Resources
Special Zoom Events February 27 and March 4—and More!
Twins writers Dan Hayes and Phil Miller February 27
On Saturday morning at 9:00 Central time Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Tribune and Dan Hayes of The Athletic will be on a Zoom meeting for the Halsey Hall Chapter to talk about the upcoming baseball season in general and focus on the outlook for the Twins this year. They will be available for questions, as well. Look for a Zoom link to be sent out a few days before the event.
Hank Aaron presentation March 4
Jim Cox and Howard Luloff have organized a virtual event for Thursday, March 4 with Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the SABR Baseball Card Committee, presenting Hank Aaron: More to the Story. It begins at 6:00 p.m. in the evening and will go to 7:15. Baseball fans of all sorts, including non-SABR members, are welcome. Spread the word.
Registration link for Hank Aaron: More to the Story
The 28th Annual NINE Spring Training Conference, a multi-disciplinary academic conference featuring presentations on a wide range of baseball topics, will be held virtually over the first three weekends (Friday nights and Saturdays) in March. Registration for the entire event is $50. Eric Berg will speak on The First Professional African American Baseball Player in Minnesota on March 6, and Dan Levitt will speak on Baseball’s First Drug Controversy on March 13. For more information:
28th Anal. NINE Spring Training Conference
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Spring Virtual Chapter Meeting May 8
The Halsey Hall Chapter spring meeting will be held on-line on Saturday, May 8 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. A link will be sent to all chapter members before the meeting. Members may begin gathering on the site at 9:00 to chat.
Three research presentations have been approved:
- Ed Wehling on baseball jerseys
- Joe Niese on Zack Wheat
- Hans Van Slooten: The First (Known) Computer Baseball Simulation
Joe presented on Burleigh Grimes and Andy Pafko at the Spring 2015 chapter meeting. Hans and Ed have not made research presentations at a chapter meeting.
The business meeting will include the election of four members to two-year terms on the board of directors. Any member interested in running may contact Dave Lande.
Other Events
The Research Committee will meet on Zoom March 8 and April 5 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone wanting to participate may contact co-chairs Brenda Himrich or Stew Thornley, 651-415-0791.
The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet virtually Saturday, April 3 at 9:30 a.m. The book selection is Squeeze Play by Jane Leavy with special guest Jane Leavy. (Thanks to Art Mugalian for lining up Jane for this Zoom meeting.) Anyone wanting to attend may contact Stew Thornley.
Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be on hold for a while, either until it is safe to gather indoors again or nice enough to meet outdoors.
Howard Luloff would like to have a group outing to a townball game, getting to Waseca, Cold Spring, or Remer.
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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SABR 50 at 50: Putting the Anal in Analytics
What television show did this fictional law firm appear on and what does it have to do with SABR and analytics? Read on and check out the link below.
SABR 50 at 50: Analytics
As SABR celebrates its golden anniversary, it is commemorating 50 top moments and achievements related to baseball research. The link above leads to a great look at the evolution of analytics since 1971.
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SABR Project on Baseball Tickets
Chapter stalwart Gene Gomes has already signed on to a new research project about the history, evolution, and future of baseball tickets. Project leader Tony Oliver is looking for other volunteeers to help in various ways, including submitting pictures or scans of tickets they have, sharing stories about their ticket collections and the meaning behind the tickets they have saved, and researching such things as when each ticket element originated, design changes over time, and emerging technologies on how tickets are handled.
Anyone interested in getting involved may contact Tony, tonysoliverdiaz@gmail.com.
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Moonlighting Members: Staring at Spring
By summer, Jeff Lehtinen is a Gameday datacaster in the Target Center press box for Twins games. In the winter, he camps out at Xcel Energy Center as a member of the stat crew for the incomparable Barry Fritz and registers shots, hits, takeaways, and other important things such as who is on the ice at a particular time.
Sarah Johnson is a Balls Outs Strikes Spotter (BOSS) operator at Twins games. In the off-season, she does the official scoring for the St. Louis Park High school basketball team. She has also served as an official scorer and scoreboard operator for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season.
Another chapter member who works at Twins games is marking time by doing basketball official scoring and operating the shot clock for the Timberwolves, Gophers, and St. Thomas University (as well as performing the busy task of running the scoreboard for Minnesota Gophers soccer).
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New Member
Welcome to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Tom Johnson
Know a potential member? Here are resources for getting that person happily involved in SABR:
Membership application
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Web Page Recognizes First-Timers
Jim Cox and Gene Gomes have been exploring ways of recognizing chapter members who have presented at a chapter meeting or been published in a SABR publication for the first time. One of the results is a web page for these folks:
First-Time SABR Authors/Presenters at Halsey Hall Chapter Meetings
Jim and Gene are also considering certificates to be presented at meetings. Anyone with additional ideas for recognition and/or wanting to get involved in saluting first-timers may contact Jim Cox or Gene Gomes.
