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


November 2014

Editor:
Stew Thornley


Derek Wetmore and Brandon Warne to Speak at Fall Chapter Meeting October 25

Baseball writers and analysts Derek Wetmore and Brandon Warne will be the featured speakers at the Halsey Hall Chapter fall meeting Saturday, October 25 at the Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Registration is at 8:30 with research presentations beginning at 9:00. The featured guests will be on at 1:00. A business meeting will be held during lunch. The cost for the meeting and lunch is $10. The meeting only is $5. Those wanting lunch must RSVP to Scott Cummings, 952-334-0075.

The lineup of research presentations:

  • Early History of Chisholm Baseball—Sarah Johnson
  • Baseball Games Lasting 36 Innings or More—Phil Lowry
  • William Hulbert and the Birth of the Business of Baseball—Mike Haupert
  • The Origin and Growth of New York Baseball Rules—Bob Tholkes

During the business meeting, a proposed revision to Article II, Section 2 of the by-laws will be presented to the membership for approval. The section now reads:

ARTICLE II: PUBLICATIONS AND WEB SITE
Section 2-Publication Editors/Webmaster
The editor(s) of chapter publications and the webmaster shall be appointed by the board of directors to a term of one year. The term shall start January 1. The term is renewable.

The proposed change:
Section 2-Publication Editors/Webmaster/Social Media Director
The editor(s) of chapter publications, the webmaster (and assistant webmasters, if appropriate), and director of social media shall be appointed by the board of directors to a term of one year. The term shall start January 1. The term is renewable.

The chapter meeting will conclude with the ever-popular baseball trivia quiz conducted by HoLu (Howard Luloff).

Other upcoming activities:
The next Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be at 9:00 on November 1 at Bakers Square in Richfield (66th Street to the east of York Avenue). Organizer Mark Johnson reports that this will be the 100th breakfast get-together for the chapter.

The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, December 6 at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville to discuss Voices of the Game: The First Full-Scale Overview of Baseball Broadcasting, 1921 to the Present by Curt Smith. In addition, the group will discuss the telecast of the 1978 Yankees-Red Sox tiebreaker game. The complete game is available for viewing on YouTube: 1978 AL East Playoff: Yankees @ Red Sox.

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Another Big Honor for Josh Ostergaard

Josh Ostergaard, a Halsey Hall Chapter member, lifelong Royals fan, and gifted writer, and an essay published in the October 15, 2014 The New Yorker, Hal McRae’s Favorite Swiss Steak, and Other Reasons to Love the Royals.

“When the Kansas City Royals sprinted into the postseason for the first time in twenty-nine years, I felt like an atheist who’d died and been ushered through the pearly gates into Heaven, no questions asked. I’m happy to be here, yet I’m bewildered. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the faith of a true son of Kansas City,” writes Josh in the opening paragraph.

Last June Josh had a positive review of his book, The Devil’s Snake Curve, in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

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New Members: Dan Murphy, Jim McKernon, and Brent Heutmaker

Dan Murphy is part of a group, VoteTonyO, that is trying to get Tony Oliva into the Hall of Fame. The group includes Dan’s wife, Vicky; daughter, Erin; sons, Sean, Paddy, and Joey; grand-niece, Jazz, and other volunteers. The group is working on a book that will be sent to the voters on the Golden Era ballot, and Dan is researching quotes on Oliva from coaches, players, baseball executives, and writers. He says any help SABR members can provide would be appreciated.

Dan is from Bloomington and is a retired policeman/hazardous-device technician still working in the explosives field. He learned about SABR while doing research on Oliva.

Born in 1961, Dan shares his July 17 birthday with Hugh “One Arm” Daily, Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston, Lou Boudreau, Adam Lind, Jerry Lynch, Jason Jennings, Roy McMillan, Bobby Thigpen, Pete Ladd, Don Kessinger, Deron Johnson, Adam Lind, John Jacob Astor, Elbridge Gerry, Carson “Shovel Shot” Cooper, Donald Sutherland, James Cagney, Art Linkletter, Erle Stanley Gardner, Philippe Petit, Phyllis Diller, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Vince Guaraldi, and Edouard Carpentier.

Born and raised in St. Paul, Jim McKernon now lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Katie. He is recently retired from teaching social studies in high school.

