Resources
Spring Chapter Meeting Draws Sitting-Room Crowd; Josh Ruffin of Twins a Hit as Featured Speaker
Thirty-five members and guestsFred Buckland, Roger Godin, David Lande, Bob Tholkes, Daniel Dorff, Rich Arpi, John Swol, David Karpinski, Howard Luloff, Ed Edmonds, Bill Axness, Stew Thornley, Brenda Himrich, John Buckeye, Randy Krzmarzick, Joe OConnell, Arthur Mugalian, Jeff Lenz, Terry Bohn, Gene Gomes, Hans Van Slooten, Jim Cox, Aaron Sinner, Sam Sundermeyer, Doug Skipper, Bob Komoroski, Sarah Johnson, Glenn Renick, Jerry Janzen, Mike Haupert, Patrick Byrnes, Calvin Pipenhagen, Dave Anderson, and Luke Azoulay-Haranattended the Spring Chapter Meeting, which was captured into posterior by ace correspondent John Buckeye:
Sam Sundermeyer was back to give a presentation on the saga of Curt Flood and black players just after integration which eventually led to the fight for free agency in baseball.
Flood was brought up in Oakland, a baseball talent hotbed in that era, and he quickly made a name for himself in the sport. Eventually he was drafted by the Reds, who also drafted Frank Robinson from this same talent pool. Many teams, unfortunately, felt that there was a quota on black players. And as the Reds already had a couple other black outfielders coming up in their system, Flood was left on the outside. He was traded to St. Louis after several years in the minors and Flood decided he was not going to let the same thing happen to him again.
Flood had to deal with abuse in many of his minor league stops, but when he made the majors he had a really good rookie year. Then it went downhill for three years, arguably affected by a manager. He supposedly made a misplay in centerfield in the ֹ68 World Series, which caused him to lose some favor with the Cards.
Players of Floods era had already started to have some hard feelings about the reserve clause, not liking that it tied them to one team against their will. And Philadelphia at the time was seen as a bad place for black players to go. So when Flood was traded there, he refused to go and began thinking about challenging the system that made hardships like this and others possible.
The second presentation was by Mike Haupert, examining The Inglorious Exit of Cap Anson. The man who for a long time was seen as The Greatest Man in the History of Baseball hailed from Iowa, where he played with his dad, Henry. Henry was reluctant to have his son play ball as a profession, but Cap had other ideas. He played for Rockford, then went to Philadelphia in the National League, before he was signed by the Chicago White Stockings. His wife did not want him to move teams, but owner Albert Spalding would not let him out of his contract.
Their partnership was successful enough early on that Spalding and Anson took some professionals on a tour of England, then a world tour, which was memorable for both of them. Anson then signed a ten year deal with the White Stockings. He ingratiated himself with the owners of that league when he took their side in the whole Players League rebellion and migration a few years later. Not so much with the players though. By this time he was manager of the team and had an ownership stake in the team.
Anson wanted to get into the ownership side of the business, but when Spalding retired he would not make Anson president of the club, nor give him a controlling stake. Whats more, the new presidentwhod taken over the ownership and new structure of the teamhad re-written Ansons contract for one fewer year without telling him. Anson also had been offered a chance to buy a controlling stake in the team, but couldnt get enough finances together to do it.
All this led to a breakdown, as he had six losing seasons in a row, and when he found out that his contract expired a year earlier than he thought, tried to sue the new owner- a case he eventually lost. He tried to buy a Western League team, just before they get rolled into the American League. And when that failed, he started a short-lived semi-pro team called Ansons Colts. He eventually became a city clerk (and got kicked out of that job), then tried his hand at bowling, and eventually moved on to the Vaudeville performing circuit (in which he didnt have much success). He died penniless in 1922.
