Local Life

Retro ’60s Rumson Baseball Bases Loaded

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Play ball! It’s baseball season, and that means little league teams are on the field hitting home runs at practice.

It’s a team effort; and, it starts when kids are just little tykes with bats and mitts in the Rumson-Fair Haven area and beyond. And back in the 1960s, some of the dads of Rumsonites still in the area were those tykes teaming up and scoring big with the game, lifetime friendships forged and, of course, a team snapshot (or several) back in time. Picture that.

It looks like this team took their season uniformed pose to the steps of Bingham Hall. We’re not sure of the team’s name, as the uniforms only tell us it’s Rumson, as do the faces. Maybe there were no team names back in the ’60s.

In this team shot is a former iconic Rumson administrator, Gary Sammon, who passed away in 2020. There are also other familiar big hitter names with deep Rumson roots: Cuje, Campanella, Friscia.

Now, that’s a home run of familiarity in a Rumson way. On the field? Well, taking it back that far, whose baseball talent was passed down through generations here? All bases are loaded here. Hmmmm …

Hey batter, batter … Swing!