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Spring Chapter Meeting April 19
Former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans will be the featured speaker at the Halsey Hall Chapter spring meeting Saturday, April 19.
The meeting will be at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Registration begins around 8:15 a.m. with the program starting at 8:45. The cost for the meeting and lunch is $10. People can pay by cash (with correct change appreciated) or check at the door.
The morning will consist of three research presentations from members:
Rich Arpi, The Other 1908 Season
While most of the baseball fans in the country were enthralled with the three-way race in the National League between the Cubs, Giants and Pirates as well as the extremely close American League pennant chase between the Tigers, Indians, and White Sox, this presentation will center on how one Minnesota newspaper covered baseball during 1908.
By my perusal of the Duluth News-Tribune, I will show how coverage of the local baseball teams pre-dominated and will explain some of the goals of the expanded “Spread of Baseball in Minnesota Project.”
The project aims to expand on the work of Todd Peterson, who has recorded the games of the St. Paul Gophers and Minneapolis Keystones, and Stew Thornley, who has documented the games of the Minneapolis Millers. The Duluth paper, while covering the Duluth White Sox of the four team Class D Northern League fairly well (at least home games), also recorded games throughout Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan. So far I have concentrated on the Hibbing, Virginia, and Eveleth town teams, whose rivalry led to the recruitment of paid players from other states, thus blurring the line between what was an amateur and a professional team.
The presentation will present spreadsheets of data wanted. This includes mainly date of game, location, score, home and road record after the documented game, total record to date, attendance, and notes giving pertinent data such as high strikeout totals, 3 homers hit, etc. Notation of the existence of a box score, line score, or just a short mention will be helpful to future research. Some team photographs will be shown. Rosters are also part of the project, which will help show how players moved from team to team and possibly fill in the careers of some more prominent players.
Finally, I will discuss how others can get involved, if they wish. I hope to create a new website that records all this information and recruit the help of others with more experience creating and maintaining a website.
Ben Ernst, Aberdeen Pheasants
Ben was responsible for securing a SABR grant to erect a historical marker commemorating the history of the Aberdeen, South Dakota, Pheasants on the site of Aberdeen Municipal Stadium, which is now on the site of Northern State University. Ben will talk about the process of getting a marker installed and also cover the great 1964 Pheasants team and their exhibition game against the parent Baltimore Orioles that year. He will cover the Northern League and some of the big names in the Orioles organization, including Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, and Cal Ripken Sr. when the Pheasants were a Baltimore farm team.
Ben will be arriving the day before and attending a baseball game at St. Thomas. Details for joining Ben at the game and/or for post-game debauchery are below in the Upcoming Events section.
Ben will bring a book on Philbert the team mascot, one that has pictures of what the stadium looked like. He will have extra copies for sale at $25. Those who would like to purchase a book are asked to contact Ben, benernst00@gmail.com.
Mike Haupert (presenter) and Herm Krabbenhoft, Babe Ruth’s Anomalous 1929 Season: Why Did His Bases on Balls Plummet?
In his 1974 biography of Babe Ruth, Robert W. Creamer claimed that from 1926 through 1931 (his age 32 to 37 seasons), Ruth produced the “finest sustained display of hitting that baseball has ever seen.” During this stretch of dominance the Babe averaged 50 home runs, 155 RBI and 147 runs scored with a .354 batting average. He was the league leader in home runs each of those seasons, and also led the league in walks each of those years, except 1929, when he finished TENTH with a total of only 72 free passes. In the three previous seasons Ruth averaged 139 walks per season. And for the three subsequent seasons, he averaged 131 walks per season. Except for that anomalous 1929, he never drew fewer than 128 free passes during this six-year period. In fact, during his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth drew fewer than 100 walks on only two other occasions, and both of those were seasons in which he missed significant playing time (1922 and 1925).
In this work, we seek to explain the reason for this sudden, dramatic, and short-lived deviation in Ruth’s offensive performance. Our investigation leads us from statistical analysis to financial investigations of Ruth’s income and expenditures, and finally, into the psychology literature.