Mike Haupert addressed Adrian Ansons hemorrhoids during his presentation. (Photo by Gene Gomes)
Terry Bohn gave us a presentation on Joe Cantillon and The Western All-Star Tours. The first team he went on the road with in 1901-02 included Rube Waddell and Nap Lajoie. The players involved had to cover their own expenses, but they were promised five hundred dollars at the end of the trip. He had one group recruited from the American League, and another from the National League. The NL team had mostly players from Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. They were to meet up with the AL squad towards the end of the tour. There were some fans though, that felt they were being ripped off by not being to see whole teams of players.
The following year the team Cantillon put together played what was billed as a Championship series between his team and Pittsburgh. This served as a possible precursor to the World Series, though at the time both sides agreed it was not a real championship. The team continued on the road, with eleven future Hall of Famers participating. It went almost as well as the previous offseasons, though some players started to get injured and had to be replaced. The tour had to be wrapped up early when the teams financial manager apparently committed suicide in a Sacramento hotel. Though he had apparently been an avid gambler, the tour had not been in financial trouble, and his family suspected foul play.
Ed Edmondss presentation was on Baseballs Salary Arbitration System. He started us off with an explanation on what Baseballs Arbitration system is. Its become famous enough in the arbitration community that some call it the Baseball system. Technically the phrase is Single or Final offer. This means that both parties give their only offer for what they think the players upcoming salary for the season should be, and the panel has to decide between the two numbers. Their only prerogative is to go with whichever number is closer to the players value, so this system incentivizes both parties to go as reasonable as possible.
In baseball specifically its a panel of three who hear the case. They were one of the pioneering sports unions to earn this system, and it came about from the negotiating of Marvin Miller. Miller had originally proposed arbitration for players after two years, which is what now happens in some cases.
Each side tries to present cases of what specific players made who compare to the player in question that they think will support their case in front of the panel. The panel looks at several facets of the comps overall, such as what they made in their platform (or most recent) year, how many years experience they had, and of course how they did in their platform year.
With this system in place, however, teams generally try to avoid having to go to it. In most cases where teams get out of having to use it, its because they instead offered the player a multi-year deal. In recent years especially, the pendulum has started to swing towards the teams winning the arbitration cases more often, and it had already favored them more often than the players. This has been after players and owners collectively negotiated a pre-arbitration bonus pool thats allocated to players based on Awards and WAR rankings.
Ed then went over for us the specific case of Ryan Thompson, who had gone on Twitter to discuss his displeasure with the way his arbitration case with the Rays was handled. He felt that the team was using unfair stats that they would never use in their own assessments of players to sway the panel to their side. He also felt that the teams logic was flawed in some cases, such as that of when the Rays discussed how much he was used against left-handed batters (a metric that Thompson himself has no control over). Ultimately Thompson felt that the panel should have had to justify their findings. Ed himself, a law professor, disagrees. He argued that the role of an arbitrator is less that of a judge and more that of a juror. They dont mete out verdicts. They are just supposed to be an impartial decision maker.
The guest speaker for the chapter meeting was Josh Ruffin, Minnesota Twins Assistant Director of Player Development Research. He came to teach us a little bit about what his position entails and take questions about how they use statistics and data to assess what they have in players and how they can help players reach their full potential.
He started off by running through some basic statistics that get us closer to understanding the types of stats that they use. In some of the cases, it has been a matter of ditching an old stat- such as strikeouts per nine innings- and going with a new, more telling stat, such as strikeout percentage, in this case as it relates to pitchers. They also use a lot of motion capture to get a picture of what pitchers actually have in their arsenal, and what changes to pitches or totally new ones might make them a more effective pitcher. He cited the example of how they really liked what they had seen in Pablo Lopez from a stuff perspective, specifically his changeup. And now that hes added a sort of sweeper, he can be even more effective.
The Hawkeye system is really helpful in some of these scenarios, to determine how pitches compare to those of other pitchers, and what results you tend to get from them. They also use markerless Motion Capture to determine what the best mechanics for the players theyve drafted ought to be.
