By Ray Shaw

Sunday morning was bleak and wet and though the forecast predicted a questionable day for base ball, the New York Mutual bravely set out on their two hour trip around the horn to meet the Newtown Sandy Hooks at St. Rose Field in Newtown.

The grounds look to be as inhospitable as they had been the same time last year when the Senators were in town to meet the Sandy Hooks at the first annual Oktoberfest but, as the teams arrived and took the field the skies magically cleared to a brilliant sunny day.

As umpire ‘Geezer’ Shaw called the captains for the bat toss, the Sandy Hooks fielded a makeshift line-up of overhand and rehabilitated veterans. Even though the squad included a number of players who had missed the previous week’s successes in Smithtown, all had high expectations for the day.

Included on the starting nine was ‘Mudcat’ Albano behind the dish, ‘Muhl’ Snyder toeing the pitching line, ‘Mister Edwards at third, ‘Moose’ Margolus at short scout, ‘Doughboy’ Norwich at second, ‘Bulldog’ Paes at first, ‘Pops’ and ‘Express’ Pendergist in left and center and Brigette Sorensen in right. ‘Cool Papa’ Harmon, ‘90’ Keane and Herlof Sorensen provided support on the boards and in the batting order.

The Mutuals in their bright whites with dark green piping and Old English ‘M’ arrived with a full compliment of ballists including veteran captains ‘Express’ Miklich and ‘Squid’ Jordan and old stalwarts ‘Youngblood’ Hippeli, the brothers Halecky, the brothers Sullivan and ‘Rabbit’ Blair. Jim Wigren from the Waterbury Connors joined the festivities as a special guest and took his place with the visiting squad.

In the first frame the Mutuals jumped out to a one run lead which was quickly followed by a two-run response by the Sandy Hooks on base hits by ‘Pops’ and ‘Muhl’ followed by a two run double by ‘Mister’ Edwards. In the next two innings, the Mutuals added six more runs due to numerous misplayed balls and throwing errors while the Hooks added just three more, helped in a large part by a bases clearing triple by ‘Muhl’ Snyder in the third.

At this point, it was the Mutuals’ game to lose as they scored multiple runs in every inning of the match save the fourth and seventh. While, at the same time, the battery of ‘Express’ Miklich and ‘Youngblood’ Hippeli (coming off a extended Achilles tendon rehabilitation) gave a two-man clinic on 1864 base ball techniques with a complete range of hurling deliveries (including Miklich’s fifty-five mile per hour zinger) and acrobatic fielding exhibition behind the plate.

In spite of a fifteen-hit attack (including a three-for-three effort by ‘Cool Papa’ Harmon) and stiffening defense by the home side, the Hooks were unable to penetrate the Mutual defenses through the later parts of the game nor stop the relentless run and gun offense of the visitors.

Highlights of the game included Edward’s double, Snyder’s tremendous triple to deepest center, Miklich’s inside the park scamper (which was a result of a potential bound out that bounced a good 10 foot in the air over the rightfielder’s head and continued to carom to the far reaches of the park), ‘Pops’ Pendergist catch of a potential home run at the edge of the babbling brook in left, and the loss of a Pendergist struck game ball which embedded itself deep in the swamp in left ... never to be seen again.

At the end of nine, the totals read 16 for New York and 5 for Newtown Sandy Hook.

Both teams exchanged huzzahs and reconvened at the Sorensen Farm in Palestine for late afternoon conviviality and dinner. It was the perfect way to close a remarkable and most memorable season and all look forward to further meetings and festivities in the future.