Yogi Berra Stadium, Museum & Learning Center
Little Falls, NJ
American Defenders of New Hampshire vs. New
Jersey Jackals
June 13, 2003
By
Ken Schlapp
The last baseball museum that was
omitted from my 2003 baseball tour was the Yogi Berra Museum &
Learning Center. As with all the old stadium sites in New York, it
was another place close to home, that I missed. This museum was
only 24 miles away from my apartment in Manhattan so I wanted to
make sure I got to go there before my home was almost 3,000 miles
away in California, which is was to be in January 2010. The exact
location of the Museum is on the Montclair State University campus
and is adjacent to Yogi Berra Stadium.
I made my first trip to the Yogi Berra
Museum on March 3, 2007. Unlike my other visits to baseball museums
as a tourist and visitor, this trip I made as a guest speaker. I
ran the New York Gotham base Ball Club,
which plays base ball by 1864 rules, as Captain for several years.
There are about 200 similar clubs throughout the US and Canada that
play base ball as it was at a certain period in time. During 2007,
Jim Bouton (of Ball Four Fame), was part of a rival faction of teams
that was getting press for playing old time baseball the way it used
to be. The only problem with that was that the teams playing in Jim
Bouton’s affiliation were playing a version of the game that
combined different rules that were in effect during different
portions of the 19th century. Therefore, they were
saying they were playing vintage base ball, while they were actually
playing a version of baseball invented in 2007. I have been
intentionally switching between “base ball” and “baseball” because
baseball was originally two words. Therefore, in the 1800s you
would use two words while in modern times it would be one
word…hence, the use of one word for Bouton’s affiliated teams.
On March 3, 2007, Jim Bouton, Eric
Miklich of the New York Mutuals (and 19cbaseball.com), Bradley Shaw
of the Flemington Neshanock, and I were invited by the Society of
American Baseball Research (SABR) to speak on the subject of Vintage
Base Ball and the two factions within. I had spoken to Jim Bouton
before, but this was the first time I met him in person. I even met
his wife on this day, considering she showed up in support of her
husband. I will state that I do like Jim Bouton as a person. I
enjoyed my dialogue with him before, during, and after this day.
However, our philosophy on the promotion of vintage base ball
differs significantly.
The debate between the members of the
panel was pretty heated at times. The main point of contention
being the desire to portray and present 19th century base
ball as accurately as possible for Eric, Bradley, and myself, while
Jim Bouton expressed that displaying a period of time (like the
roaring 20s) is good enough to get the point across, regardless of
the precise inaccuracy. Most of the existing vintage teams work
very hard to play and teach the game as accurately as possible
pertaining to the specific year in which their team plays. The
rules changed significantly from 1845 to 1902 with some subtle and
some significant changes every year. Therefore, grouping different
rules from a 10 or 20-year period could significantly change the
accuracy of the rules as they actually were in base ball history.
The typical SABR member is a strict follower of accuracy within the
history of the game. Therefore, it was no surprise to us, that the
crowd was predominantly in favor of our side of the argument. This
made the debate and question-and-answer segment, which followed,
quite satisfying.
However,
I will never forgive myself for not properly answering one question
from the audience. While the tide was strongly on our side, one
woman asked, “Why are some of the anti-Bouton faction so nasty?”
What I wanted to start my response with was “Thank you for your
question Mrs. Bouton…..”, but I thought of that too late. We did end
up explaining that nastiness was rare, but that we are very
passionate about making sure that all of our hard work in historical
research is portrayed accurately. In addition, we feel that the set
of rules that the Bouton teams were playing by, would undermine all
our research with inaccuracies, which would leave a lasting
impression on the typical baseball fan since they would take the
famous person’s portrayal over ours. In fairness to Jim Bouton, he
did say that those in attendance were always cordial and moderate
about expressing their (our) opinions, but he did receive some nasty
communication from others, which is believable.
