Halsey Hall August 2010 Board Meeting
August 15, 2010, 6 p.m. at the home of Cary Smith, Spray Island, Spring Park, MN. 

The meeting was called to order at 6:45pm.  Present were board members Cary Smith, Jerry Janzen and Kevin Hennessy.  Also present was multiple committee chair and newsletter editor Stew Thornley.  Board members absent included Fred Buckland, George Rekela , Bob Tholkes and Scot Johnson.

1. The minutes of the June board meeting were approved by the two board members that were present for that meeting (Kevin and Cary). 
2. Treasurer’s report (Jerry):  Jerry circulated a detailed report of the Chapter’s finances.  The current running balance was $202.51 (with $100 tied up in a damage deporsit to the Community United Methodist Church).  The books now reflect payment to John Gregory for past website invoices which are now current. 
3. Events Chair report (Howard):  The site has been set for the Fall Meeting and once again. I'm going to emcee the festivities as well as bring the rolls.  I'm also going to e-mail Lee Temanson about bringing coffee and have Jerry handle the check-in table.   The site for the meeting will be the Community United Methodist Church in Columbia Heights.  Two slots for presenters have been filled.  Stew and Brenda will again host a get-together after the meeting depending on whether or not the Twins’ will be involved in post-season play that day/evening.  Possible speakers to be sought include Ron Coomer, Tim Laudner, Terry Steinbach, Kent Hrbek, Paul Molitor and Jack Morris.
4. Newsletter (Stew):  I propose adopting accessibility standards for the newsletter (and also discuss adopting these standards for our entire web page).  These standards are part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  I don’t think we are bound by ADA, but that doesn’t mean we should not follow accessibility guidelines.  We have done this in the past with regard to facilities, making sure that we hold events only at accessible locations, which resulted in us discontinuing a site that had been used for the winter Hot Stove League meeting.  Following the accessibility standards will benefit people who use web browsers with readers.

Proposal for addition to Newsletter Procedures:

The Halsey Hall Chapter will follow the accessibility standards below for its web-based publications:

Titles
•     Each page should have a descriptive and unique title.

Links
•     Links should be well labeled so that the link title clearly indicates the page it leads to.
•     Link titles must be clear, informative, and able to stand alone.
•     Links to a graphic should be added only to serve as an enhancement to the regular links and navigation.

Graphics
•     Each image must have a complete alternative text description (ALT tag). ALT tags must be clear and informative for each image. The text should include the image description and, if appropriate, the function.

Tables
•     Table widths must be set by percents (and not more than 100 percent).

Linking to PDF Files
•     The following information must be contained within the link: title of the document, type of file, file size, and number of pages, such as (PDF: 82KB/1 pages).
•     PDF files should be created in an accessible manner. If this is not possible, an alternative, accessible file format must be offered.

1. Website (John):  Last week Stew contacted me about some proposed changes in the website's
   pages to bring them into compliance with various standards.  I don't know if he planned to bring this up with the Board, or perhaps at a chapter meeting instead.  Either way, for the record I do concur with the suggestions, and plan to incorporate them. (see Stew’s notes in Newsletter for specifics)

1. Quicksteps (Bob):  Bob was absent but had emailed that he had no report.

1. Membership (Stew):  Emily Allison is joining the Minnesota baseball e-list.  Emily is a relatively new member who lives in Rochester, Minnesota.  Because she’s 80 miles away, she won’t be able to attend much in person but has wanted to stay connected with the chapter.

New member: Allan Burdick.  Sent him a welcome e-mail and invited him to submit information to be introduced in the newsletter.

Sent e-mails to Chad Nordstrom and George Savanack, new members who attended the spring chapter meeting.  Heard back from Chad, who indicated that he wants to remain involved and attend events.

Checked the current list of members with the list of lapsed members from last February.  By this time, several of the people on the lapsed list were back on the list of SABR members, including John Bonnes, Rosemary Palmer, and Peter Schilling.  I sent an e-mail to the others on the lapsed list and heard back from one, Tom Flynn, who said he didn’t renew because of his financial situation.  I let him know he was still welcome to attend events.

Got a membership application to Patricia Whitney, production coordinator for FSN North and FSN Wisconsin.  She has an interest in the Minneapolis Millerettes.  Hoping she will join SABR, do more research, and make a presentation at our meetings.

Got membership info to Dave Beal, who joined and who was introduced in the July newsletter.

Brought membership applications to the TwinsCentric Viewing Party on July 7.  Gave out a couple to specific people, including a young guy, Brandon, who has a blog and a big interest on who’s who in the Twins farm system, and Seth Stohs, a noted local blogger who is not a member.  John Bonnes has pointed out the disconnect between a lot of young people who do different kinds of research and post it on on-line sites and SABR, the baseball research organization.  There is a lot of potential to get the researchers/bloggers involved in SABR, and SABR is addressing this.  Local chapters can reach out to some of these people, give them personal invitations to join and let them know that they can make presentations on their research at chapter meetings.

Put out a bunch of membership applications at the baseball presentation at Hennepin Stages on July 24, and they were all taken.  Will see if any members sign up as a result of that.

8)      Research Committee (Stew): The committee met in July and is putting out a call for presenters for the October 16 chapter meeting.  In addition, I contacted Mike Haupert and Todd Peterson, who said they would present.  I was going to invite Dave Laliberte, but he is no longer in SABR.  I am trying to track him down in St. Cloud (he’s an adjunct professor at St. Cloud State but is not listed in their directory) and see if he will rejoin SABR and do a presentation.  (Update: I talked to Dave on the phone on August 9; he will check his calendar and may do a presentation at the chapter meeting.  He is going to pay his SABR dues, which had lapsed.)

The committee, in anticipation of the possibility of the SABR convention coming to Minnesota, has begun working on a convention publication.  Now that the 2012 convention has been awarded to Minneapolis, work on the publication will go forward.  Dan Levitt, working jointly or with assistance from Bob Tholkes, is working on the publication.

9)         Book Club (Art):  Art reported by email that the book for the October meeting will be “Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball," by Bill Madden.  The date is Oct. 9, same time and place, 9:30 a.m. at the Har-Mar Barnes and Noble.

10)       Old business (all) : None

11)         New business (all):
a)  Stew Thornley was appointed by President Kevin Hennessy as the Chairperson of the local committee that will head up the hosting of the 2012 National SABR Convention.
b)  SABR Day in America is scheduled for 1-29-2011.  On this evening the annual Hot Stove Winter Meeting of the Halsey Hall Chapter will take place at the home of Kevin Hennessy in St. Paul at 7pm.
c)  The next meeting will be held at Kevin Hennessy’s home as well on October 3, 2010, at 6 pm.

12)       Adjourn.