had 2 hits apiece. We enjoyed a fine post-game meal served by the Grangers.
25 July: TheWyandotte Ghost Riders made the trip from Upper Sandusky to Spiegel Grove to play a doubleheader. It was a great day for base ball as the weather had cooled from the prvious days. There was a nice crowd of cranks to view the game. The first game showed a 14-14 score on the Williams & Son Masonry scoreboard. (It was common in the 1860s to end the game in a tie rather than finish in extra innings.) It took a bang-bang play at the plate when Fly Frey tagged out what would have been the winning run to end the match. Fly Frey, Dealer Beckman, and Rosie Williams paced the Squires' hitters with 3 a piece. Bat Ward, Wings Wasserman, Numbers Ward, and Stocking Bargerstock had 2 hits each. After a short intermission, the Squires broke out the big lumber and finished the second game with a 28-1 victory. Fingers Kinsey had 5 safeties including a double. Fly Frey had 4 hits and 4 RBI with a double. Iron Horse Smith had 4 hits, 4 RBI and 2 doubles. Ballpark Franks had 4 hits, 4 RBI and a home run, and Numbers Ward had 4 safeties. Hammer Gonzalez, Rosie Williams, Bat Ward, Wings Wasserman, and Lefty Bargerstock had 3 hits each. Tallyman Miranda stepped to the plate twice and had 2 singles. We enjoyed a fine post-game meal in the auditorium.
11 July : The Squires made a trip south to Carillon Park in Dayton and swept a double header from the Clodbusters Base Ball Club. In the first match, the Squires were victorious by a 10-7 score. Hammer Gonzalez, Iron Horse Smith, Ram Gonzalez and Ballpark Franks paced the Squires’ strikers with three each. Ram and Ballpark each had two doubles. Fly Frey, Wings Wasserman, Dealer Beckman, Diamond Horn and Fingers Kinsey each had two hits. In the second match, the Clodbusters jumped out to a five-run lead after one inning but the Squires battled back to win 8-7. Fly Frey, Iron Horse Smith and Ballpark Franks lead the hitting attack with three apiece. Ballpark had two doubles and Iron Horse had one double in the match. Wings Wasserman, Dealer Beckman, Fingers Kinsey and Stockings Bargerstock each chipped in with two hits. Lefty Bargerstock had a double. The Squires have played against the Clodbusters several times in past years and it has been difficult to win against them. Today was very gratifying to get two victories! We enjoyed a fine meal after the game in the park.
27 June: The Squires opened their home season with a pair of matches against the Forest City Base Ball Club. The first match included a 10-minute rain delay shortly after the first pitch. The Squires were stymied by the trees in the playing field. All of the bounces off the trees seemed to favor the Forest City nine. The Squires were on the short end of the 12-7 score on the Williams and Son Masonry scoreboard. Hammer Gonzalez had a double and a triple among his three hits. Ram Gonzalez had a double among his 3 safeties. Wings Wasserman and Fingers Kinsey had two hits each. Fly Frey, Diamond Horn, Dealer Beckman and Stockings Bargerstock had one hit apiece. The heat of the day was intense so we took a short break between games. The second match saw the Squires as 6-2 victor. Iron Horse Smith had 3 hits including 2 doubles. Fly Frey, Block Blodgett, Diamond Horn and Fingers Kinsey had 2 hits each. Hammer Gonzalez, Wings Wasserman and Stockings Bargerstock had one hit each. The bounces off the trees reversed themselves and were in favor of the Squires in the second match. We enjoyed a fine post game meal in the museum after the game.
12 June : The Squires traveled to Upper Sandusky to play in the Mayor’s Cup Tournament hosted by the Wyandotte Ghost Riders. Our first match was played against the Akron Black Stockings. We lost the match 15-4. Leading the Squires hitters with 4 hits was Ram Gonzalez. Two hits were achieved by Fly Frey, Hammer Gonzalez, Birdbath Beier and Tyler Williams. Our second match was against the Ghost Riders and the Squires were victorious by a score of 16-8. Tyler Williams, playing in only his third vintage game was the hitting hero with 6 hits in 7 trips to the plate. He played a solid defensive game at second base and I awarded him the game ball after the match for his great effort. Ram Gonzalez, Hammer Gonzalez and Jon “Rookie” Franks had 5 hits each. Wings Wasserman had 4 safeties. Fly Frey and Block Blodgett both collected 2 hits. The hosts had an excellent dinner for all of the players and families of players after the game.
We returned on Sunday to play the Columbus Capitals and were defeated 14-8. There were only 5 Squires present so we recruited 4 of the Ghost Rider players to field a team of 9. Wings Wasserman and Hammer Gonzalez had 4 hits each. Fly Frey, Fingers Kinzey and Block Blodgett had 3 hits apiece. We had more chances to score as we ended 7 different innings with a runner on third base, four of those innings ended with the bases loaded. The players recruited from the Ghost Riders, A.J., Bandit, Zack and Jesse each had 3 hits in the game. All 3 games were played in heat and humidity and the field was soggy form all of the recent rain.
16 May: The Spiegel Grove Squires traveled to Bowling Green for two matches with the Wood County Infirmary Inmates. The Squires won the first match by a 15-4 score. Pacing the Squires hitting attack with three safeties were Speedy Schmidt and Rosie Williams with two of Rosie’s being doubles. Two hits each were tallied by Fly Frey, Hammer Gonzalez, Wings Wasserman, Block Blodgett, Dealer Beckman, Stockings Bargerstock and Bat Ward. Iron Horse Smith made his first plate appearance in Vintage base ball stand out with a home run. In the second match, the Squires prevailed by a score of 7-4. It was a close match until the Squires plated three tallies in the sixth inning to pull away from the Inmates. Fly Frey, Birdbath Beier, Ram Gonzalez, Numbers Ward, Block Blodgett, Speedy Schmidt, Stockings Bargerstock and Iron Horse Smith lead the Squires hitting with two each. Diamond Horn had a triple and Dealer Beckman. Stockings Bargerstock, Block Blodgett and Rosie Williams each had doubles for the Squires. The Squires next match is at the Hayes Presidential Center against the Carey Cayugas on Sunday June 6th at 2 p.m.
1 May: The Squires opened the 2010 season traveling to Wyandotte, Michigan, for a match with the Wyandotte Stars. The weather was threatening in the morning but we decided to take a chance and make the trip. It turned out to be a great day for base ball. We had two bad innings giving up five runs in the third frame and six in the seventh inning. We held them scoreless in the other innings, but came up on the short end of an 11-5 score. Fly Frey and Rosie Williams paced the Squires with 4 hits each. Diamond Horn had 3 safeties. Block Blodgett, Stockings Bargerstock, Lefty Bargerstock and Tyler “Rookie” Williams had 2 hits apiece. Rosie Williams made a great one-handed catch of a hard hit low line drive and received huzzahs from the opposition. Tyler Williams played his first vintage game because we were short on players, with only 8 guys. He played a good defensive game at second base.