Wednesday Jersey Shore Blue Claws Baseball Adventure – Part I, Toms River To Point Pleasant To Asbury Park

Last week, during my business trip to NJ and PA for ArcBest, I had some personal time on Wednesday to explore some of the many interesting Jersey Shore baseball experiences. My final destination would be the Jersey Shore Blue Claws vs. Brooklyn Cyclones game at ShoreTown Ballpark at 6:35pm. When I started out towards the Shore from my hotel in Mount Laurel, I budgeted enough time to explore several cool Jersey Shore baseball places before catching the game. And I started at one of the most famous Little League cities in the entire USA – Toms River, NJ.

I actually started my Toms River (NJ) adventure at the Ocean City Historical Society. I figured I might find some cool baseball books, maps, and perhaps learn about some the Ocean City baseball history from a staffer. When I arrived inside the historical society front room, I spoke to a few historians who let me know that I was unfortunately going to strike out finding any baseball stuff inside their rooms. But, a nice man walked me around for a few minutes and clued me into some cool Ocean City facts and directed me to the Toms River Little League complex about 10 minutes away. So, not quite a strikeout, more of a whiff.

What can I say that already hasn’t been reported about Toms River, NJ and their famous Little League Championship team? Not much, the Todd Frazier led Toms River bunch is one of the most popular choices for best US Little League team ever. Frazier went on to play MLB baseball after hitting majestic home runs and pitching the lights out in that memorable 1998 International LL World Series. The current LL complex features 6 or 7 baseball and softball fields, a main concession stand area, and tons of great seating for fans to enjoy the next wave of Toms River baseball stars. Pretty cool walking the grounds of such a prestigious baseball program, established in 1963. Next stop – Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.

Taking the scenic route from Toms River to Point Pleasant Beach is highly recommended. If you have never experienced what a beach town, a beach community looks like, take the drive up Route 35. This local road takes you right through the beach district, past surf shops, families going to the beach with beach carts packed to the gills, beach bars galore, and all those incredible beach houses overlooking the beautiful Jersey Shore beaches. Point Pleasant Beach and Donald T. Fioretti Field caught my eye on Google Maps, so with Asbury Park as my final destination, I took the beach road and made it over to Point Pleasant Beach Gulls baseball park next to Fioretti Field.

Bad timing on my part, as I forgot that most kids are still in school. The baseball field was actually on the Middle School campus, and there were kids on the football field, maybe a PE class. There was a coach throwing batting practice in a nearby cage and I asked him quickly about the field. He mentioned that his Varsity club played on that field and I told him I was interested in the field and would be quick taking a few photos. He told me it was okay, so I snagged a few photos before leaving campus. I don’t like to go on campus during school hours just to photograph fields, especially without the school’s permission. But, in the end, I was glad to at least connect with the coach and let him know of my purpose there on campus. Next and final stop on my pre-game Jersey Shore adventure – Asbury Park.

I had read a story online earlier in the morning about a famous barnstorming event that featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the NY Yankees. The event took place at Asbury Park Stadium and I was keen to check it out and see if there were any historical markers to validate the online story. I was psyched to find street parking next to the stadium, now a football and multi-use athletic stadium, and I hopped out of my rental to see what I could find out.

I spotted a few plaques on the walls outside Asbury Park Stadium and excitedly hustled up to read them. Unfortunately, none of the plaques were about Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, the famous home runs, the barnstorming event, or baseball in general. One was about Frank Budd, dubbed the “World’s Fastest Human” and the other was the stadium dedication to Coach William “Butch” Bruno. Pretty cool reading about these Asbury Park sports legends and from there I walked over to a baseball field to see if there was anything written or displayed there.

The baseball field was cool to check out but there were no historical markers or plaques about the barnstorming event. From what I read online earlier, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit home runs at this event, hitting them as far as and into Deal Lake which borders the field and grounds some 500 feet from home plate. Legendary stories like this are always great to read and often impossible to validate. If a newspaper covered the event, there may be a record somewhere in the Asbury Park Library, I said to myself, foreshadowing a bit here as to where my next stop would be. So, I took a photo from home plate looking out towards Deal Lake, then went over to the outfield area near Deal Lake and took a photo looking back towards home plate. And then Googled the local library, where I found the information I was seeking.

The Asbury Park Public Library, located off 1st Avenue, provided me with a wealth of knowledge. From the staff and library Historian, Matt Callahan to the books in the local section upstairs to the archived Asbury Park Press on their computer, I was able to piece together the stories of that barnstorming event. And it was really cool hearing Mr. Callahan’s knowledge of the event. And read a fascinating article about the event that took place October 13, 1927 – nearly 100 years ago!!! Fun fact from the Asbury Park Press article, the game was called because they ran out of baseballs, including several that were hit into Deal Lake by the likes of Ruth and Gehrig. It was such a fun visit to the library to chat with Matt and read interesting passages in local books and find those amazing articles about that 1927 event. If you ever need local knowledge on your business or personal trips, do like I do and head to the local library in the city, town, village you are visiting. You will not be disappointed!!!

Okay, quick shout out to the Sunset Diner up the road in nearby Ocean Township, NJ for the incredible grilled chicken wrap – one of the best sandwiches I have ever inhaled, I mean eaten. 5 stars just ain’t enough praise for this place. Like libraries, I love eating in diners when I am on the road traveling.

So, after a very successful Jersey Shore baseball adventure afternoon, I headed over to ShoreTown Park and purchased my game day ticket for the Jersey Shore Blue Claws game. According to the ticket agent, the Blue Claws don’t offer General Admission tickets until the stadium seats are mostly sold out, so he gave me a “best available” seat instead. And when I found out where I was sitting, let’s just say I was pretty psyched for the game. Gates would open around 5:30 and game time was set for 6:30ish. Overall, it was an amazing pre-game Jersey Shore baseball adventure checking out fantastic baseball experiences in Toms River, Point Pleasant Beach, and Asbury Park, NJ.