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The Newsletter of the Halsey Hall Chapter
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)


January 2022

Editor:
Stew Thornley

Index to past stories in The Holy Cow!

  • Levitt and Haupert Star in Virtual Meeting
  • Gene Gomes’s Almost-an-Old-Fart Quiz
  • Research Committee News
  • Spring Chapter Meeting Set for April 30
  • New Members: Lucas Seehafer and Thomas Hoye
  • Spacemen
  • Cow Chips
  • Answers to Gene Gomes’s Almost-an-Old-Fart Quiz
  • Calendar
  • Board of Directors
  • Resources

    Levitt and Haupert Star in Virtual Meeting

    Virtual Meeting with Dan Levitt and Mike Haupert

    Chapter members Mike Haupert and Dan Levitt joined Jeff Katz and moderator Ryan Brecker December 5 for the Luke Easter Chapter meeting, which focused on the current labor dispute between Major League Baseball and the players. As usual, Dan and Mike provided cogent commentary. The meeting was recorded and is available on-line:

    Stay Home With SABR: 2021 Baseball Labor and CBA panel with Michael Haupert, Dan Levitt, Jeff Katz

    Another great event, hosted by the Pee Wee Reese Chapter in Kentucky, was a visit with Jim Kaat on December 13.

    Jim Kaat

    This event is also on-line: A Conversation with Jim Kaat

    These Zoom meetings are a great example of all the baseball offerings available without having to leave home. The pandemic forced the world into virtual events. For SABR members, it has allowed us to attend a whole plethora-load of enjoyable events and presentations that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Even as we work our way around the pandemic and start opening up more, virtual events will continue. Take advantage of them. They are listed in This Week in SABR, which comes out each Friday and are listed on the SABR Events page.

    Past SABR virtual events are available on-line:

    SABR Virtual

    Also worth checking out:

    The virtual 2021 Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium was held the weekend of November 13-14, the first day conflicting with our chapter meeting. However, the sessions are available for viewing at:

    2021 Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

    Note: I was able to watch the November 14 session by Tom Gilbert, the Brooklyn Baseball Video Tour, which is well worth the time. I went back and watched the video of Tom Campanella’s keynote address, Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, and that’s terrific, too. Probably so are the other sessions; I just haven’t watched yet. We were fortunate to host this symposium in 2019 and many chapter members and others attended. The Brooklyn group had the challenges of a pandemic and conducted the symposium via Zoom—and did an outstanding job.

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    Gene Gomes’s Almost-an-Old-Fart Quiz
    Gene Gomes is now a nice age, 69, and says that “Approaching being 70 (old), I thought I could offer some trivia questions.” Here they are:

    1. Who is the oldest player to ever play in the majors?
    2. Oldest player to throw a no-hitter?
    3. Oldest National League player to throw a no-hitter?
    4. Oldest player to throw a shutout?
    5. Oldest player to hit for the cycle?
    6. Oldest player to win 20 games?

    Answers below

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    Research Committee News
    The Research Committee met December 13, will convocate again January 10, and is in the process of updating its Beyond the Twins: Hall of Famers in Minnesota display, which it created in 2018:

    Display of Hall of Famers in Minnesota

    Click on the image to enlarge; click on it a second time to enlarge more.

    The display features Hall of Famers who played and/or managed in Minnesota for teams other than the Twins. The need for the update occured December 5 when Bud Fowler and Minnie Miñoso were elected to the Hall of Fame. Fowler was a pitcher-infielder-catcher-outfielder for Stillwater in the Northwestern League in 1884. Miñoso played one game for the St. Paul Saints in 1993 and again in 2003.

    Among those the committee can thank for this increased workload is former SABR member Brent Peterson, the director of the Washington County Historical Society in Stillwater. Brent became inspired to research Fowler by a professor (and also SABR member), John DiMeglio, at Mankato State University. Brent researched Fowler’s time in Stillwater and worked at promoting his stature as a significant figure in baseball history, efforts that helped to get him on this year’s ballot and into the Hall of Fame.