And of course one of the biggest parts of his job is to work with the coaches and players to help them understand what the Front Office thinks their goals should be and how that can help the team win games. This takes the form of Player Development Plans, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each player, and deciding how best to invest time, and drill trackingusing drills where they can track the progress of a player trying to work on a specific skill. All of this then needs to be communicated to coaches, who are not only taught what all the info means, but also try to optimize how to convey that info to the players.
The coaches arent the only ones who are trained to understand, though. The players are all also given meetings with coaches and the development side in which they discuss what the team is trying to do with them. It might not at first align with the players goals, but these are to try to get everybody on the same page. And Josh was very candid, that there turn out to be some players that they cant afford to spend as much time on, but everyone they draft and acquire is at least given a chance to show they are worth the investment.
The meeting wrapped up with Howard Luloffs ever-popular Jeopardy baseball quiz. Howard (on the left) and Gene Gomes (on the right) upgraded the presentation by getting it on a Powerpoint, which could be shown on the big screen.
The business meeting included the election of John Buckeye, Daniel Dorff, Rich Arpi, and Howard Luloff to two-year terms on the chapter board of directors, succeeding Daniel Dorff, Sarah Johnson, Gene Gomes, and John Swol.
The next chapter board of directors meeting will be at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 11 and will include all current board members and the newly elected board members; the board term for the latter will begin July 1 although the incoming board members and the holdover board members (not the ones who expire on June 30) will elect, from among themselves, a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer.
Go to Top
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, May 13 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, May 15. Registration Link for the meeting. Research Committee members are co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes as well asBrenda 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, Art Mugalian and Bob Komoroski.
Because of weather, the April Book Club was banged and rescheduled for Saturday, June 10 at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. The book selection will remain the same, The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series by Tyler Kepner. Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
Join your fellow members and friends to eat, guzzle, talk baseball, watch the All-Star Game, and check out the new cans at Mannings, 22nd and Como in southeast Minneapolis, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 11.
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
Go to Top
New Members
New to the Halsey Hall Chapter and SABR: Aaron Brush and Josh Ruffin
The Halsey Hall Chapter has welcomed eight new members since our previous chapter meeting and has 164 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.
Go to Top
Season Outlook from SABR Chapters in American League Central Division
SABR chapters in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, and Minnesota had a zoom meeting April 2 to discuss the upcoming season for the teams in the American League Central Division. The Halsey Hall Chapters John Twins Geek Bonnes gave an outlook for the local team, as as did representative from the other chapters for their teams. The meeting included discussion among all attendees.
John Bonnes (shown above) represented the Halsey Hall Chapter in providing a season outlook for the Minnesota Twins and deftly fielded a cogent question from a concerned citizen (shown below).
The event was organized by Gary Gillette of the Southern Michigan Chapter and drew about 50 participants. John, one of the grand hoo haws of Twins Daily, covered the Twins in Florida and spring training and provided insightful insights about the current roster as well as who is in the pipeline. The meeting is on-line:
Season Outlook among SABR Chapters in the American League Central DivisionApril 2, 2023.
It is also listed, along with other chapter events, on our Video Archives of Events page.
Go to Top
Whos Going to SABR 51 in Chicago?
So far, Dan Levitt, Dirk Lammers, Hans Van Slooten, John Gregory, Rich Arpi, Art Mugalian, Bill Parker, Daniel Dorff, Joe OConnell, Paul Spyhalski, T. S. Flynn, and Mike Haupert of the Halsey Hall Chapter have registered for the SABR convention in Chicago July 5-9. Join the cool kids and get signed up: Community Calendar. SABR has a video with instructions to help people navigate the registration process. Also, feel free to sign up to be an onsite volunteer.
Main Convention Page
SABR 51 Onsite Volunteers Sign-Up Sheet
The earlybird discount for registration ends May 5. After registering, members will get a link to reserve rooms at the Harry Palmer House Hilton in Chicago at a discounted rate (about $80 per night cheaper than usual). Rooms are still available, although the hotel is filling up and may be sold out at some point.
