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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.
Members are invited to submit a proposal to make a research presentation at the meeting. Proposals may be sent to Research Committee co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes and include a title and brief outline of what the presentation will consist of with emphasis on the research that will be included. Standard oral presentations are 20 minutes (with an additional eight minutes for questions) although the duration may be longer or shorter depending on the needs of the presenter and of the schedule.
One presentation slot is always reserved for a first-time presenter until four weeks before the chapter meeting (March 29). If a slot remains after that, any member can submit a proposal until April 5, two weeks before the meeting, when the Research Committee will wrap up the schedule of presentations.
Two proposals have been approved so far:
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 (Ben and his erection are shown below) 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 Ernst (right) with former Pheasants bat boy Bill Cantalope.
Ben also provided a link to an interesting video on the Northern League: ABC Discovery ‘71 Part Way to the Majors with Bill Owen. Also, check out Stay Home With SABR: Ben Ernst, “History of the Northern League”.
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.
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.
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.
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Upcoming Events
The Halsey Hall Chapter SABR Day event will be a zoom event with Zak Ford, who will discuss his 2023 book, Called Up: Ballplayers Remember Becoming Major Leaguers. It will be Thursday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m. in the evening. Six of the subjects are former Twins, including Marty Cordova, David McCarty, and Jeff Reboulet. Zak, who grew up in northern California, has an affinity for the Twins by seeing many of their prospects play for the Visalia Oaks in games he attended while visiting his grandma. Register for the event at Halsey Hall Chapter Meeting January 30.
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball will be Saturday, March 1 at 9:05 a.m. at Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room, 2500 University Avenue NE (northwest corner of Lowry and University), Minneapolis 55418.
A chapter outing is planned to see the Minnesota Gophers play Purdue at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 at U. S. Bank Stadium. A restaurant will be identified as a gathering place for food, boilermakers, and pre-game debauchery. Possible sites are the Hen House Eatery (in the former Peter’s Grill site) and Key’s Cafe downtown.
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 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.)
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.) John Buckeye is overseeing the Bluesky page.
Also:
Regular Events
Video Archives of Past Events
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Research Roundtable
The next Research Committee meetings, via Zoom, will be February 17 and March 17 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Research projects:
Bob Tholkes is scanning the 12,000 to 13,000 references to “base ball” in 1868 available to him online and otherwise in historic newspapers as background for potential articles/presentations.
Ed Edmonds had his usual big day in his off-season research work on January 9, the day that over 100 arbitration-eligible players reach an agreement with their teams while the non-agreers exchange numbers. Ed is an expert on salary arbitration and has presented at many forums, including our chapter meetings.
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.
An ongoing project of a chapter member is identifying year-by-year changes in playing and scoring rules: Baseball Rules Changes. The page has links to a summary of changes, grouped by topic, and changes by year since 1950 (with pre-1950 to come). In addition, the page has a link to an official scoring quiz for determining earned and unearned runs.
An ongoing project to get a commemorative marker on the site of the St. Paul Downtown Ball Park (The Pillbox) with approval to place a marker is being sought with the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board. A bulked-up application, going from 975 words to nearly 3,900 words (under the category of “If you can”t dazzle them with brilliance, . . . ”), was resubmitted to the board in early January and is now moving through the channels.
An ongoing member project to document and summarize changes in baseball playing and scoring rules is complete (at least the first phase is) and on-line in various locations, including History of Playing and Scoring Rules on Retrosheet.
Terry Bohn is part of a group in Bismarck working to get a statue of Satchel Paige erected to go with planned renovations to Municipal Ballpark, which is on the same site where Paige pitched for a Bismarck integrated semi-pro team in 1933 and 1935.
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, Anders Koskinen, 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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Stew Thornley’s Hard Times Quiz
Here is the quiz from the January Research Committee meeting:
- Hall of Famer who played for St. Cloud and Minneapolis in the minors.
- Played for only one team, from 1963 to 1975, hit a pinch home run in his first time up and became known for his pinch-hitting skills to a point that he told his team, perhaps apocryphally, “Bench Me or Trade Me.”
