Brass Monkey, That Funky Monkey

In a pivitol mid-season matchup, the Knights waged war against their arch-rival, The Barbarians.

The Barbarians have had the team formerly known as the Greensox number in recent years, beating them in their last five contests dating back to a controversial Greensox win in 2007 where the new, cheaper, pitcher-friendly ball was
first introduced.

Coming into the contest in a tie for second place in the standings, both teams needed a win to gain ground on the surging NFL squad.

P. O'Leary was on the rubber for the Knights, facing off against his former teammate and pitching mentor, B. Serino. O'Leary was featuring his trademark high-arcing junk and had the Barbarian's lineup off balance all night. The righty fire-baller got out of a bounty of jams, helped out by a stout Knight's defense that made key plays behind possibly the best battery in the league. The Knights got on the board first, scoring a run in the bottom of the first, winning the all-important opening frame.

The Barbarians came roaring back, helped by a close play at first that could have gone either way, scoring two runs with two outs to take a one-run lead. The ump heard an earfull from Knights bench-coach and Designated Hitter C. Turner. The Knights wasted little time, scoring three in the bottom of the third to take control.

Both offenses were slowed by some good defense and quality pitching on both sides until a 6-run explosion by the Knights put the Barbarians away, removing the monkey that had been living on their backs since early in 2007. The Knights took the win 10-3 and is now all alone in second place. The Barbarians fall into a tie in third with Galaxy.

The dead ball era is upon us in the NSL, with a newer, synthetic wrapped ball with less ball flight and less game life than the one used in previous seasons. A similar situation happened in the majors in the early 1900's, leading to an increased emphasis on quality hitting, fielding, and most importantly, pitching.

At this time the games tended to be low scoring, dominated by such pitchers as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. These names will soon be replaced by P. O'Leary, R. Moleti, B. Serino, J. Moleti, etc. The games were so low scoring that the period 1900–1919 is commonly called the "dead-ball era". The term also accurately describes the condition of the actual "baseball" itself. Each baseball cost three dollars, a hefty sum at the time, equal to about $65 today. Our softballs cost three dollars, equal to about negative fifty nine dollars in 1915.

Club owners were therefore reluctant to spend much money on new balls, if not necessary. It was not unusual for a single baseball to last an entire game. By the end of the game, the ball would be dark with grass, mud, and tobacco juice, and it would be lumpy from contact with the bat.

As a consequence, home runs were rare, and the "inside game" dominated—singles, bunts, stolen bases, the hit-and-run play, and other tactics dominated the strategies of the time. Hitting methods like the Baltimore Chop were put into use to increase the number of infield singles.

The Lowlands Field has become a pitcher friendly park where runs are at a premium. Similar to the MLB in the early 18th century, a new brand of softball has been born with the new ball, and it is up to team's to adjust in order to stay afloat in the highly competitive Nahant Softball League.

NFL 6-1

KNIGHTS 5-2

BARBARIANS 4-2

GALAXY 4-2
BRICKYARD 3-3
GEA 2-4
GULLS 1-5
SANDBAR 0-6

Also of Note: NFL won a game played against the Sandbar Pirates that was played at the rotary field at the end of the causeway, the win is reflected in the standings above. No game was played on Tuesday.