Resources
SABR Convention Coming to Minneapolis in 2024
The SABR convention will be back in Minneapolis, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1300 Nicollet Mall, next summer from Wednesday, August 7 to Sunday, August 11. The Cleveland Guardians are in town, and the convention will include a group outing to one of the games. Another possible group trip would be a St. Paul Saints game, who will be in town that week.
The Halsey Hall Chapter has hosted the convention in 1988 and 2012 and both were big hits. For a blast from the past, check out information on the 2012 convention:
SABR 42 in Minneapolis, 2012
Next year’s convention may include a trip to bygone ballpark sites, culminating with a tour of CHS Field in St. Paul. Handouts from the 2012 convention have been updated and are available on-line:
Minneapolis and St. Paul Ballpark Sites (one-pager)
Twin Cities Ballparks (full booklet)
Mark the dates now and look for more news on opportunities for getting involved.
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Fall Chapter Meeting November 18
The Fall Halsey Hall Chapter meeting will be Saturday, November 18 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the program beginning 15 minutes later.
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.
There will be a featured speaker in the afternoon, and the morning will consist of research presentations by chapter members. Howard will have his Almost New and Improved Jeopardy trivia quiz after the featured speaker along with door prizes.
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 has been approved so far: Our (Eventual) Hall of Famer: Joe Mauer’s Case for Cooperstown by Sam Sundermeyer.
One presentation slot is always reserved for a first-time presenter until four weeks before the chapter meeting (October 21). If a slot remains after that, any member can submit a proposal until November 4, two weeks before the meeting, when the Research Committee will wrap up the schedule of presentations.
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Other Upcoming Events
More than a dozen members turned out for the July 15 Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning breakfast, including member-in-exile Alan Holst (third from right) at Manning’s in southeast Minneapolis. A few nights early, a whole plethora load of members was at Manning’s to watch the All-Star Game. The next breakfast will be Saturday, September 16.
The next Research Committee meeting, via Zoom, will be Monday, August 21. 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, Art Mugalian and Bob Komoroski. Let Dave or Gene know if you would like to attend and/or join the committee.
The next Book Club meeting will be Saturday, October 14 at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. The book selection is Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich. Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
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. (The Facebook page now has 264 members and hopes to add five more soon. 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, trollers, and other wankers.)
Also:
Regular Events
Video Archives of Past Events
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New Members: Sparky Seals, Daniel Dullum, Michael Merlino, Kyle McNary
John B. “Sparky” Seals was born in Missouri, lived all over, and has now spent the longest time in his adopted hometown of Minneapolis. A software developer, freelance writer, and amateur musician, he has a wife, Pam, and daughter, Piper.
He inherited his lifelong fandom from his grandparents, brother, and parents, especially his mom, who was a great Cardinals fan. Sparky played amateur baseball, written articles about baseball (and read a lot of them), and has met many of the stars he watched as a kid. He’s watched nearly every World Series game on television in his life, Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, and all of the Twins playoff games, including the 1987 and 1991 World Series. In person, he’s seen a slew of great games, the best being Game 163 in 2009.
Born in 1961, Sparky shares his March 10 birthday with John Cangelosi, Ben Davis, John Briggs, Steve Howe, George Elder, Jim Valvano, James Earl Ray, Heywood Hale Broun, Osama bin Laden, Zach LaVine, Justin Herbert, Chuck Norris, Hunter Biden II, Carrie Underwood, Jon Hamm, Sharon Stone, Dr. Disrespect, and Bad Bunny.
Also new (or new again) to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Daniel Dullum, Michael Merlino, Kyle McNary
Our chapter has welcomed eight new members since our previous chapter meeting and has 173 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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Cow Chips
Howard Luloff received the Doug Ernst Award from the Quicksteps vintage base ball team. A week before that, several past Quicksteps members were guests for the joint 75th birthdays of Bob and Mary Tholkes aboard the Afton Princess on the St. Croix River.
