Sleepy Eye Centennial Coming Up
Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel played in Sleepy Eye October 16, 1922. A few years ago, Brown County baseball historians Randy Krzmarzick, Dean Brinkman, and Scott Surprenant researched the visit of Ruth and Meusel to Sleepy Eye and befriended Len Youngman, who as an 11-year-old had picked up the ball Ruth hit for a long home run and also appeared in a photo of Meusel and Ruth (in the middle, peeking around Meusel).
Here is a television story about the Brown County historians’ visit to Youngman:
Babe Ruth Home Run Ball Turns up with 104-year-old Minnesotan
The group hoped Youngman would be able to return to Sleepy Eye and throw out the first pitch for a centennial celebration of the 1922 game. Len didn’t make it. SABR member Joel Rippel wrote Len’s obituary in the October 26, 2018 Star Tribune:
Leonard Youngman, Ever a Gentleman, Dies at 107
However, a centennial celebration is still scheduled for October 14-16, 2022. Patrick Reusse and some local baseball historian have been invited to speak, and Dean Brinkman says all Halsey Hall SABR members are welcome at the event. So mark your calendars.
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Fall Chapter Meeting November 13
More than 25 members and guests attended the November 13 Fall Halsey Hall SABR meeting at Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis: Joe O’Connell, Jim Cox, Howard Luloff, Jerry Janzen, Dana Yost, Carl Rogan, Dave Lande, John Bentley, Rich Arpi, Sarah Johnson, Brenda Himrich, John Swol, Tom Merrick, Stew Thornley, Daniel Dorff, David Karpinski, Gene Gomes, Tom Flynn, Art Mugalian, Bill Axness, Andy Pratt, Derrick Bergeson, Dylan Bergeson (who won the History Day prize from the chapter last May), Mike Haupert, Doug Skipper, and Jeff Lenz.
The meeting had three research presentations:
Dave Lande and Gene Gomes presented on the SABR Games Project with encouragement to members to write stories and tips on how to do it. More information is available at
SABR Baseball Games Project.
Mike Haupert told the story of William Hulbert and his role as the founder of the National League. Mike had previously presented this in the SABR 19th Century Speaker Series.
Carl Rogan presented on the life and times of his grandad, Hall of Famer Charles Wilber “Bullet Joe” Rogan, who played (pitched and hit) for the Kansas City Monarchs from 1920 to 1938. In addition to the information many members may have already known, Carl noted that Wilber was in the 24th Infantry in the Army, where he honed his baseball skills and then on a powerhouse team in the 25th Infantry in Hawaii. Discharged in 1920, Bullet was recommended by Casey Stengel to J. L. Wilkinson to play for the Monarchs.
A business meeting was held during lunch:
Minutes of November 13, 2021 Chapter Meeting
The guest speaker was Tom Ryther, a native of St. Louis, who became a news junkie by listening to radio reports about World War II (he was four years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed). Ryther played sports at Bayless High School and was teammates with Sonny Siebert. He came to the Twin Cities in 1971 and was a sportscaster at KSTP-TV and KARE-TV. Ryther told the audience who Satchel Paige was and that Babe Ruth had once been a pitcher. He also reminded members that Nixon ended the war in Vietnam.
Dave Lande handled the duties to broadcast our meeting on Facebook Live. The meeting can be watched and re-watched on the SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Facebook page.
Other Events
The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, December 4 at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville. The book selection is I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies: Inside the Game We All Love by Tim Kurkjian. (Note: Kurkjian has another book, Is This a Great Game, or What? along the lines of I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies, and members are encouraged to read this one, too.)
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 Research Committee will meet December 13 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone wanting to participate may contact co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes. At the November 22 meeting, Tom Flynn presented a primer on the chapter’s Twitter page. It was so inspiring that Hans Van Slooten agreed to work with Tom in maintaining the account.
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.
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.
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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A Voice of Wisdom
From a member who asked for anonymity (with good reason as you shall see): “Why, oh why, oh why did it take me until he retired to realize the wordplay on the Giants catcher could be Busty Poser?”
In an even deeper moment of ponderance, this member came up with these anagrams for the 2021 Twins:
Oil me, Angus; Fans jeer, fry; Jog a corn pole; Molests random inn; Lads do Johnson; Oral TV rancher; Bunny box rot; Expel Mark; Curls no zen
. . . as well as these for Halsey Hall Chapter members:
Naval deed; Foul fowl hard; Arson, Josh? Nah; Jello once? No; Manga ritual; Kink raids vapid; Gems? No, gee; Harmed inch rib; Horny jogger; Honest Naval son; Fled lark wank; Groped ski up; Haiku temper; Henry Wetslot
Answers to anagrams below
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Membership
Tom Swift, an all-time top SABR member, has rejoined the Halsey Hall Chapter. The founder of the chapter book club, Swifty is a trainer and writer. He is the author of Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star, which received the 2009 Seymour Medal. Tom is from Mounds View and has a dog, Barry, 14.
Swifty shares his November 1 birthday with Bid McPhee, Vic Power, Grantland Rice, Fernando Valenzuela, Stephen Vogt, Larry French, Gary Redus, Betsy Palmer, Lyle Lovett, Homer Stonebreaker, Jenny McCarthy, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Larry Flynt.
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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Members at Work
With John Donaldson on the upcoming ballot for the Hall of Fame, Pete Gorton, founder of The Donaldson Network, is even busier than usual in spreading the word of a great pitcher during the period of segregated baseball: “Donaldson played during the barnstorming era and traveled almost exclusively throughout his 33-year career. His story of equality reached across the continent and influenced America for generations.
“Please consider telling John Donaldson’s story, the quintessential tale of an American hero behind the wall of segregation and the ‘color line’ in baseball.”
Read more about Pete and The Donaldson Network in this story by Christina Long in the August 19, 2021 Star Tribune:
Twin Cities Historian Keeps Little-Known Baseball Star John Donaldson’s Legacy Alive: Pete Gorton’s Research Shed a Light on One of the Top Black Pitchers of the 20th Century
For further perusing: YouTube channel for The Donaldson Network
Chapter charter member Edwin C. “Ned” Ribback continues to lobby the Baseball Hall of Fame to change the wording in its profile for Enos “Country” Slaughter. Explains Ned, “In game seven of the 1946 World Series, Enos Slaughter scored in a ‘mad dash’ from first base on a hit by Harry Walker, credited immediately as a double by all three scoring committee officials at the game [Leo Mac Donnell of Detroit, Jack Malaney of Boston, and Martin “Mike” Haley of St. Louis].
“The Baseball Hall of Fame continues to employ the word ‘hit’ instead of ‘double’ when referring to it in its annual Year Book with Slaughter’s bio. All doubles are hits . . . but not all hits are doubles. When used without specification, a ‘hit’ is generally understood to be a single. A double, a triple, and a home run are termed ‘extra base hits.’”
Ned also notes that Tony Oliva is on the ballot for election to the Hall of Fame and has made a comparison of major-league statistics for Oliva and Slaughter. “Their stats were gathered from the tenth and final edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia. Both of their careers played out before Sabrmetrics became popular.”
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Cow Chips
The Fall 2021
Baseball Research Journal contains a couple articles by chapter members, including
The Elusive Fourth Out: What Teams Don’t Know Will Bite Them, and articles by Bob Tholkes,
“Country” Base Ball in the Boom of 1866: A Safari Through Primary Sources, and Mark Stang,
A Minor Innovation: Uniform Numbers in the Minor Leagues Earlier than Previously Thought.
Terry Bohn has a front-page article in the Fall 2021 issue of Beating the Bushes, the newsletter of the SABR Minor League Research Committee
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