While statistical analysis of Babe Ruth’s walks for the 1926-32 seasons shows that his 1929 season is a serious outlier and can be excluded with 99% confidence, Ruth actually achieved his 1929 walks - the statistics are real. We examined Ruth’s bases on balls statistics for the 1926-1932 seasons and determined that Ruth himself was the sole source of his anomalously low walks in 1929. It did not matter what pitchers he faced, where he played, what game situation existed when he batted, where he batted in the order or who batted in front of or behind him. Ruth’s low walks rate was uniform and persistent throughout the season. We find no physical, statistical, or strategic reason that can explain the dramatic decrease in his walks. Instead, we conclude that his anomalous performance in 1929 was due to the extraordinary financial situation that he faced in 1929, a year which began with the sudden and tragic death of his wife Helen, and concluded with the onset of the Great Depression—a financial catastrophe against which Ruth was remarkably well insulated. Our investigation of Ruth’s life off the diamond leads us to believe this was the cause of his change in behavior on it.
One presentation slot remains although a proposal will have to be submitted to the Research Committee (names and contact information are below) by April 5 two weeks before the meeting, when the Research Committee will wrap up the schedule of presentations.
Election of Officers
The business meeting during lunch will include the election of four members to two-year terms on the board of directors to fill the spots of expiring directors Daniel Dorff, Rich Arpi, John Buckeye, and Howard Luloff. Any chapter member is eligible to run for the board and is encouraged to express interest to any of the committee members. Candidates will be asked to submit a candidate statement for the newsletter. Anyone interested may contact the nomination committee: Darryl Sannes (Chair), Dan Levitt and Bob Komoroski.
The incoming directors, along with holdovers Ed Edmonds, Mike Haupert, and Terry Bohn will elect, from among themselves, a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer to serve a one-year term beginning July 1.
Anyone who cannot attend the meeting but would like to vote may submit a proxy vote via chapter secretary Daniel Dorff at daniel.dorff@gmail.com
Those interested in running or looking for more information are encouraged to check out the duties and functions of the various positions and committees at Chapter Procedures.
Rich Arpi is the only declared candidate for the board so far.
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Upcoming Events
The next Book Club meeting will be Saturday, April 5 at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. The book selection is Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside by Melissa Ludtke. Melissa spoke at the SABR convention in Minneapolis last August and was a guest of the Keltner Badger State Chapter in a Zoom meeting attended by several Halsey Hall Chapter members. She was to have spoken to the National Archives in March but was mysteriously postponed, canceled, or, in her words, “Trumped,” as she explained in a Substack post, Let’s Row Together.
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 Halsey Hall Chapter will be partnering with the Badger State Keltner Chapter as well as SABR chapters in Chicago and Central Illinois for a virtual meeting with Kat Williams, chief executive officer of the International Women’s Baseball Center and author of All the Way: The Life of Trailblazer Maybelle Blair. “Blair played professional softball and also baseball for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and is now a beloved advocate for girls and women in baseball,” according to Mary Shea, who has organized the meeting. “She’s also really a hoot.” The meeting will be Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Registration information
Ben Ernst, who will be in town for the Spring Chapter Meeting, plans to go to the South Dakota State at St. Thomas game the day before the chapter meeting, on Friday, April 18. Game time is 3:00, and others are invited to join him for the game and/or for post-game dinner and drinks at Manning’s, 22nd and Como in southeast Minneapolis, at 6:00. (Manning’s is a rain-or-shine event; the game may not be.)
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be Saturday, May 3 at 9:05 a.m. at Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room, 2500 University Avenue NE (northwest corner of Lowry and University), Minneapolis 55418.
Howard Luloff has another big event set up and writes, “Following up on last year’s SABR 52 Townball event, the Halsey Hall Chapter’s annual Townball Game will take place Friday, May 30 at Robert G. Fritz Memorial Field in Cologne as the Cologne Hollanders host the Brownton Bruins at 7:30 PM. There are seats in a small grandstand behind home plate and there’s also plenty of room on a grassy hill above the third base line. Feel free to gather between 6-6:30 to enjoy a burger with a side of Minnesota Townball’s best cheese curds.” Contact Howard, hfan77@centurylink.net, for more poop on the event.