The best part about being invited to
speak was that it led me to see the Museum as well. This gave me
the chance to see Yogi Berra’s 10 World Series rings, which are on
display. It is amazing to think that he was part of 10 championship
teams as a player, plus more as a coach. The museum is filled with
other memorabilia and photos from Yogi’s career and life. However,
the most interesting part of the museum to me was the reconstruction
of the original scoreboard from Yankee Stadium. In addition, there
is a theater that shows baseball films during operation hours and is
used for talks, like the one I was part of, and as a classroom for
education at other times.
The Museum, as the name indicates, is
also a learning center. They offer many sports influenced
educational programs for both children and adults, but are mainly
geared towards young people. Some of their year-round programs
include seminars on leadership, sports camps, and workshops for
coaches and parents to help develop proper conduct for athletes and
parents, sportsmanship, team building, and improving as athletes.
Overall, it is a museum worth visiting as a fan, and a good place to
learn for parents and young adults.
Although I was happy to see the
museum, I did not get the chance to see a game at the adjacent
stadium until July 13, 2009. During 2009, I was on a crusade to see
as many baseball games and sporting events as I possibly could
before moving to California. Specifically, I wanted to make sure
that I got to see all of the local stadiums around the New York
Metropolitan area, of which there are quite a few. The following is
a list of all the events I made it to in 2009:
Baseball Games:
World Baseball Classic - Toronto - Skydome - 6
World Baseball Classic - San Diego - Petco Park - 6
World Baseball Classic - Los Angeles - Dodgers Stadium - 3 (15 -
Total)
Mets - Citifield - 75
Yankees - Yankee Stadium - 9
Cubs - Wrigley Field - 6
Phillies - Citizens Bank Park - 1
Red Sox - Fenway Park - 1
Orioles - Camden Yards - 2
White Sox - Cellular One Field - 1
Angels - Angels Stadium - 1
Mariners - Safeco Park - 1
Giants - AT&T Park - 3
A's - Oakland Colliseum - 1
Blue Jays - Sky Dome - 1 (102 Total MLB Games)
New Jersey Jackals - 1
Newark Bears - 2
Long Island Ducks - 1
Staten Island Yankees - 2
Brooklyn Cyclones - 7
Bridgeport Blue Fish - 1
Scottsdale Scorpians - 1 (16 Total Minor League Games)
St Johns - Citifield - 1 (1 College Game)
134 Total Baseball games Attended
Vintage Base ball:
Gothams (as Player) - 33
Providence Grays (as Player) - 1
Umpiring - 5
39 Total Vintage Base ball Games
Other:
Segal Softball - 4
Coaching Knights with Billy - 1
Total Baseball Games - 178
Basketball:
Knicks - Madison Square Garden - 22
76ers - Spectrum - 1
Wizards - Verizon Center - 1
Hawks - Atlanta - 1
Raptors - Air Canada Center - 1
Nets - Prudential Center - 1
Clippers - Staples Center - 1
Lakers - Staples Center - 1
Total NBA Basketball Games - 29
Hockey:
Thrashers - Atlanta - 1
Black Hawks - United Center - 1
Islanders - Mausoleum - 2
Ducks - Honda Center - 9
Coyotes - Jobing.com Arena - 2
Flyers - Wachovia Center - 1
Rangers - Madison Square Garden - 4
Devils - Prudential Center - 1
Maple Leafs - Air Canada Center - 1 (22 Total NHL Games)
Brooklyn Aces - Floyd Bennett Field - 1
23 Total Hockey Games
Other:
Jets - Giants Stadium - 1
Roller Derby - Hunter College - 1
232 Total Sporting events
Concerts:
Kiss - Nassaue Colliseum - 1
Heaven & Hell - MSG
Facelife Live - NYC
235 Total Events
As indicated above, in the middle of
my crusade, I headed over to New Jersey with my friends Billy Piella
and Ed Alexander to catch a New Jersey Jackals Game against the
American Defenders of New Hampshire on July 13, 2009 for my first
game at Yogi Berra Stadium. As I said earlier, it was a short drive
from Manhattan, and an amazing feat that I had never gone before.
