It was a historic day at Elm Avenue Park.
The Bethlehem Braves defeated the New York Mutuals 13-6 in the annual Fourth of July vintage baseball game Saturday – the first win in six tries for the home team.
“They (the Mutuals) were completely stunned,” said Bethlehem player/manager and event organizer Steve Peterson. “With the exception of a couple of guys, it was the same group and the same leaders.”
Peterson was the hitting star for the Braves, as he went 3-for-3 at the plate and scored three runs.
“It was really exciting because I’m too old to be running the bases,” said Peterson, who added that, at the age of 56, was one of the oldest players on the field.
There was a danger the game would be postponed by rain for the second year in a row. Rain moved in during the early morning hours on the Fourth of July, and for several hours it appeared the wet weather would be the winner. But as soon as the rain stopped in the early afternoon, Peterson had his grounds crew go into high gear to get the field ready.
“We really attacked the field,” said Peterson. “We pumped the water right off the outfield.”
Once the game started, there were signs the Braves might have a chance at winning. The Mutuals – a traveling club devoted to playing baseball by 19th century rules – scored two runs in the top of the first inning. By normal standards, that would be a good start, but the Braves knew that was atypical of the visitors.
“My son was pitching in the first inning,” said Peterson. “When we came off the field … my son says, ‘We held them to two runs,’ because in the past, the Mutuals have scored double digit runs early on.”
Still, it took until the fourth inning for the Braves to pull even with the Mutuals at 3-3. Once that happened, the floodgates opened for Bethlehem, as it scored 10 of the next 13 runs to pull away.
“We basically scored in every inning (from the third inning on),” said Peterson.