Keep up to date with chapter activities on social media:
SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Facebook page
SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Bluesky page
Halsey Hall Chapter Twitter page
Please visit the pages, and, if you haven’t yet, “Like” the Facebook page and “Follow” the Bluesky page and set your notifications to be alerted to new posts. (The Bluesky page has 41 followers and the Facebook page 313 members. Bob Komoroski has established rules—essentially, don’t be a dink. The page is still public although Bob has set up a series of questions for new members to cull out spammers, wankers, trollers, and other degenerates.) Bob Komoroski is overseeing the Bluesky page.
Also:
Regular Events
Video Archives of Past Events
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Bylaws Revision on the Horizon
Chapter leadership has begun the process of revising the bylaws to call for a new board of directors and officer structure, which, if passed, would take effect with the 2026 elections.
Currently the membership elects seven members to two-year terms on the board of directors (four in odd-numbered years and three in even-numbered years, with the election held at the spring chapter meeting) that run from July 1 to June 30. The board members them, from among themselves, elect a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer to a one-year term.
The planned amendment calls for a direct election of a president-elect. This person would then automatically ascend to president the following year and then to past president, the latter being an ex-officio, non-voting member of the board of directors.
The secretary and treasurer would serve three-year terms, the secretary being elected by the membership and the treasurer appointed by the board.
Three directors will serve rotating three-year terms with one director elected by the membership every year.
The structure is similar to many other organizations, including the Twin Cities Civil War Round Table, according to a member of that group who says this process works well for them.
The proposed method is geared toward getting and keeping valuable experience and also getting new people involved while rotating rather than recycling officers and board members. Other details of the plan include a provision that a person completing the president-elect/president/past president cycle could not immediately run for president-elect again. A waiting period would also apply to directors, who would have to wait at least one year to run for director again.
A pre-requisite for running for president-elect would be a year of service on the board (as director, secretary, or treasurer) within the last five years.
Each spring chapter meeting a president-elect and director would be elected. Every three years a secretary would be elected. The board of directors, before the terms of new and holdover members begins on July 1, will appoint a treasurer every three years and will also appoint members to all other functions, such as committee chairs, newsletter editor, webmaster, social media directors. (All such appointments do not have term limits and could be re-appointments of existing function holders.)
The current board of directors has discussed the plan at its meetings and will present it to the membership at the April 19 chapter meeting. The board plans to solicit input from other members and then have the amendment voted on by the membership at the fall chapter meeting. If the amendment passes, the new election process will take effect with the elections at the 2026 chapter meeting.
The board will also address the transition method for the new process. Members with questions or thoughts may direct them to any board member.
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Research Roundtable
The next Research Committee meeting, via Zoom, will be April 21 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Research projects:
Dan Levitt continues to lead the MLB Team Employee Database program and continues to seek volunteers to help out. The database is a project of SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee. Contact Dan, dan@daniel-levitt.com, if you would hke to help.
The proposal to erect a historical marker on the former site of the Downtown Ball Park (The Pillbox, shown below) in St. Paul has cleared a hurdle with the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board (CAAPB). On March 24, CAAPB unanimously passed a resolution to move the proposal to the next step, a 30-day public-comment period and a public hearing. In addition, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan supported the proposal.
Chapter members are often meeting Friday mornings at the Minnesota History Center to work on the Minnesota Spread of Baseball Project, 1857-1923 and identifying Pre-pro Clubs and Games in Minnesota.. For more information, contact Rich Arpi.
Research Committee members are co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes as well as Brenda Himrich, Sarah Johnson, Dan Levitt, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Hans Van Slooten, Mike Haupert, Bob Tholkes, Daniel Dorff, Darryl Sannes, Tom Swift, David Karpinski, Glenn Renick, John Buckeye, Terry Bohn, Ed Wehling, John Gregory, Art Mugalian, John “Sparky” Seals, Ed Edmonds, and Bob Komoroski.