- Nickname of Jungle to go with the first name he used (even though it wasn’t his real name), he was a daring baserunner in the 1950s and led his league, at various times, in triples, stolen bases, and times caught stealing. He played in one World Series and was hitless in 14 times up. He died when he was 96.
- His major-league career consisted of one game, on July 4, 1886, giving up eight runs in eight innings and taking the loss against Cincinnati. He later managed and umpired in the minor leagues. He served in the Spanish-American War and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
- He made a running catch of a short fly ball to end the game in Scott Erickson’s no-hitter.
- The son of a jockey, this first baseman twice led the American League in batting average in the post-World War II years. In a nine-year major-league career, he walked more than 100 times in five seasons. His lowest single-season on-base percentage (not that they tracked that then) was .399.
- Last American League switch-hitter to be named Most Valuable Player.
- Cy Young Award recipient and winning pitcher of an All-Star Game played in Minnesota.
- Twice had more than 100 RBIs in a season in the 1930s, later managed this same team for parts of eight seasons and served as its general manager in the mid-1960s. Died of a heart attack at 59.
- Despite what Kramer claimed on Seinfeld, this former Yankee did not design Central Park in New York.
Answers below
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New Members
Alex Robbins is the athletics operations manager at the College of St. Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, where he runs all home athletic events and supports the athletic directions and administration. Originally from Hartford, Wisconsin, he spent about half his life in Dubuque, Iowa (hometown of Mike Haupert), where he got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sports management.
Alex writes, “My dad, Tom, was born and raised in Dubuque, IA, and has made a career running performing arts centers throughout the Midwest and recently accepted a job to run a theater in Austin, MN. My mom, Barbara, was raised mostly in the Sterling-Rock Falls area of Illinois, but moved 12 times before she went off to college. She was a graphic designer and gifted artist and, unfortunately, she lost her battle with breast cancer last summer.
“After a community bus trip to a Brewers game in 2006 when I was 7 years old, I fell in love with the game that I already enjoyed playing. I have been a die-hard Brewers fan ever since and around 2015 I began my obsession with the MiLB side of things. There was just something about Minor League Baseball and these guys from all over the world grinding every day to chase their dreams with little to no fanfare. The top draft picks that become the next big league superstars, the top draft picks that never turn into anything, and the unknown under-the-radar players that seemingly come out of nowhere to surpass their top prospect counterparts. I was very lucky to have the ability to play college baseball with a full athletic scholarship until a torn rotator cuff delayed my career which I have now resumed at the semi-pro level for the time being. Also, I should share that before moving to Minnesota, I was contracted by the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA, to write the business plans for their new, permanent Major League Baseball stadium and youth sports complex which are still under construction. As a fan, I have had the pleasure of attending more than 100 games in person to this point including visits to 18 MLB stadiums. In terms of notable baseball events that I have witnessed in person, my dad and I attended A-Rod’s 600th HR game in NYC in 2010, I was able to see David Ortiz homer at Fenway in his last season, I witnessed Mike Trout roam the outfield in Kansas City when he was a rookie, and have attended three 15+ inning games (15, 16, and 18 innings) and seen more than 10 walk-offs in person.”
Alex hopes to transition in his career into player development or baseball operations for a major-league baseball team.
Alex shares his July 1 birthday with chapter members Daniel Dorff and Brenda Himrich as well as Canada, John Picus Quinn, Bob Prince, Nelson Cruz, Roger Connor, Ben Taylor, John Clarkson, Bill Rohr, Dick Drott, Colin Rea (with whom Alex shared his high-school baseball coach), Charlie Blackmon, Boots Poffenberger, Michael Wacha, Ron Marinaccio, Foghorn Bradley, Bill Stern, Jamie Farr, Farley Granger, Leslie Caron, Rod Gilbert, Alan Ruck, Wally Amos (The Famous Amos), Dan Aykroyd, Carl Lewis, Olivia de Havilland, Princess Diana, and Ignaz Semmelweis.
Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Maxwell Slinden
Our chapter has welcomed 18 new members since June 1, the beginning of the SABR fiscal year reporting period, and now has 194 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
My three favorite things are eating my family and not using commas.
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Cow Pies
Steve Smith and Joel Rippel have articles in the new SABR publication, When Minor League Baseball Almost Went Bust, 1946-1963.
