Resources
Derek Sharrer to Speak at Fall Chapter Meeting November 5
St. Paul Saints general manager Derek Sharrer will be the featured speaker at the Fall Chapter Meeting Saturday, November 5 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis.
Registration for the meeting is at 8:30 with introductions and research presentations beginning at 8:45. A business meeting will be held during lunch with a featured guest and Howard Luloffs always-a-hit trivia contest to follow.
The business meeting will include a vote on a couple of proposed amendments to the by-laws from the board of directors:
Under Article V: Appropriations, Section 1-Approval Process, change Appropriations of chapter funds exceeding $100.00 must be subject to approval by the board of directors to Members of the board of directors are authorized to spend up to $100.00 for items such as stamps and supplies that are routine for the functioning of the chapter. Appropriations of chapter funds that are not routine for the functioning of the chapter or in excess of $100 must be approved in advance by the board of directors.
Under Article I, Section 3-Meetings, add to the end of this section, For voting and quorum purposes, telephone or electronic means of attendance shall be treated as equivalent to in-person attendance.
The cost for the meeting and lunch is $10. The meeting only is $5. Those wanting lunch are asked to RSVP to Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036. People can pay by cash (with correct change appreciated) or check at the door.
The meeting will include the following oral presentations:
Sam Sundermeyer, Dawn of the Long Night: The Origin of Baseballs Color Barrier, which Sam presented at the SABR convention in Baltimore. Here is the abstract submitted for the convention: The tangled origin of the color barrier in Organized Baseball has been resistant to historical study since the publication of the foundational text in our subject, Baseball: The Early Years, by Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour. There exist the arguments of the Gentlemens Agreement and individual players willing the barrier into existence; the historiography of the subject is fractured and incomplete. Sundermeyer examines the origin of the color barrier in Organized Baseball. He argues that the barrier originated from, and carried direct ties to, business and cultural precedent from Reconstruction-era America, and will show how the color barrier was born of far more precedent and intention than has previously been acknowledged. He studies the careers of pioneering African-American players of the era, who played on organized teams for years before the barrier emerged, through this lens of intention and precedent in the barriers origin.
Ed Edmonds, Baseballs Misunderstood Antitrust Trilogy. Abstract: This year marks the centennial anniversary of the Supreme Courts decision in Federal Baseball Club v. National League. The general understanding of Justice Holmes opinion misses a major legal point, and many scholars acknowledge that the decision matched the general understanding of antitrust law in 1922. The case was followed by Toolson v. New York Yankees in 1953, and Earl Toolsons life and court challenge are also subject to fundamental misunderstandings. Finally, this year is also the fiftieth anniversary of Flood v. Kuhn, a case where Minnesotas Justice Harry Blackmuns first sentence is marked by a significant error that serves as an introduction to a lengthy historical paean to baseball.
Bob Tholkes, Whats Wrong with Base Ball?, a survey of print media (the only medium of the time) criticisms of baseball in 1867, drawn from contemporary sources.
Babe Ruth in MinnesotaBrown County and Beyond. Babe Ruth came to Minnesota as early as 1922 when he and Bob Meusel barnstormed and ended up in Sleepy Eye. Ruth hit two home runs, one of which was corralled by a young boy, Len Youngman, who lived to be 107. When Youngman was only 104, a group of researchers from Sleepy Eye went to the Iron Range to visit Youngman and see his ball. Boyd Huppert of KARE News joined them and did a report on it. Ruth came here many more times to play and cavort (former member Howard Thornley saw him at Nicollet Park in 1935, probably Ruths last time playing here), and Ruth continued to visit the state. He made his second-to-last public appearance in Minnesota before dying in 1948. (Below are two photos from the Babe Ruth Centennial celebration in Sleepy Eye October 14, one of Mayor Wayne Pelzel reading a proclamation and the other of Art Mugalian next to the plaque that will be mounted at the Sleepy Eye ballpark, on the site where Ruth and Meusel played 100 years ago.)