Let a committee member know if you would like to attend a meeting and/or join the committee.
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Gene Gomes’s Happy Opening Day! Quiz
Here is the quiz from the March Research Committee meeting:
- Which President was the only President to throw out right- and left-handed first pitches on Opening Day?
- Name a player who tied a Ruthian career record on Opening Day.
a. Name the ballpark
b. Name the opposing pitcher
- Who has hit the most home runs on Opening Day in baseball history?
- Name the pitcher who has started the most Opening Day games. How many? Who ranks second?
- Name the pitcher with the most consecutive Opening Day starts with the same team. How many?
- Name the player with an active streak of five straight Opening Day home runs. For which team?
- Name the former Twin who has 6 career Opening Day home runs, including two with the Twins. Which years for MN?
- Name the four players who hit 3 home runs in an Opening Day game. How about for which teams? Which one had the lowest total of career MLB homers?
- Multiple choice: 1907’s Opening Day game between the Phillies and NY Giants was stopped due to?
a. a shortage of baseballs
b. a snowball fight
c. early darkness
Who was the umpire?
Answers below
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New Members
New to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Carson Schmidt and Ben Schefers
Our chapter has welcomed 22 new members since June 1, the beginning of the SABR fiscal year reporting period, and now has 190 members.
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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Thought for the Month
“I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.” —Linus Van Pelt
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Cow Pies
Approximately 6 to 9 chapter members attended a brunch and/or the Minnesota versus Boilermakers on Sunday, March 9, organized by Howard Luloff, and saw the Gophers come back from six runs down to beat the Boilermakers 10-8.
The SABR BioProject has a new bio, Sun Daly, by Daniel Dorff.
The March 2025 edition of Keltner’s Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter, is on-line:
Keltner’s Hot Corner, March 2025
Past Keltner’s Hot Corner newsletters:
Keltner’s Hot Corner
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Answers to Gene Gomes’s Happy Opening Day! Quiz
- Harry Truman, 4-18-50
- Henry Aaron, HR #714, 4-4-74, Riverfront Stadium Cincy, Jack Billingham
- Frank Robinson, Kenny Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, all with 8. Jr. hit one of them in 1995 on his Opener, but the second game for their opponent.
- Tom Seaver, 16; Jack Morris, 14
- Robin Roberts, 12, Phillies, 1950-1961
- Tyler O’Neill, 2020-2023, St. Louis; 2024, Boston
- Dave Winfield, ‘93 and ‘ for MN
- George Bell 1988 Blue Jays; Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes 1994 Cubs - 13 career MLB HR; Dmitri Young 2005 Detroit; Matt Davidson 2018 White Sox
- b. a snowball fight(s) in the 8th inning, forfeited to visiting team. Bill Klem ump.
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Calendar
April 5—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside by Melissa Ludtke.
April 10—Joint meeting with Kat Williams presenting on Maybelle Blair, 7:00 p.m.
April 13—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 7:30 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Ed Edmonds.
April 18—South Dakota State at St. Thomas, Koch Diamond in St. Paul, 3:00 p.m. with post-game gathering (approximately 6:00) at Manning’s, 22nd and Como in southeast Minneapolis.
April 19—Spring Chapter Meeting, 8:45 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036, or Bob Komoroski.
May 3—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:05 a.m., Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room, Minneapolis.
May 30—Townball game at Cologne. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
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Board of Directors 2024-2025
President—Ed Edmonds
Vice President—Mike Haupert
Secretary—Daniel Dorff
Treasurer—Rich Arpi
Terry Bohn
John Buckeye
Howard Luloff
Events Committee Co-Chairs—Howard Luloff, Bob Komoroski
Research Committee Co-Chairs—Dave Lande, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee Co-Chairs—Stew Thornley, John Buckeye
MVP Chapter Committee Chair—Gene Gomes
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Ass. Editors—Jerry Janzen, Brenda Himrich, and John Buckeye
Webmaster—John Gregory
Ass. Webmasters—Frank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
Social Media Directors—Bob Komoroski, Facebook and Bluesky; Hans Van Slooten, 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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