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National Adult Baseball Association - Raritan Valley,N.J.
Entering our 15th season of play,part of a national organization of adult leagues which offers regional tournaments to its members. Local league offers playoffs, championship, and all-star games.
Typically, our 20-game season begins in mid-April. Most of those games are scheduled on Sundays, occasionally there might be a Saturday night game. We do not schedule games on holiday weekends, such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.
Who Can Play?
This league is open to adults 18 years of age and older. While NABA leagues in other cities around the country are organized into age brackets of 38+, 28+, and 18+, we currently offer just one age bracket for all players 18 and up. There are two skill levels - AA and A leagues.
All skill levels welcome!
How to Join
If you've got a cool head and enjoy a challenge, why not play a little hard ball. Maybe even manage your own team?
To join call League President, Matt Dosch at (732) 763-8190 or email rvnabajam@yahoo.com. If you want to enter your team in the league contact the league office at the same number or email above. If you are planning on entering a team, think of a team name.
The deadline for entering a team is March 1. After that date, the league maintains and updates a player 'pool' for managers who find themselves in need of another player or two. If you want to join a team in mid-season, simply e-mail League President, Matt Dosch (rvnabajam@yahoo.com) be sure to include your name, your age, your city, your preferred position, and the last level of organized ball that you played. Once you've done that we'll get back to you with more information about the league.
League History
The National Adult Baseball Association was begun in San Diego in 1986. The Raritan Valley, N.J. league began play in the Summer of 1992. That was an abbreviated season. It started late and ended in disarray. In 1993, with the arrival of league president, Rick Helman, Raritan Valley enjoyed its first full season. That year, Dean Messina's Woodbridge Pirates posted a perfect 17-0 record, defeating the Middlesex Bears 3-2 in a twelve-inning battle for the ages to take the league's first title. In 1994, Helman passed the baton to current league president, Matt Dosch. That season saw the Carteret Mustangs win the first of three titles. The other two came in 1997 and 1998. In between, Jay Braun's Mariner team, who also hailed from Carteret, took the flag in 1995 and 1996. In their fourth attempt at a title the Middlesex Bears finally took it all home in 1999. The year 2000 saw expansion as we separated into two leagues, an AA and an A league. The Old Bridge Cubs took the first A League title with a 10-0 shutout over the Liberty Athletics. In AA, the Middlesex Bears edged the New Brunswick Mets 13-12. They would later lose that trophy in a controversial challenge game against the North Essex Cardinals who took first place in the A League, but forfeited their first-round playoff game.
Things settled down in 2001, and the RVNABA played its two championship games at Newark Bears and Eagles Stadium. The Middlesex Bears retook their title by edging the first place Stirling Hawks 10-9. The Bridgewater Blue Jays took the second A League crown downing the Madison Brewers 28-6.
In 2002, new additions to the league garnered both Championship Titles. The Irvington Cardinals and Fords Pirates took home the AA and A League trophies respectively. Then for the first time the RVNABA champs travelled to Trenton to take on the Tri-State NABA champs at Trenton Thunder Stadium. Both returned home victorious.
Irvington repeated as league champions in 2003, with a come from behind 8-7 victory over the NJ Clippers at Lakewood's Blue Claws Stadium. The Carteret Twins, meanwhile, brought a championship trophy back to Carteret after a five year absence as they shut out the South Amboy Yankees 7-0 behind the pitching of TJ Hepworth.
Third time proved to be a charm for Bill Hynes' Sayreville Giants as they defeated the Irvington Cardinals in the AA Championship Game @ FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood. After championship losses in 2000 and 2002, the Giants beat the Cards 6-1 to earn their first title. In the A League, the newcomer Somerset Sundevils trounced the East Brunswick Dodgers at FirstEnergy to become league champions. The Sundevils would prove to be a one-hit wonder as 2004 was their only season.
In 2005, the Raritan Valley NABA voted to go to a best of three championship series. Both the A and AA leagues would go the full three games. Joe Lambert, who managed the Sundevils to their 2004 title, found himself playing for the South Amboy Yankees. Under manager Bill Policastro, those Yankees won their first title, outlasting the South Plainfield White Sox two games to one. Yankee hurler Chris Bott fired a no-hitter in Game One. The 1-0 gem was a NABA post season first. The AA saw the Irvington Cardinals rise to the top once again as they stole back the series from the NJ Clippers. As he did in 2003, Julio Velasquez used the long ball to turn around the deciding game. The Cardinals entered the bottom of the ninth trailing the Clippers by four runs, but Velasquez followed up a run scoring error with a walk-off grand slam.
