South Jersey Baseball History:
Dateline: May

Sunday, May 7, 2000

By Charlie Schick
South Jersey Baseball Historical Society

Dateline is a diary of South Jersey baseball that highlights area players, games, events, and outstanding accomplishments in the past history of the great game of baseball. The May dates and facts listed below are taken from the manuscript entitled "A Day's Walk Through South Jersey Baseball."

May 1, 1978.   Shawnee High sophomore Bob Sebra tossed a no-hitter to breeze past J.F. Kennedy High by the count of 6 to 0. Sebra, who struck out the side in the 5th and 6th frames, totaled 13 strikeouts in hurling his classic game. Outstanding defensive plays by the third baseman Tom Schaffouser and first baseman Chuck Meyer kept the no-hitter safe for Sebra.

May 2, 1984.   Glassboro State College's power hitting Jim Paulsen, All South Jersey Paulsboro High grad, set an all-time school record for career home runs. Paulsen accomplished the feat when he homered in the 3rd and 6th innings of a 16 to 6 win over Kutztown State College. The two round trippers gave him the record with 26. In addition, Jim collected 5 RBIs, just 2 shy of the record.

May 4, 1943.   Bill Kleva of Pleasantville High fired a no-hitter in defeating Tuckerton High 10 to 0. Sophomore Kleva fanned 11 batters and walked just 2, both runners thrown out by catcher Harold Price trying to steal second base. Price also supported his battery mate with a booming homerun in the winner's third frame.

May 6, 1968.   Gloucester Catholic High sophomore right-hander Paul Unger tossed a no-hitter in leading the Rams to a 3 to 0 victory over Camden Tech. A third inning error prevented Unger from pitching a perfect game, as he struck out 13 and issued no walks. A third frame 2-run homerun by the winner's Chuck Settar was the key blow of the game.

May 8, 1991.   Eastern High used the combined efforts of Chris Canty, Jeff Bentiff and Hans Beebe to no-hit Gloucester Township Tech in their 12 to 2 win. The 6-inning game was decided early, as Eastern led 11 to 0 after just 3 frames. Tech scored 2 runs in the top of the 6th without the benefit of a hit. Starter Canty was the winning pitcher.

May 10, 1957.   Bordentown High's ace right-hander Ed Foster tossed a no-hit, no-run game to shut down the New Jersey School of the Deaf 6 to 0 in a Del-Val League game. Foster faced only 22 batters, walking one and fanning 6 in collecting the victory. Third baseman Larry Reed and left-fielder Dick Ganges hit home runs for the winners.

May 12, 1976.   Camden Tech High pounded St. Augustine 16 to 2, as hard-hitting center-fielder Darrell Henderson hit for the cycle (single, double, triple and homerun) to lead the winner's 13-hit offense. Henderson's outstanding hitting also produced 4 RBIs to raise his season batting average to .280.

May 15, 1936.   Lou Mucciarelli, rugged catcher for Vineland High, ripped 5 hits in 6 trips to the plate and helped his squad capture the Cumberland County crown by topping Bridgeton High 14 to 4. Mucciarelli hits included 2 triples and he also scored 3 runs.

May 16, 1932.   Hammonton High defeated Atlantic City Vocational Tech 2 to 0, to win the South Jersey Public School A.A. baseball championship. Their victory marked the third time in the last four years that the "Peaches" captured the championship, therefore they gain permanent possession of the South Jersey Association trophy.

May 17, 1955.   Vineland High right-fielder Art D'Arrigo lined 5 singles in 7 plate appearances to help his teammates hammer Atlantic City High 20 to 9. The winning Clan squad collected 22 hits in supporting pitcher Bob Venturi. Venturi fanned 9 Atlantic City batters in picking up the victory.

May 19, 1978.   Pennsville High's Tom Ridgeway tossed a no-hit, no-run game to defeat Salem High 5 to 0. The fantastic lefty struck out 18 (school record) Salem batters of the possible 21 outs in firing his masterpiece. Ridgeway also lead all hitters with a 3 for 4 day at the plate.

May 20, 1947.   Palmyra High grad Hal Wagner, catcher, was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Detroit Tigers for Birdie Tebbetts. He would play in 71 games for the Tigers in 1947 and hit .288. In 1948 Wagner would appear in 54 games for Detroit before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.

May 22, 1968.   Sterling High's Connie Hermann hurled his second no-hitter of the season, as he bested Audubon High 1 to 0. The tall right-hander fanned in defeating Audubon's Joe Neal who allowed only one hit in a brilliant-pitching duel. The winning run was produced in the second frame thanks to outstanding base running by Don Miller.

May 24, 1941.   Middle Township High's outstanding first baseman Al Brown went 5 for 5 while hitting for the cycle. His perfect day at the plate included a homerun, triple, double and 2 singles. His Middle Township teammates added another 10 hits to produce a 15-hit offense and pound Lower Cape May High by a count of 14 to 2.

May 26, 1981.   St. James High won their first South Jersey Parochial "B" baseball title since 1965 when they defeated St. Joseph's High 9 to 5. Pitchers Bob Walters (5 innings) and Rich Gatanis (2 innings) combined to hurl a 4 hitter as Walters got the victory.

May 28, 1991.   Tom Welsh collected 5 hits to help Cherokee High to an unbelievable 27 to 20 victory over Toms River North in the semi-final South Jersey Group IV game. Both teams scored in every inning and combined to score 14 runs in the first and fourth innings. Cherokee had now produced 79 runs in their last 5 games.

May 30, 1884.   Rube Oldring, Bridgeton New Jersey, was born in New York City. He would go on to play 13 major league seasons (1905-1918) and posted a .270 lifetime batting average. Oldring would also be remembered for his outstanding work in youth baseball in the Bridgeton area.

This is just a small sample of South Jersey's baseball history, but I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did researching these outstanding scholastic, college, and major leaguers from our area.

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