If anyone is driving and has room for another passenger, please contact Daniel Dorff, daniel.dorff@gmail.com, 612-816-1917.
For those heading down a day early, the Cubs are visiting the Brewers for a 3 p.m. game July 4 at Miller Park. (Yeah, I know, its got some other name now, but dont expect me or anyone else to keep up on the changing names of stadiums, such as loanDepot Park or Bushbalm Ballpark. I go for clarity, and everyone knows, or should know, what and where Miller Park is.)
Its possible that a convention in the next few years will require less travel. The Halsey Hall Chapter, which has hosted SABR conventions in 1988 and 2012, is in line to host the convention in one of the next two years. Stay tuned for exciting developments. While we dont have any on-line recaps of our 1988 convention (we were lucky to be able to chronicle that one on foolscap), there is a good recap of the 2012 event:
SABR 42
Meanwhile, be sure and vote in the elections for the SABR Board of Directors. A couple of chapter members are among the candidates.
Go to Top
History Day Award Recipient Announced
Sarah Johnson has headed our participation in History Day for a number of years and provided this report on this years event:
Thanks to the Local Grants Program from SABR, the Halsey Hall Chapter was able to sponsor a prize for National History Day in Minnesota, an annual project-based competition for students. With a theme of Frontiers in History: People, Places and Ideas, the prize this year went to Hudson Warren, a student at the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul, for his website Jackie Robinson: A Legend of the Civil Rights Frontier Both On and Off the Baseball Field. His multimedia website, which used SABR resources, was chosen from a range of projects involving baseball topics. Hudson will receive $150, a complimentary SABR student membership, and information on other student opportunities to get involved in SABR.
Go to Top
Cow Chips
Justin Mckinney, who gave a presentation about the 1884 St. Paul team in the Union Association on March 9, was awarded one of the 2023 SABR Baseball Research Awards, which honor outstanding research projects completed during the preceding calendar year that have significantly expanded our knowledge or understanding of baseball. Justin was recognized for his book, Baseballs Union Association: The Short, Strange Life of a 19th-Century Major League.
Cary Smith is one of the principals in the SABR-Rucker Archive, which now has more than 10,000 images, a collection that will eventually be more than 75,000. Photos are available for viewing and/or purchasing. Cary has done photo archiving at the Baseball Hall of Fame and now oversees volunteers in cataloging the photos. Volunteers are still being sought. Contact Cary, zinnbeck@me.com, if you are interested in helping.
Daniel Dorff has written an article on Lee Quillin for the SABR BioProject.
The SABR Games Project has new entries by chapter members:
Recommended ReadingThe new rules in baseball seem to be going over well with the between-pitch clock getting a lot of thumbs-up. Not everyone likes the changes, with a Get Off My Lawn overtone to some of the objections. Kyle Qualls of Deadspin summed up the thoughts of your crusty editor, that the rules are bringing the game back to how we knew it as we were growing up. Read on:
MLBs rule changes have made baseball more like itself
Chapter member Randy Krzmarzick also weighed in on the topic in one of his columns:
Weeds by Randy Krzmarzick: Messing with tradition
A display on Minnesota women in baseball at Target Field includes an entry for one of our distinguished members.
The April 2023 edition of Keltners Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter, is on-line:
Keltners Hot Corner, April 2023
For past Keltners Hot Corner newsletters:
Keltners Hot Corner
Go to Top
Calendar
May 13Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Manningss, Minneapolis.
May 15Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes. Registration Link
June 10Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., The Grandest Stage: A History of the World Series by Tyler Kepner.
June 11Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Gene Gomes.
July 11All-Star Game Viewing Party, 7:00 p.m., Mannings, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
November 11Fall Chapter Meeting, 8:45 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036, or Bob Komoroski.
Go to Top
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, Brenda Himrich, and John Buckeye
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
Go to Top
Resources
Go to Top