Jim “fell in love with the game in the fall of 1970 watching Brooks Robinson play in the World Series. I played organized ball from grade school (learning the game from Dennis Denning in the summers) through my sophomore year at Cretin (1980). The combination of really good players and my not being a really good player ended my high school playing days. One fond memory I have was while playing (I use the term very loosely) for Hamline American Legion was Paul Molitor practicing with us once during the strike of 1981. While in college at St. Thomas, I coached St. Luke to the CAA city baseball championship. I spent a lot of the summer of 1977 attending Twins games (that team has a special spot in my heart). After Carew, Bostock and Hisle left, I went through a bitter period as a fan but reconnected with them in the summer of 1984. I attended Game One of the 1987 World Series.”

Jim joined SABR after becoming interested in the Biography Project and is writing biographies of Tom Johnson and Jim Hughes, members of the 1977 team. He is also working on a database of Twins uniforms and has George Mitterwald’s game-used road jersey.

Jim shares his June 5 birthday with fellow chapter member Michael Forsythe as well as Jack Chesbro, Ray Lankford, Mike Coolbaugh, Russ Ortiz, Bill Spiers, Paul Siebert, Duke Sims, Lou Brissie, Eddie Joost, Truck Hannah, Jake Petricka, Adam Smith, John Carlos, Ron Livingston, Jeff Garlin, Bill Moyers, Art Donovan, Mark Wahlberg, John Maynard Keynes, Pancho Villa, Kenny G, and Bob Probert.

Brent Heutmaker is from Fridley, hence the nickname “Fridley” as well as “Heut.” He works in litigation support.

The first game he remembers attending was in a suite at Met Stadium. In addition to Metropolitan Stadium, Heut has been to the Metrodome, Target Field, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Turner Field, Anaheim Stadium, and old Yankee Stadium. He favorite is Turner Field. “It’s really underrated and never used to get mentioned as being on the same level as Camden Yards or Jacobs Field. In the late 1990s, going to Turner Field showed me how desperately Minnesotans should have been to bring outdoor baseball back. It’s really a shame that the Braves are planning to move out of it. They have some neat stuff in the parking lot regarding Henry Aaron’s record-breaking home run and the part of the wall from the old stadium as well as a Braves Hall of Fame. Who knows what happens to that when they move to Cobb County?”

His baseball highlights include seeing Jim Thome hitting a homer off the flag pole at Target Field on Labor Day in 2010 and attended Alumni Day at Citizens Bank Field in Philadelphia in 2012, getting the chance to meet Garry Maddox outside the ballpark where Maddox was selling ribs for charity. Heut was also in Cooperstown earlier this summer, a trip that prompted him to check out and join SABR.

Fridley loves all sports and their histories and is also interested in organized-crime history. He enjoys traveling, especially to Nevada.

Brent shares his December 4 birthday with Carlos Gomez, Jesse Burkett, Tadahito Iguchi, Lee Smith, Harvey Kuenn, Bob Shawkey, Shano Collins, Jesse Burkett, Bernardo Brito, Barbaro Garbey, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, Dennis Wilson, Tyra Banks, Max Baer Jr., and Marisa Tomei.

Also new to SABR: Michael Freske

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Calendar

    October 25—Fall Chapter Meeting, Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street, Minneapolis, 9:00 a.m. (registration at 8:30). For more information, contact Scott Cummings, 952-334-0075.

    November 1—Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, Bakers Square, 66th and York, Richfield, 9:00 a.m. For more information, contact Mark Johnson, 952-831-1153.

    December 6—Book Club and Vintage Game Video Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Voices of the Game: The First Full-Scale Overview of Baseball Broadcasting, 1921 to the Present by Curt Smith, and the 1978 Yankees-Red Sox tiebreaker game. For more information, contact Art Mugalian, 612-721-2825, and Gary DeSmith, 320-286-5127.

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Board of Directors 2014-2015
President—Doug Skipper
Vice President—Steve Ginader
Secretary—Gary DeSmith
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
Scott Cummings
Gene Gomes
Leanne Rohrbach

The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Webmaster—John Gregory 
Ass. Webmaster—Stew Thornley
Social Media Director—Tom Flynn

Halsey Hall Chapter Web Page

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

  

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Society for American Baseball Research

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