Former Atlantic Highlands Mayor Dick Stryker is a wealth of information about many things, but he’s particularly spectacular on the history of his hometown of Atlantic Highlands in decades past. The Baseball Alerts being one of them.
This photo of the Atlantic Highlands Alerts, the baseball team, contains not only several of his relatives, but also other well known names in the borough.
The Alerts made headlines during their seasons in the early part of the 20th century, notably around 1914-1915.
It opened that year’s season on May 3, at the Alerts field in Leonardo where they had also just built new seats. The lineup for the opening game included catcher George Jordan, Pitcher Mel Johnson, first baseman Cy Stryker, second baseman Nat Crawley and Wiliam Woodward on third. Sterling Stryker was short stop, and Jack Stewart, Raymond Stryker and James Flannigan were outfields.
They were in a series of three games for the championship of Monmouth County later in the season, when newspapers reported they won the first of the trio on a Sunday afternoon when they defeated the Colored Giants of Red Bank on their home field on Beech street. That score was 12-4 with the Alerts scoring in just about every inning of the game, and the Giants scoring in two innings on errors
That was also a game when a Mechanic Streey resident, Harry Thomas was a spectator and was hit in the face by a foul ball, badly injuring his lip, another fact reported in the local papers.
The batteries for both teams include Sterling Stryker and William Woodward for the Alerts and Edward Wilson and Clifford Green for the Giants. Stryker struck out five and allowed six hits. Wilson struck out seven batters and allowed 12 hits,
Th Alerts also scored another victory in Red Bank when that town’s Orioles lost their first game of the season being shut out 11-0 by the Alerts with the newspaper reporting the visiting Alerts “were superior in every department of the game.”
Th Alerts also defeated the Ramblers of New York when the New Yorkers came to Melvin Rice’s filed and met up with Sterling Stryker pitching and Joe Engle catching for the Alerts.
The Baseball team in the photograph is comprised of Back row, from Left, Mel Johnson, Ray Stryker Sterling Stryker Dan OKES, officials Plavoie and F. Poughkipsie, Al Burns Joe Comminsky, and front row, Percy Hauser, Bill Woodward, Joe Stryker, who was mascot of team, Cy Stryker and Walter Bils.
