The Connections Bridgewater Somerville Edition Dec 2019-Jan 2020

This past September, on one of the local news programs, one of the commentators made a passing remark during the sports segment. The date was 9/11 and the Mets scored 9 runs on 11 hits that evening. I wondered…did anyone besides me, find this unusual? Or did every- one else slough it off as an ad hoc remark by a newscaster trying to be clever? With over 375,000 games played in the 145+ years since professional baseball started, you might expect some strange occurrences, includ- ing the 1919 World Series, which you may have read about in the last edition of Random Connections https://www.theconnectionsnj.com/ a-centennial-connection/ Philip Bump, a political reporter for the Washington Post was inspired by his father, a sports columnist, to do a little digging. According to Bump, “On June 28, 1871, the Philadelphia Athletics traveled to Troy, N.Y., to play the Troy Haymakers in a game of base- ball. It was the first season in which a professional league existed in the United States and, on that day in Upstate New York, some- thing happened that, as far as I can tell, never happened again. In that game both teams scored one or more runs in all 9 innings.” My sentimental sports story is that of my father’s childhood hero, Johnny Vander Meer, a Cincinnati Reds pitcher, born in Prospect Park, New Jersey in 1914. On June 11, 1938, Vander Meer pitched a no hitter against the Boston Bees. Four days later, against the Brook- lyn Dodgers, in what was the first night game ever held at Ebbets Field, he threw another no hitter, becoming the only player in major league history to throw two con- secutive no-hitters. Back to the Mets’ performance on September 11th this year. I felt compelled to do some research. Early in the season, I found a few scores where runs and hits synchro- nized with the calendar date, such as 4 runs on 7 hits occurring on April 7th. However, in the second half of the season, not a single home team matched their runs and hits to the calendar date. With the caveat that I am not a statistician, I estimate that there is a 1 in 20,000 chance that a New York professional baseball team scores 9 runs on 11 hits in New York City on what has become a significant day in history and partic- ularly meaningful to our region. Does it make you wonder too? IS THIS REALLY A RANDOM CONNECTION? By: Dan Rosenberg PAGE 56 shop somerville theconnectionsnj.com & % $ ## & % $ !$% "! SPECIALIZING IN: BARBER/STYLIST STYLIST 13 South Bridge Street Somerville, NJ 908-725-7610 Weaves Relaxers Twists Dreads Flat Tops Fades Razor Cuts Shaving Perms Color Open 5 Days a Week Closed Sundays & Mondays Get Ready for the Holidays! Walk-ins Welcome Brian M. Cige Attorney At Law Cigelaw@gmail.com 7 East High Street, Somerville, NJ 08876 908.685.3775 WWW. CIGELAW .COM