August 2000
SABR Convention
Hennessy Retrosheet Achievement
Cow Chips
Chapter Profile
Directory Update
Dues
August Birthdays
Quicksteps
Board of Directors
Calendar
SABR Convention
An appearance by Eldon Auker and Monte Irvin
was a highlight of the Society for American Baseball
Research (SABR) convention in West Palm Beach,
Florida.
Halsey Hall Chapter members who attended the SABR
convention in West Palm Beach, Florida, were Joe O’Connell, Jim Wyman,
Rich Arpi, Ray Luurs, Howard Luloff, Dan Levitt, Ted Hathaway, and your
scribe (with the latter two making research presentations at the event).
Jim, Rich, and Howard participated in a vintage base ball exhibition prior
to a Jupiter Hammerheads game, and Howard, playing second base, took part
in a 1-4-3-5 triple play. (In an unrelated note, Howard officially retired
his New York Mets shorts, a longtime staple of his wardrobe.)
At the convention, SABR introduced its new executive director, George W. Case III, son of the Washington Senators outfielder and former Twins coach.
Hennessy Completes
1920 Season for Retrosheet
Kevin Hennessy, one of the original volunteers for
the Retrosheet project when it began in the early 1990s, completed logging
play-by-play results for all available American League games for the 1920
season. Kevin used a variety of sources, including scoresheets from the
period and newspaper accounts. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chicago Daily
News, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch were the best at providing
complete accounts of the games, according to Kevin, who added that the
1920 season was an interesting one to chronicle, especially with the tight
pennant race among the Yankees, White Sox, and Indians, the breaking of
the Black Sox scandal and suspension of Chicago players in the final week
of the regular season, and the beaning of Ray Chapman that resulted in
his death. Kevin spent two months each year working on the project—one
month immediately following the end of the baseball season and his first
month of his vacation from his teaching job each summer. After getting
the information, Kevin transferred it to paper, using special scoring codes,
and then into electronic format before sending it to Dave Smith, the Retrosheet
founder. Kevin’s efforts, as well as the results of many other games, are
available from Retrosheet at 20 Sunset Road, Newark, Delaware 19711 or
through their web site at:
http://www.retrosheet.com.
Cow Chips
John McNeil went to Arizona to find out why
the baseball season for his eight-year-old grandson, Miles, ended
in early June. . . . The 2000 edition of SABR’s The National Pastime
contains two articles by chapter members, one of them by Bob Tholkes
on his lengthy quest to track down information on the elusive Andy Nelson.
. . . Connie Hill and Barry Bengtsson went to Illinois the first
weekend of July. They visited Taliesin and also saw three games: a 15-inning
game between the Cubs and Brewers in Milwaukee, a Twins-White Sox game
in Chicago, and a Midwest League game between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
and Kane County Cougers in Appleton, an event which also featured fireworks.
The fans were given prismatic spectales to enhance the pyrogenic experience.
"The lenses quadrupled the effect and reminded some of the baby boomers
in the audience of the chemistry of their college years," said Connie.
. . . Kevin Hennessy also went to two of the Twins-White Sox games
at Comiskey Park. After the final game of the series, Kevin stuck around
to watch the “Senior Citizens Run the Bases” promotion. . . . Seth C.
“Dr. Fan” Hawkins made it to games at his 63rd major league ballpark,
Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, on a trip that also took him to Safeco
Field in Seattle (where he had seen a game last year) and to Victoria on
Vancouver Island. . . . Bob Tholkes and his family went to Australia
at the end of June and first half of July. Among other things, they visited
their former residence in Narrabri, New South Wales. Bob also snuck into
International Baseball Stadium, the site of the upcoming Olympic Games
baseball competition in Sydney, and he spent a day in Cairns watching the
amateur Cairns Baseball League.
Chapter Profile
Frank Bigelow grew up in Brooklyn Center
when it was a farm community and when he could play baseball in its cornfields.
He hit .409 in the Brooklyn Center Little League. Frank attended his first
game, between the Millers and Saints, as a seven-year-old at Nicollet Park
in 1955. He saw Wayne Terwilliger play for the Millers and later saw him
coach for the Twins. Frank worked at the Minneapolis Star and Tribune with
Halsey Hall. An even greater achievement is that he sufficiently stirred
Sid Hartman’s ire to be fired from the newspaper. Frank now works as a
file clerk for the state tax department (and makes sure that Carl Pohlad
pays his taxes, he adds). Frank is also a member of the Centennial Nooners
Toastmasters Club and has a 600-volume sports library. His family consists
of three lefties and three righties.
Directory Update
Alden Mead and George Rekela have new e-mail addresses:
Dues Due
If you haven’t already done so, please submit your
subscription dues of $12. If you’re not sure of your dues status, contact
Treasurer Kevin Hennessy at 651-227-5183 or via e-mail at BBWSMIN@aol.com.
Send a check, made out to Halsey Hall Chapter, to Kevin Hennessy, 608 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102.
(Note: Members who joined after January 1, 2000 will not have to pay dues again until 2001.)
August Birthdays
22—Mendal Mearkle (also Carl
Yastrzemski, Paul Molitor, Ned Hanlon, Urban Shocker, Happy Felsch, Hipolito
Pichardo, and Norman Schwarzkopf)
Quicksteps
Keep Rolling
The Quicksteps, the Chapter’s vintage base ball
nine, upped its record to 2-0 with a 3-2 win over the St. Croixs on July
4 at Murphy’s Landing in Shakopee. Jim Wyman’s two-run homer into the trees
in the fourth inning provided the winning margin.
Upcoming Matches
Saturday, July 29, 6th and Orleans, Stillwater,
noon
Saturday, August 12, Pipestone, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, August 14, 611 Mississippi Street, Fridley,
7 p.m.
Saturday, August 19, Richfield, 70th and Lyndale,
1:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 26, Woodbury, 1:00 p.m.
Halsey Hall Chapter
Board of Directors 2000-01
Rich Arpi
Kevin Hennessy
Dan Levitt
Joe O’Connell
Jim Wyman
Cary Smith
Bob Tholkes
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
August 5—Hot Stove Saturday Morning,
8:30, Baker’s Square, 66th and Xerxes, Richfield
Please direct news about chapter events, about yourself
or about other chapter members to:
S. Thornley
1082 Lovell Avenue
Roseville, Minnesota 55113-4419
E-mail Stew
Thornley