The SABR BioProject has a new bio, Dan Lally, by Terry Bohn.
Terry will also be speaking on The Sad Tale of Dapper Dan Lally for the SABR 19th Century Speaker Series via zoom on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Register for this free event at 19th Century Speaker Series: Terry Bohn.
The SABR Games Project has new game stories by chapter members:
Games Project leader John Fredlund presented his annual countdown of the articles with the most page views in 2024 with several chapter members represented in the top 50:
47. June 23, 1917: Boston’s Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore combine to no-hit Senators (874 views)
Author: Dirk Lammers. Posted December 21, 2022.
- #24 in 2023 “Most Viewed” list
42. July 7, 1993: First-place Phillies outlast Dodgers in 20 innings in Kevin Stocker’s debut (937 views)
Author: Steve Ginader. Posted March 2, 2023.
39. September 25, 1964: Phillies suffer 5th straight defeat despite late homers by Johnny Callison, Dick Allen (955 views)
Author: Steve Ginader. Posted September 22, 2023.
8. July 1, 1990: Andy Hawkins no-hitter is ‘no winner’ for Yankees (2,309 views)
Author: Stew Thornley. Posted October 18, 2018.
- #7 on 2022 “Most Viewed” list, #20 on 2023 list
The Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame had an exhibit at the Dayton’s project in Minneapolis in late 2024 with the names of all members, including chapter namesake Halsey Hall, who was inducted in 1989.
Lloyd Kepple and son been participated in the Twins Fantasy Camp again, playing for coaches Kent Hrbek and Tom Brunansky on the 6905ers (so named because Herbie and Bruno once lived together at 6905 Vincent Avenue South). Lloyd was also honored as the Over-50 Most Valuable Player.
Above: The 69ers. Below: The Kepples flanked by their coaches.
The January 2025 edition of Keltner’s Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter, is on-line:
Keltner’s Hot Corner, January 2025
Past Keltner’s Hot Corner newsletters:
Keltner’s Hot Corner
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Answers to Stew Thornley’s Hard Times Quiz
- Orlando Cepeda, who went to prison for possession of marijuana.
- Gates Brown, who served time in the Ohio State Reformatory for burglary as a teenager.
- Jim Rivera, who, before his baseball career, was sentenced to life in prison for attempted rape but was paroled after five years.
- Ed Clark, who, while working as the foreman of mule transport team in South Africa early in the 20th century, tried to join the Boer army and wound up in a British prison, escaping after six weeks.
- Alex Cole, who later went to prison for conspiracy to possess heroin with the intent to distribute.
- Ferris Fain was arrested after his career for growing marijuana and spent 18 months in prison.
- Vida Blue, who did time along with Willie Aikens, Jerry Martin, and Willie Wilson for attempted possession of cocaine. Some knee-jerk jerk offs harumphed and said they would have been received a more severe sentence if they hadn’t been celebrities, but the opposite was true. Almost no one served time for this on a first offense, but a grandstanding magistrate, J. Milton Sullivant, made it clear he was punishing the players because they were role models and had let down the youth of America. He even cited Wilson leading the American League in batting average in 1982. By that logic, perhaps the arse-hat should have reduced Wilson’s sentence because he had set a record for striking out the most times in a six-game World Series in 1980.
- LaMarr Hoyt, who did time for drug charges.
- Pinky Higgins, who, after his baseball career ended, served two months in a Louisiana prison for negligent homicide. While driving under the influence of alcohol, he killed a highway worker, and he was later sentenced to four years in jail. Higgins died of a heart attack at age 59, days after being paroled.
- Joe Pepitone, who spent time on Rikers Island for drug possession (among other things he was found possessing).
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Calendar
January 29—Halsey Hall Chapter SABR Day Event with author Zak Ford, 7:00 p.m.
February 8—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. by Robert Coover.
February 4—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 7:30 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Ed Edmonds.
March 1—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:05 a.m., Stanley’s Northeast Bar Room, Minneapolis.
February 17—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
March 9—Minnesota Gophers vs. Purdue Boilermakers, 1:00 p.m., U. S. Bank Stadium.
March 17—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
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.
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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; John Buckeye, 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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