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Upcoming Events
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be at Mannings at 22nd and Como in southeast Minneapolis on Saturday, November 19 at 9:00 a.m. We can get tables reserved if we have some idea of how many are coming. Please RSVP to me, stew@stewthornley.net, if you plan to attend. This is an informal RSVP, so feel free to show up even if you havent RSVPd and/or dont sweat it if you RSVP and cant make it (although an un-RSVP, if possible, would be appreciated).
The next Research Committee meeting, via Zoom, will be Monday, November 21 (and the one after that on Monday, December 19). Contact co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes if you would like to attend. Other Research Committee members are Brenda Himrich, Sarah Johnson, Dan Levitt, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Anders Koskinen, Hans Van Slooten, Mike Haupert, Bob Tholkes, Daniel Dorff, Darryl Sannes, Tom Swift, David Karpinski, Glenn Renick, John Buckeye, and Bob Komoroski.
The book club will meet at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 10 and discuss Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen. Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
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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 havent 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
Steve Montbriand is a certified public accountant who has lived in the Twin Cities his entire life. He is married with three adult children and six grandchildren. He played baseball through high school and attended his first Twins game in 1967 and coached youth baseball for many years. He has been present for the no-hitters of Scott Erickson and Eric Milton and the 3,000th hits of Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray, and Dave Winfield.
Steve says its always a long winter for him without baseball, so he is looking forward to connecting with other fans of the game.
Steve shares his March 29 birthday with Denny McLain, Cy Young, Billy Beane, Pat Light (through last wild pitch on an intentional walk), Matt Olson, Mike Kingery, Albert Von Tilzer, Eugene McCarthy, Kurt Thomas, Jackie Vernon, Karen Ann Quinlan, Lucy Lawless, Eric Idle, Elle Macpherson, John Tyler, Annabella Sciorra, Arthur Plantagenet, Pearl Bailey, Teófilo Stevenson, Emlen Tunnell, Bud Cort, Man OWar, Billy Carter, and Vincent Vinnie the Chin Gigante, and Wheezer from Our Gang.
Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter and SABR: Mark Schrep
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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Gene Gene the Dancing Machine Quiz
The October Research Committee meeting included a quiz submitted by Mean Gene Gomes:
- What is the nickname of the team that plays its games in Borleske Stadium?
- The first name of the former Pirate and Dodger who was the last manager of the Washington Senators and first manager of the MN Twins?
- The nickname of the player who has the phrase Pitched First Curveball in Baseball History etched on his Hall of Fame plaque?
- First name of the Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirate third baseman with a .320 career batting average over 17 years.
- Last name of the former Mets and Yankees slugger who was a three-time World Series champ, and is now a pastor for a church in Missouri.
- Nickname of the player who stole home 32 to 69 times and once in the World Series.
- Nickname of the southpaw Cy Young winner for the Twins whose number of career shutouts match his former uniform number.
- What was the nickname of the 6-foot-7 left-hander who was an All Star in 1977, when he posted a record of 20 wins and 5 losses?
- A manager who was a NL World Series winner and was ejected 64 times in his managerial career; A player who was an AL World Series-winner as a second baseman in a 19-year career that began in 1977; These two had the same nickname -what was it?
- Bonus: What was the nickname of the former pitcher of the 1937 Negro League Pittsburgh Crawfords who also finished up with a 3-1 record for the Minot (N. Dakota) Mallards in 1959 at the age of 45?
Quiz Answers below
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Get Krausse Up! Get Minter Moving!
The legend of Moe Drabowsky includes his 1966 return to Municipal Stadium in Kansas City with the Baltimore Orioles. Having spent the past seasons with the Athletics, Moe was familiar with the ball park and still remembered the number to the phone in the home bullpen, which he called and barked, Get Krausse Up! Seconds later, Lew Krausse was up and throwing although he sat down quickly when Kansas City manager Alvin Dark saw him and called the bullpen to ask what the heck was going on. Drabowsky reported that he called back although by this time, his former mates were recognizing his voice and having no part in it anymore.