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National History Day in Minnesota
Sarah Johnson is once again involved in National History Day in Minnesota, has recruited another chapter member to serve as a judge, and seeks other enthusiatic volunteers. The day features the research of students in grades 6 to 12 and typically includes a number of baseball topics. Judges will evaluate all entries and also pick the best baseball presentation, which will be awarded a cash prize of $150 from the Halsey Hall Chapter. The judging will be done on-line before History Day on May 2. If interested in learning more, contact Sarah, miss_sarah_johnson@yahoo.com.
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What’s the Deal with the Nicollet Park Plaque?
The commemorative marker for Nicollet Park survived the fire of the Wells Fargo bank, which is on the site of the ballpark, during civil unrest in Minneapolis during the night-morning of May 29-30. The marker was paid for with donations from former Millers players and installed in 1983.
Tom Flynn recently noticed that the plaque had been removed. A message to the Wells Fargo board of directors yielded this reply:
I have reached out to several folks in the Mpls market that are either overseeing the demo of the 3030 Nicollet site and/or working on the early stages of the what the new branch and associated development will look like. The plaque will be removed from what is left of the structure before the full demo begins and stored at the Home Mortgage Minneapolis Campus (HMMC) in Mpls.
There is definitely awareness and interest internally of the site’s history and connection to baseball and the intent is to incorporate in some fashion in the new development.
We don’t know what that looks like at this point since we are in very early stages.
Watch this space for more details at they emerge.
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Cow Pies
Be sure and check out what’s happening with our neighboring Ken Keltner Badger State SABR chapter, which publishes an outstanding monthly newsletter. Here is the latest:
Keltner’s Hot Corner: February 2021
All Keltner Badger State SABR newsletters
Steve Ginader had a story published in the SABR Games Project: September 18, 1971: Masterful Performance by Rick Wise Propels Phillies to Victory.
Terry Bohn had biography published in the John Peters.
On his Southern Minny Baseball blog, Paul Spyhalski takes a look at integration in the league with The Board Room Battles Continue with the 1949 Rochester Royals and Albert Lea’s Use of Arleigh Kraupa.
A new book on baseball parks in the Twin Cities—loaded with photos, maps, and elucidating information—is on the market and may be found at your favorite B. Dalton Booksellers store.
There are two upcoming webinars/Zoom events in which pictures from this book will be shown. They are free and open to all:
Registration for Historic Ballparks of the Twin Cities, Monday, March 1, 7:00 p.m. Central time
History Revealed: Historic Ballparks, Thursday, May 20, 7:00 p.m. Central time
Steve Hoffbeck, Peter Gorton, and Todd Peterson have articles in the new SABR Book, From Rube to Robinson: SABR’s Best Articles on Black Baseball. The e-book is free to SABR members at the SABR on-line store.
Frank White has been working with the state of Minnesota on an exhibit of Billy Williams, a baseball star who worked in the governor’s office for more than 50 years. The exhibit, set to be in the capitol where Williams worked, was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it will be on display when the capitol reopens to the public.
Also watch for a display from the Halsey Hall Chapter at the Brookdale Library. This had been postponed by the pandemic, but it will be set up when the library reopens.
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Thought for the Month
Manny Trillo: The best thing about baseball is that you can do something about yesterday tomorrow.
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Calendar
February 27—Zoom meeting with Dan Hayes and Phil Miller, 9:00 a.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Stew Thornley.
March 4—Hank Aaron: More to the Story with Jason Schwartz, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom.
March 8—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich, 651-415-0791.
April 3—Book Club via Zoom, 9:30 a.m., Squeeze Play by Jane Leavy.
April 5—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich, 651-415-0791.
April 18—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information on attending, contact Dave Lande.
May 8—Spring Virtual Chapter Meeting, 9:30 a.m. to noon (with social at 9:00). For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
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Board of Directors 2020-2021
President—Dave Lande
Vice President—Hans Van Slooten
Secretary—Anders Koskinen
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
Jim Cox
Gene Gomes
Frank Kadwell
Events Committee Chair—Howard Luloff
Research Committee Co-Chairs and Co-Chair-in-waiting—Brenda Himrich, Stew Thornley, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee Chair—Frank Kadwell
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Webmaster—John Gregory
Ass. Webmasters—Frank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
Social Media Directors—Tom Flynn, Twitter; Bob Komoroski, Facebook
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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