2006 witnessed the return of the Sayreville Giants to the Championship series. But they faced a new adversary when the Paterson Phillies defeated Irvington 1-0 to take the North Division Crown. It was the Cardinals first absence from the 'ship' since they joined the league in 2002. The Phillies engineered a two game sweep employing the nine run sixth inning in both games as they coasted 10-6 and 16-4 .
In A Ball the Elizabeth Orioles played host to the Edison Astros in their championship series. And Joe Lambert was there again - this time with the O's. Edison took game one 1-0 as Greg Slavicek won this pitchers' duel at Blueclaws Stadium. Elizabeth evened the series to set up a game three showdown. And the Astros appeared headed to victory before the Orioles mounted their comeback from an 8-1 deficit to win 10-9 and secure their first Championship (and Lambert's unprecedented third A League Championship)
In 2007, the league voted to change the playoff format and a best of three series was adopted for each round. This proved fortuitous for the Middlesex Reds who capped an average regular season with a storybook playoff run, knocking off the first and second place teams in the A League West to earn their way to the Championship Series where they defeated the East Brunswick Dodgers in three games.
In the AA the Phillies defended their North Division title but surrendered the League Championship to the South's NJ Clippers in two games. It was the Clippers' third trip to the 'ship and their first title.
For the AA, the 2008 campaign produced the first championship rematch in consecutive years in more than a decade. Unlike the 1995-96 championships between Carteret's Mariners and Mustangs, which were swept by the Mariners, this rematch had the Paterson Phillies avenging their 2007 loss to the NJ Clippers. Paterson took the series in three games, losing game one before sweeping 2 games the following weekend. Our A League crowned a new Champion when the South River Bombers swept a pair from the Morris Brewers. The first game was a twelve inning, 4-3 gem at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood.
2009 was a season characterized by numerous rainouts and so, the longest on record. In the end, the NJ Bears who were primarily comprised of players from the defunct NJ Clippers with a handful of Middlesex Bears and some new talent, met up with the Paterson Phillies who were in their fourth consecutive championship series. The series saw the Phils win an 18 inning game two, to even the series. But in game three, Gus Guida's three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth turned a 9-7 deficit into the Bears' fourth League Championship. In A ball, the South Amboy Pitbulls swept the Middlesex Pirates 7-4 and 5-3 for their first championship.
Click on History to the left for more in depth historical data such as records and stats.
Local League Play
Our season consists of at least a 20 game schedule spread over 17 Sundays, from April to August, with playoffs and a Championship Game in September. All single games are nine inning affairs. Doubleheaders, which occur twice or three times during a season consist of seven-inning games. At mid-season there is an annual All-Star Game.
Tournaments
As a member of this local NABA league you are eligible to register and play in regional tournaments across the country from Hawaii to Las Vegas to the birthplace of baseball in Cooperstown N.Y. This is a fantastic opportunity to play America's game in the country's most scenic settings on some of the world's best baseball fields. In 1999, one of our league's teams won the Cooperstown Tournament over the 4th of July Weekend. They went on to Phoenix in October where they were 4-1, including a 12-5 win at HoHoKam Stadium, spring training field of the Chicago Cubs.
RVNABA SALUTES ITS TOURNAMENT CHAMPION TEAMS: the following teams have competed and succeeded at the national level
| 1996 |
Carteret Mustangs |
Virginia Beach VA |
Labor Day Weekend |
| 1999 |
Middlesex Bears |
Cooperstown NY |
Fourth of July Weekend |
| 2001 |
Irvington Cardinals |
Roanoke VA |
Labor Day Weekend |
| 2003 |
Irvington Cardinals |
Atlantic City NJ |
Memorial Day Weekend |
| 2004 |
Irvington Cardinals |
Cooperstown NY |
Fourth of July Weekend |
| 2004 |
Irvington Cardinals |
Philadelphia PA |
Labor Day Weekend |
| 2005 |
Irvington Cardinals |
Cooperstown NY |
Fourth of July Weekend |
| 2005 |
Irvington Cardinals |
PHOENIX AZ |
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP |
| 2006 |
NJ Clippers |
Cooperstown NY |
Fourth of July Weekend |
| 2006 |
Old Bridge Mets |
Philadelphia PA |
Labor Day Weekend |
| 2007 |
Paterson Phillies |
Atlantic City NJ |
Memorial Day Weekend |
| 2009 |
Monmouth County Thunder |
Atlantic City NJ |
Labor Day Weekend |
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