    Other members have also been active in raising the profiles of worthy candidates, including Corky Gaskell with Doc Adams and Pete Gorton with John Donaldson, who received eight votes (four shy of what was needed for election) on December 5.

    Here is an article written by Bob Davids about Bud Fowler: Bud Fowler: 19th Century Black Baseball Pioneer

    The handout of Hall of Famers in Minnesota has been updated and is on-line:

    Beyond the Twins: Hall of Famers in Minnesota (PDF)

    A display on the Halsey Hall Library and Minnesota baseball, organized by the Research Committee, will be on display at the Hennepin County Brookdale Library in April and May. The committee is planning to have a research event at the library in May.

    The committee will next meet January 17 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone wanting to participate may contact co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.

    Members of the Research Committee are listed below.

    Also, speaking of Pete Gorton, he has a couple questions about this 1923 ad for the Palace Theater in Minneapolis:

    Ad for Palace Theater

    Pete would love to see an image of the Electric Play-o-graph that delivered news of the 1923 World Series as well as a photo of Adele Adair. If anyone can help, contact Pete at pwgortonmb@hotmail.com.

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    Spring Chapter Meeting Set for April 30
    The Halsey Hall Chapter spring meeting will be Saturday, April 30. It may be at the usual spot at Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis although Events Committee Chair Howard Luloff is checking out a meeting room at Brookdale Library, which will allow members to view the chapter’s baseball display (mentioned above).

    Members are invited to submit a proposal to make a research (oral or poster) presentation at the meeting. Proposals must be sent to Research Committee co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes and include a title and brief outline of what the presentation will consist of with emphasis on the research that will be included. Standard oral presentations are 20 minutes (with an additional eight minutes for questions) although the duration may be longer or shorter depending on the needs of the presenter and of the schedule. The Research Committee will finalize the schedule of research presentations by April 16, two weeks before the meeting, so proposals must be submitted by then.

    One presentation slot is always reserved for a first-time presenter until four weeks before the chapter meeting, which is April 2. If a slot remains after that, any member can submit a proposal until April 16, two weeks before the meeting, when the Research Committee will finalize the schedule of presentations. Standard oral presentations are 20 minutes (with an additional eight minutes for questions) although the duration may be longer or shorter depending on the needs of the presenter and of the schedule.

    In addition, members are invited to submit a proposal for a poster presentation. Proposals must be sent to Research Committee co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes and include a title and brief outline of what the presentation will consist of with emphasis on the research that will be included.

    Research Committee members are Brenda Himrich, Sarah Johnson, Dan Levitt, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Dave Lande, Anders Koskinen, Hans Van Slooten, Gene Gomes, Mike Haupert, and Bob Tholkes.

    Other Events
    The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will at Bunny’s Northeast, 34 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis 55413 (behind the keg warehouse of the old Grain Belt Brewery), 612-545-5659 on Saturday, January 8 at 9:00 a.m.

    The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, February 5 at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville. The book selection is Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, The Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rapoport.

    Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections

    Howard Luloff is organizing the annual outing to see the Minnesota Gophers at U. S. Bank Stadium. The game will be Saturday night, March 5. Howard also plans to schedule a trip to St. Cloud for a Northwoods League game this summer. Stay tuned for more details.

    Keep up to date with chapter activities on social media:

    SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Facebook page

    Halsey Hall Chapter Twitter page

    Please visit both pages, and, if you haven’t yet, “Like” the Facebook page and “Follow” the Twitter page and set your notifications to be alerted to new posts.

    Also:

    Regular Events

    Video Archives of Past Events

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    New Members: Lucas Seehafer and Thomas Hoye
    Lucas Seehafer was born and raised an hour-and-a-half west of the Twin Cities in Winthrop, which is also the hometown of Justin Morneau’s wife, Krista, and Lucas once saw Justin riding around Winthrop on a scooter.