The first thing you see when you get to the stadium’s parking lot is
the big baseball sign with the silhouette of Yogi and Yogi Berra
Stadium across it. It is a simple but elegantly appropriate
entrance. The museum is on the right of the entrance and is
effectively l ocated
between home plate and 1st base. The stadium is small,
but nice. It officially holds 3,784 people, but due to the wide
concourses and a grass berm beyond the outfield fence, many more
people can come watch a big game. There were only 1,574 in
attendance this game, so finding a seat was not a problem.
Yogi Berra Stadium has been the home
of the New Jersey Jackals since 1998, when they were a part of the
Northeast League. During their time as an Independent League
franchise, they were also part of the Northern League from 2000-2002
and in the Can-Am League since 2005. This stadium is also the home
of the Montclair State Red Hawks and was the New Jersey Pride of
Major League Lacrosse. Since this is Yogi Berra Stadium, and Yogi
wore # 8, all of the printed outfield dimensions end in an 8. It is
308 down both lines and 398 to center field. Yogi’s # 8 is also
retired even though he never played a game for the Jackals.
However, he does have his own suite for when he comes to the games,
which is attached to the museum. Surprisingly enough, the Jackals
do have two other retired numbers as well: # 28 for Joel Bennett,
who played and coached for the Jackals for 7 years, and # 4 for Zach
Smithlin, who hold many team offensive records (note that his number
was retired after my visit).
In
 general,
this stadium is a good place to catch a minor league game. The
seats are comfortable and there is a lot of history built into it
with the museum and the retired numbers mentioned above.
Unfortunately, I lost my scorecard from this game and do not
remember too much from this game other than the camouflage uniforms
worn by the American Defenders. The American Defenders name was in
honor of the U.S. Armed Forces; due to one of the team's prior
owners, Terry Allvord, who the founder of armed forces baseball in
the modern era and a retired U.S. Naval Lieutenant. I though their
uniforms were pretty cool. However, for a game summary, I will have
to rely on an article I found from Can-Am Independent Wire Services:
“The American Defenders of New
Hampshire got off to a fast start and held on for an 8-7 victory
over New Jersey. New Hampshire used six hits in the first inning to
score five times and took an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth
inning. The Jackals plated four runs on four hits in the frame but
couldn’t push the tying run across. A line out left the bases loaded
and in the bottom of the ninth, Defenders closer Juan Padilla shut
the door. LF Jerod Edmondson and 3B Chris Kelly each homered for New
Hampshire. New Jersey 3B Mike Scanzano went 3-for-4 with two RBI and
a run scored.”
Bottom line – It is definitely worth
the trip out to Montclair State University to catch a game and most
importantly take a look at all of the Yogi Berra artifacts in the
museum.
Basic trip facts:
-Stadium
- Not Major League so still at # 38
-Old Stadium Sites visited – None (Total – 39)
-Under construction Stadium Sites visited – None (Total – 3)
-Miles traveled – 48 via Driving (Totals: Driving – 19,897, Subway -
101, Amtrak – 460, Air - 18,028, Total – 38,486)
-States, provinces, Districts and/or commonwealths passed through –
New York & New Jersey (Totals: States – 48, Provinces – 2, Districts
– 1, Commonwealths - 1)
-Seats – Field between home and 3rd base
Prices: Parking – Free - I took the subway, Beer – ??, Hot Dogs –
??, Program (including pencil) – ??, Souvenir Soda Cup – ??
-Credit Card giveaway – None
-First Pitch - 7:10 PM
-Results: American Defenders 8, Jackals 7, W – Nick Asselin, L –
Stuart Pomeranz, S – Juan Padilla
-Home team record to date – 27 wins, 21 losses
-Record of “team I was routing for” to date – 20 wins, 28 losses
-Attendance – 1,574
-Lodging – Home
Note: permission from Eric
Miklich of
19cbaseball.com to use the Photo with Jim Bouton. |