Kelsie Whitmore (above) and Olivia Pichardo (below) take batting practice at Siebert Field during a workout of the U. S. national baseball team August 6. After games in Rockford and Kenosha, the team stopped in Minneapolis en route to Thunder Bay for the opening round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation World Cup. An outfielder and pitcher, Whitmore is known for her knuckle-change up, dubbed “The Thing,” which she taught to Julio Teheran, helping the former All-Star right-hander to get back to the major leagues this season. Earlier this year, Pichardo became the first woman to play in the college Division I game, with Brown University. The local workout was arragned with the participation of Chelsey Falzone, the manager of youth engagement for the Minnesota Twins, who worked with USA Baseball and the Minnesota Girls Baseball Association to have the national team make a stop in the Twin Cities. Chelsey may help to arrange a panel on women in baseball at the 2024 SABR convention.
Terry Bohn has written articles on Lou Koupal and Tony Faeth for the SABR BioProject.
The SABR Games Project has a new game story by Tom Merrick:
Former major-league umpire Clint Fagan was one of the guest instructors for Lou Schiff’s Baseball and the Law course taught through the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. A SABR member and a judge in Broward County, Florida, Lou has been teaching this course in St. Paul since 2012 with students coming in from around the country for it. Fagan was a call-up umpire in the majors from 2011 to 2017. When he was told he would not be added to the full-time staff, he retired from professional umpiring and attended Mitchell Hamline. He passed the bar in Texas and is now a civil litigator in a firm outside Austin. He also umpires in the Big 12 and Southeast Conference. Other guest instructors for the course were SABR members Ed Edmonds, Dan Levitt, and your trusty crusty editor.
Brian “Bookie” Larson was a guest on Almanac on Twin Cities Public Television July 28. Bookie talked about the upcoming annual state amateur baseball tournament, which will the the 100th in Minnesota, along with a book he and Armand Peterson are co-authoring, The Early Years: Celebrating Minnesota Townball 1857-1973. The book will be included with a purchase of a program at the state tournament with additional copies available for a separate purchase.
Rich Arpi, Corky Gaskell, Howard Luloff and Daniel Dorff (pictured above) as well as the unpictured Gene Gomes and Glenn Renick attended a townball game in Miesville July 26.
SABR is seeking interns to work remotely during the Fall 2023 semester. Interested candidates may submit a resume and cover letter in PDF form by the end of the business day August 28 to Jacob Pomrenke, jpomrenke@sabr.org.
A special edition of Keltner’s Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter, is on-line:
Keltner’s Hot Corner, Special Edition
For past Keltner’s Hot Corner newsletters:
Keltner’s Hot Corner
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Proposed Baseball Cards Pack Rip and Swap/Fun Bags Night
On the last night at SABR 51 in Chicago, Daniel Dorff and Ed Edmonds attended Pack Night where about 20 attendees opened packs of baseball cards contributed by members of the Baseball Cards Research Committee. See the blog by Jason Schwartz: SABR 51 highlights and a Frank Thomas baseball card mystery solved!
In the spirit of maintaining our lofty status as the lone MVP SABR chapter with a wide array of baseball-related activities, Daniel and Ed are interested in surveying the Halsey Hall Chapter members to see if there are enough collectors or members interested in the hobby and its history to create a Pack Rip and Swap Night. If there is, they will look at how to best add this activity to the chapter’s impressive list of offerings.
Collectors and/or those interested in learning about the hobby are invited to answer the following questions and send their responses to Ed Edmonds, edmonds.7@nd.edu.
Are you a collector of cards?
If so, what is your collecting interest (e.g., specific team, certain players, certain eras, complete sets)?
Are you a member of Twin Cities Sports Collectors Club (TCSCC)?
If not a collector, do you have an interest in participating in a Pack Rip and Swap Night or a similar type event?
Are you a collector of other types of baseball memorabilia? If so, please list your collecting interest.
Please include your name and email address.
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Calendar
August 21—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
August 27—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Rich Arpi.
September 16—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Mannings’s, Minneapolis.
September 18—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
October 14—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich.
November 18—Fall 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 2023-2024
President—Rich Arpi
Vice President—Bob Tholkes
Secretary—Daniel Dorff
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
John Buckeye
David Karpinski
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
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; 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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