    Lucas now lives in Mankato with his wife, Aimie, and is a full-time physical therapist, part-time adjunct professor (Bethany Lutheran College, Tufts University), and part-time sports journalist (Twins Daily, Canis Hoopus).

    He started on the varsity baseball team, which was coached by his dad, for three years at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School and played one year for Bethany Lutheran before focusing on his studies to become a physical therapist. “My family and I went to Twins games regularly growing up, so I’m not sure when my first game was, exactly. However, I do distinctly remember being particularly excited to watch Brad Radke pitch on one occasion. As far as significant events, I was a couple of rows away from where Frank Thomas's 500th home run landed.

    “I also successfully convinced my high school English teacher to push back a test an additional day so we all could watch Game 163 unencumbered. ”

    Lucas is left-handed.

    Born in 1993, Lucas shares his March 2 birthday with players, sorted by bWAR Mel Ott (110.0), Ron Gant (34.1— says Lucas, “He was out”), Mort Cooper (32.7), and Terry Steinbach (28.0) as well as lesser mortals Jim Konstanty, Moe Berg, Babe Barna, Glen Perkins, Cal Abrams, Mickey Rocco, Woody English, Hopalong Cassady, Sam Houston, Dr. Seuss, Jon Bon Jovi, Karen Carpenter, Desi Arnaz, Laraine Newman, Daniel Craig, and Method Man.

    Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Thomas Hoye

    Know a potential member? Here are resources for getting that person happily involved in SABR:

    Membership application

    Get more out of your membership experience by checking out SABR Member Benefit Spotlight Series.

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    Spacemen

    Lloyd Kepple and Bill Lee

    Lloyd Kepple continues to play baseball in Florida and was on a team, the New England Bosox 70s, with a notable teammate. Lloyd explains, “We were headed for the finals when our starting pitcher, Spaceman Bill Lee (former Red Sox all-star and current Red Sox Hall of Fame member) literally fell of the mound in the first inning of the Friday semifinal game trying to catch an infield pop-up and injured his knee. So without Bill pitching or playing, we were toast. Still a fun time, though.”

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    Cow Chips
    Terry Bohn has written about Jay “Babe” Towne and Frank Thompson for the SABR BioProject.

    The December 2021 edition of Keltner’s Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter is on-line:

    Keltner’s Hot Corner, December 2021

    For past Keltner’s Hot Corner newsletters:

    Keltner’s Hot Corner

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    Answers to Gene Gomes’s Almost-an-Old-Fart Quiz

    1. Satchel Paige, 59 years, 351 days
    2. Nolan Ryan, 44 years, 90 days
    3. Randy Johnson, age 40 (also the oldest to pitch a perfect game)
    4. Jamie Moyer, 47 years, 170 days
    5. Dave Winfield, age 39
    6. Warren Spahn, age 42

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    Calendar
        January 8—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Bunny’s Northeast.

        January 17—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.

       February 5Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, The Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rapoport.

        February 20—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Gene Gomes.

        March 5—Minnesota Gophers baseball at U. S. Bank Stadium. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.

        April 30—Spring Chapter Meeting, 9:00 a.m. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.

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    Board of Directors 2021-2022
    President—Gene Gomes
    Vice President—Stew Thornley
    Secretary—Sarah Johnson
    Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
    Daniel Dorff
    Dave Lande
    John Swol

    Events Committee Chair—Howard Luloff
    Research Committee Co-Chairs—Dave Lande, Gene Gomes
    Membership Committee Chair—Stew Thornley

    The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
    Webmaster—John Gregory 
    Ass. Webmasters—Frank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
    Social Media Directors—Bob Komoroski, Facebook; Hans Van Slooten and Tom Flynn, Twitter

    Halsey Hall Chapter Web Page

    Past issues of The Holy Cow! are available on-line.

    Chapter History

    Chapter Procedures and By-Laws

    Society for American Baseball Research

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    Resources

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