The Holy Cow

December 2003


Book Club Choses Brosnan 


        The chapter book club met on Saturday, December 6th and discussed Thomas Dyja’s book Play for a Kingdom for about 45 minutes. While some folks had trouble keeping characters straight in the first part of the book and thus had a rough time finishing the book, those that did finish the book felt it got better and that Dyja presented life in the army and 1860s baseball fairly well. While one has to suspend belief to think two opposing regiments from Brooklyn and Alabama would have had a series of five games over a space of a few weeks between seeing heavy combat during The Wildnerness campaign and the battle of Spotsylvania, the story is rather an intriging one pitting two spies who communicate via spoken Latin (no, not pig Latin) during the games. Though the scores of the games were much too low considering the inexperience of the players and that no umpire seems to have been designated, the accounts of the games are rather engaging. Dyja’s tale leaves one on the edge to the very end wondering  which side will avoid detection and/or ambush, as well as who wins the ball games,  or if both sides will face a sad fate.

        The next book on the agenda is Jim Brosnan’s diary of the 1959 Cardinals season entitled, The Long Season. This book was first published in 1960 by Harper and Brothers and republished in 1975. Brosnan wrote a similar book on the 1961 Reds, entitled The Pennant Race. Members might want to read both books, which should be available in libraries or used book stores. The next meeting will be held on Sunday night, February 8th at 6:00 at Bob Tholkes’ home.   Contact Bob at 763-781-6161 for directions, if needed.

 

 


Happy Holiday Season to everybody in the Halsey Hall Chapter and best wishes for 2004 .


 

 

Holy Cow Extra

     For the January issue of The Holy Cow Extra, editor Bob Tholkes requests that members send him via snail mail or via fax, scoresheets of memorable games that you have attended. Please elaborate on the significance of the game or of certain events occuring in the game. Also explain your scoring methods, if not brutally obvious, so that everyone can follow your account of the game. It should be interesting to see the different ways people score games. I know that my method has evolved over the years and I normally don’t keep track of things other people do, such as pitch count. All I know is that most scorecards found in most programs are not worth a damn and have obviously been designed by someone who never scored a game. The squares are much too small and those with diamonds already filled in just clutter up the scorecard and make it difficult  to determine runs scored.

 


Chapter Table at Twins Fest


        The Halsey Hall Chapter will again have a table at Twins Fest at the Metrodome on January 23-25, 2004. In the past, the best arrangement has been for two or three people share a three or four hour time slot. One person should be at the table at all times to answer questions about the Halsey Hall Chapter and on SABR and  pass out brochures, while the other person (s) are free to roam the floor looking for the best deals on autographs, cards, books and baseball memorabilia. Shifts will be Friday night (probably one shift starting around 5:00 and lasting till 9:00), and one shift for Saturday morning and two for the afternoon. Sunday will have a morning and afternoon shift. Contact Rich Arpi at 651-739-6986 if you would like to work the table for Twins Fest. As in the past a limited number of free passes will be available and I will try to distribute these passes as fairly as possible.

 

                 

Earl Battey

      The best catcher in Twins history passed away on November 17th after a long bout with cancer. While I never met Battey nor the chapter never had him as a guest speaker, he apparently was the friendliest man you would ever want to meet. Stew Thornley and Cary Smith both have pleasant memories of conversions with him when they both were about eight years old (about 25 years apart at that). I had to chuckle when I looked up his record after hearing news of his death, and found out he hit a triple in the sixth game of the 1965 World Series. For a man who once was thrown out on a single to right field (or is this another baseball myth), he must have been pretty winded.



      


Bill Goff Calendars Available

        Just as in previous years, Dr. Seth Hawkins has a few of the famous Bill Goff ballpark calendars left over from the stack that he ordered as corporate gifts for several of his museum’s patrons. Dr. Fan will sell you one at Bill Goff’s $ 16.00 single-copy price, so you save the $ 6.00 in shipping costs. Phone him at 651-225-1505 to make arrangements to come over to pick up your calandar. It’s a 13 month calendar, so call early for maximum usuage. If you are speedy enought to phone before Mark Johnson does, Dr. H. will give you a $ 1.00 discount (does not apply to Mark Johnson)

 

Heads Up on Opening Day

        Brenda Himrich informs me that the Twins home opener on April 5, 2004 will also be the first weekday of operations for the Metro Transit Light Rail. The Hiawatha Line, with a stop right by the Metrodome, will be open on Saturday and Sunday, April 3 and 4 with free rides for all. Metro Transit is still working with the Twins for a promo for Opening Day as well.

 

On Deck Circle Tapes

        Bob Tholkes is the caretaker of the remaining video tapes of the 10 year run of the chapter’s cable television show known as the On Deck Circle. Bob has a complete list of tapes available for borrowing, so contact Bob if you are interested in viewing a tape or two. The tapes are sure to give you a chuckle or two about by-gone days or possibly even  cure a bad case of insomnia.

 

        Chapter Breakfast....will be at the usual spot of the Baker’s Square at 66th and Xerxes in Richfield at 9:30 on Saturday, January 10th, 2004.

 


Regional Guests


        The Halsey Hall Chapter’s Board of Directors has come to the conclusion that securing good guest speakers at our chapter meetings is becoming rather difficult. The Chapter has had guest speakers at meetings since 1981 (no meetings were held in 1983), so most of the available local people with an interesting baseball background have already spoken to our chapter at least once. Anybody can suggest a guest speaker and recycling a speaker from 6 to 7 years in the past is not out of the question. Please contact president Jim Wyman or any member of the board of directors, if you have an idea concerning a guest speaker or a lead on securing a guest speaker.

 

New Member

        Welcome to new chapter member Scott Iwen of Bloomington.

 



 


The Holy Cow


Halsey Hall Chapter - SABR

Rich Arpi, editor

2445 Londin Lane East, # 410

Maplewood, Minnesota 55119-5593


“ When I signed my first contract, I got $ 140 a month. When we left on our last road trip, I got meal money for 13 days...$ 540. You think this game hasn’t gone crazy.”                                          Don Zimmer