Probably not even aware of their predecessors antics, a few friends tried the same prank in 2015, calling the Texas A & M bullpen with an order to Get Minter Moving. After dropping a few f-bombs when they think the caper didnt work, the group starts shrieking as a trio of Aggies jog to the pen and one takes his jacket off:
Random Guy Calls Texas A&M Bullpen From Home & Gets Pitcher to Warm-up
But, doggone, maybe it didnt really go down that way:
What really happened in the Texas A&M bullpen prank call video
The pitcher summoned by the bros is A. J. Minter, who made it to the majors with Atlanta. Minter enjoyed the would-be prank and posted it to his Instagram acount with the video emerged a couple years later.
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Luloff Lauded; Levitt Levitated
Howard Luloff was honored by St. Louis Park High School and presented with an award for being the public-address announcer at events for 28 years.
Dan Levitt packed the house at Magers & Quinn on October 3 as he talked about his most recent book, Intentional Balk: Baseballs Thin Line Between Innovation and Cheating.
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Minnesota History Day April 22
By Sarah Johnson
The Halsey Hall Chapter was awarded a grant through the SABR Local Grants program to honor a high school student participating in History Day in Minnesota. Through this program, an annual project-based competition, the chapter selects the best baseball-related presentation. For the 2022-23 school year the theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, and Ideas, and the chapter seeks your help! We would like to send some suggestions to our contact at the Minnesota Historical Society for them to distribute to students who may be seeking assistance in picking a topic. If you have an idea for a baseball-related presentation that would fall under the theme, please send them to me at miss_sarah_johnson@yahoo.com. The student winner, who will be chosen at the State History Day at the University of Minnesota on April 22, 2023, will receive $150, an invitation to present at an upcoming chapter meeting, a complimentary SABR membership, inclusion in the chapter newsletter, and information on other student opportunities to get involved in SABR.
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Cow Chips
Terry Bohn has written about Fred Carisch for the SABR BioProject.
The SABR Games Project has new entries:
October 1, 1970: Alex Johnson snatches AL batting crown from Carl Yastrzemski as Angels hand White Sox their 106th loss and June 24, 1914: Kaiserling, Kauff lead Hoosiers past Packers, extending winning streak to 15 by Tom Merrick
August 6, 2012: Phillies consecutive sellout streak ends in loss to Braves and August 20, 1961: Phillies beat Braves to end 23-game losing streak by Steve Ginader
A couple of recent SABR eBooks¡Arriba! The Heroic Life of Roberto Clemente and We Are. We Can, We Will: The 1992 World Champion Toronto Blue Jayshave contributions from chapter members.
A chapter member was profiled Packy Maders Minnesota Athletes site.
The October 2022 edition of Keltners Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter is on-line:
Keltners Hot Corner, October 2022
For past Keltners Hot Corner newsletters:
Keltners Hot Corner
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Answers to Gene Gene the Dancing Machine Quiz
- (Walla Walla) Sweets
- Cookie (Lavagetto)
- Candy (Cummings)
- Herr Pie (Traynor)
- Strawberry (Darryl)
- Georgia Peach (Ty Cobb)
- Sweet Music (Frank Viola)
- Candy Man (John Candelaria)
- Sweet Lou (Piniella and Whitaker)
- Bonus: Sugar (Marion Cain)
Want another poser? Who was the first switch-hitter not named Mickey Mantle to hit 40 home runs in a season. For the answer, check out David Karpinskis Baseball Roundtable blog.
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Calendar
November 5Fall Chapter Meeting, 8:45 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
November 19Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Manningss, Southeast Minneapolis.
November 21Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
December 10Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen.
December 11Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting via Zoom, 6:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Gene Gomes.
December 19Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
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Board of Directors 2022-2023
PresidentGene Gomes
Vice PresidentDavid Karpinski
SecretarySarah Johnson
TreasurerJerry Janzen
Daniel Dorff
John Swol
Bob Tholkes
Events Committee ChairHoward Luloff
Research Committee Co-ChairsDave Lande, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee ChairStew Thornley
The Holy Cow! EditorStew Thornley
Ass. EditorsJerry Janzen and Brenda Himrich
WebmasterJohn Gregory
Ass. WebmastersFrank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
Social Media DirectorsBob 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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