Resources
See Emma Charlesworth-Seiler Virtually and Live
Chapter member Emma Charlesworth-Seiler—the eighth woman to umpire in minor-league baseball—is back in the Midwest League, although it’s a step up because the Midwest League is now a High A league. She is down in Arizona now, working spring training games, and she will be a guest of ours for a special meeting via Zoom on Monday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. Zoommaster Dave Lande will send out a link to all members before the meeting, and it will be shared with our friends at the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter in Wisconsin.
Our group went to Cedar Rapids in 2019 to see Emma work the plate, and we will be going to see her in action again. A road trip to Beloit is planned for Saturday, August 13 for a 6:30 game between the West Michigan Whitecaps and Beloit Sky Carp at ABC Supply Stadium. A block of tickets ($11 each) is being reserved. Members of the Badger State-Keltner Chapter are coming, and members from the Emil Rothe Chapter in Chicago are being invited, too. If you are interested in going, please send an email to stew@stewthornley.net and indicate how many people will be going. At this point, we are just trying to judge the level of interest to see how large a block of tickets to get. Once that is done, people will be asked to send a check (or arrange a PayPal transfer) to reserve their seats.
For those able to get to Beloit by mid-day, we plan to have lunch with Emma and then have some activities, which could include a meeting with a former player from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Go to Top
Spring Chapter Meeting Set for April 30
The Halsey Hall Chapter spring meeting will be Saturday, April 30. It will be at the usual spot at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis.
During the business meeting, the chapter will elect three members to a two-year term on the board of directors. Anyone interested in being a candidate may contact Gene Gomes, gggomes1@me.com. More information on offices and committees for our chapter is at Halsey Hall Chapter Procedures.
Jim Cox will again lead a drawing for door prizes, which include contributions from Brenda Himrich, Dave Lande, and Rich Arpi.
Members are invited to submit a proposal to make a research (oral or poster) presentation at the meeting. Proposals must 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. The Research Committee will finalize the schedule of research presentations by April 16, two weeks before the meeting, so proposals must be submitted by then.
One presentation slot is always reserved for a first-time presenter until four weeks before the chapter meeting, which is April 2. If a slot remains after that, any member can submit a proposal until April 16, two weeks before the meeting, when the Research Committee will finalize the schedule of presentations.
Proposals must 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.
Three oral presentations have been approved so far by the committee:
Pete Gorton will present on John Donaldson and The Donaldson Network with updates on what has happened since he last spoke to us, in 2016.
Sign Stealing Before Video: Was It Legal? by Dan Levitt
Abstract: It took only five years after the introduction of modern binoculars in 1894 for a baseball team to use them to steal signs. The Phillies set up an elaborate system to intercept, decode, and relay the catcher’s signals. The team’s owner dismissed the complaints. The other owners disagreed and tried to censure the Phillies at the NL meetings. One owner proposed that the Phillies’ players and team records be vacated from the official record. No formal rule, however, was adopted.
In my presentation, I look at sign stealing before the use of video and the bizarre, ambiguous response from baseball’s hierarchy. Was it or was it not “cheating?”
2017 Pool D World Baseball Classic at Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico by Brenda Himrich
Abstract: The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is the only senior baseball tournament to grant the title “World Champion,” and this was Mexico’s chance to show the world how it does baseball. Zapopan, a city in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, was hosting Pool D of the first round of this round-robin tournament. The teams competing were Mexico, Italy, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico. There would be six games, and if necessary, for the first time in the WBC, a seventh tiebreaker game.
The 2017 Pool D will be presented from Mexico re-qualifying to play, the preparations at the Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco, the opening ceremonies, play on the field, injuries, fights in the stands, late night official meetings, new rules affecting tie-breakers and the seventh game of the pool. Through a little more culture, and after a quick review of how these four teams fared in the rest of the 2017 WBC, you will agree with the presenter that this was the most exciting Pool to watch.
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.
In other Research Committee news, the group will put up a display on Minnesota baseball at Brookdale Library, one that will be up in April and May. In conjunction with this, Bob Tholkes and Brent Peterson will present on new Hall of Famer Bud Fowler and the season he spent in Stillwater. It will be at Brookdale Library on Monday, May 9 at 6:30 and will give people the chance to view the display. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
Our Beyond the Twins: Hall of Famers in Minnesota—updated to include Fowler and Minnie Miñoso—banner will be on display at the May 9 event along with the handout of Hall of Famers in Minnesota, which is on-line:
Beyond the Twins: Hall of Famers in Minnesota (PDF)
Other Events
The Association of Minneapolis Baseball Enthusiasts will gather informally to eat Heggies pizza, drink beer (and other imbibables), and talk baseball Saturday night, March 26, starting around 6:00 p.m. at Grumpy’s Bar, 2200 4th Street Northeast in Minneapolis (three blocks south of Lowry Avenue and a block east of University Avenue). All baseball enthusiatics, regardless of whether or not they are from Minneapolis, are invited and encouraged to attend.
The book club will meet at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 2 and will discuss Mover and Shaker: Walter O’Malley, the Dodgers, and Baseball’s Westward Expansion by Andy McCue.
Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
Terry Bohn will be the speaker for the 19th Century Base Ball Speakers Series (Zoom meeting) on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m. His topic will be Bushels of Fun: Early Baseball in the Black Hills. The event is free although registration is required. The series is held monthly by the SABR Nineteen Century Research Committee.
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, May 14 at 9:00 a.m.
Howard Luloff is organizing a chapter trip for a Northwoods League game on Saturday, June 18. The 6:05 p.m. game will be the Mankato MoonDogs versus the St. Cloud Rox at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. As usual, Howard will try to line up pre-game activities at the ballpark with possible guest speakers from the Rox. In addition, members may want to come a little earlier to tour the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame at the city convention center if it is open again by then. (It has been closed to the public during the pandemic.)
If you haven’t had enough baseball yet, you could join Jim Cox and Corky Gaskell for a nooner in Rochester Tuesday, June 28. The Rochester Honkers will host the Bismarck Larks in a Northwoods League game at 12:05 p.m. The trek will include a visit to Moonlight Graham’s grave (before or after the game) and possibly a trip to the brewery (also before or after the game). If you are interested, contact Jim, jcox321@hotmail.com.
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
Go to Top
Quiz Time
- Troy, New York, and Worcester, Massachusetts, are the two smallest cities to have a National League team, which both lost after the 1882 season. Each city now has a grave of a Hall of Famer. Who are they? Hint: Both players have the same nickname.
- Name’s the Same: Ken Griffey, Jr.’s high-school baseball coach and one of the players traded by Cincinnati to Seattle for Griffey. The high-school coach has also been an official scorer for Major League Baseball since 2008.
- Name’s the Same: Killer/noted executioneee and the coach of a College World Series champion in the last 10 years
- From Jim Cox: Do you know where this field (below) is and why this name?
Answers below
New Members
John Buckeye, a distant relative of former Cleveland and Minneapolis pitcher Garland Buckeye, is from south Minneapolis. He went to high school at Cretin-Derham Hall and college at St. John’s University. He has a mom, dad, brother, and sister as well as a big extended family. He is a child care assistant for Minneapolis Kids in the Minneapolis Public Schools.
John played organized baseball into high school, fantasy baseball since college, and old-guy softball for the last seven years. He has also been in a reading group since soon after graduating from college. He did a few major stadium trips with friends and has attended two of the losses in the Twins playoff streak. He did better in the first year of Target Field when he saw the Twins go 7-0 in the games he attended in 2010. Even in the doldrums of 2020, the Twins were 4-3 in the games he went to.
John shares his August 26 birthday with Elvis Andrus, David Price, Maikel Franco, Chick Fraser, Al Spink, Heinz Becker, Billy DeMars, Brusdar Graterol, Ben Bradlee, Tom Heinsohn, Macaulay Culkin, James Harden, Geraldine Ferraro, Mother Teresa, Leon Redbone, and Mary Ann Nicholls.
Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Robert Carlson and Patrick Vance
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
Cow Chips
If you haven’t yet, check out David Karpinski’s Baseball Roundtable blog. It just marked its 10th anniversary, and it should be around for another 10, so don’t miss it.
Chapter members Bob Komoroski, Dan Levitt, and Eric Berg attended the annual NINE conference in Arizona, with the latter two presenting.
John Rosengren has a new book, Classic Baseball: Timeless Tales, Immortal Moments, a collection of his baseball articles. He is extending a special offer to SABR members to save 30 percent by ordering the book from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, and entering the code RLFANDF30.
Terry Bohn has written about Lou Polchow for the SABR BioProject.
The SABR Games Project has some new entries:
March 10, 2017: Puerto Rico Rolls to 11-0 Win over Venezuela in World Baseball Classic by Stew Thornley.
June 8, 1975: Triple-A Tacoma Twins Win Two Protests, but Finally Lose Game by Kurt Blumenau. This is a fun account of a game involving a Twins farm team and its manager, Cal Ermer, sparked by the incompetence of two umpires, one of whom became a scab in 1979 and the other who undistingued himself in 1997.
Go to Top
Quiz Answers
- Johnny “The Crab” Evers is buried in Troy, and Jesse “The Crab” Burkett is buried in Worcester.
- Name’s the Same: Mike Cameron
- Name’s the Same: Gary Gilmore (Coastal Carolina 2016) and Gary Gilmore (killed by firing squad 1977)
- McCullough Park in Shoreview. Although Viola now lives in North Carolina, apparently (according to the sign) he once lived in Shoreview.
Go to Top
Calendar
March 26—Gathering of Minneapolis Baseball Enthusiasts, Grumpy’s Northeast, 6:00 p.m. or so.
March 28—Zoom meeting with Midwest League umpire Emma Charlesworth-Seiler, 7:30 p.m.
April 2—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Mover and Shaker: Walter O’Malley, the Dodgers, and Baseball’s Westward Expansion by Andy McCue.
April 12—Terry Bohn presentation on Bushels of Fun: Early Baseball in the Black Hills, 7:00 p.m. Registration
April 18—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
April 24—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Gene Gomes.
April 30—Spring Chapter Meeting, 9:00 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
May 9—Presentation on Bud Fowler, 6:30 p.m., Brookdale Library, Brooklyn Center.
May 14—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Bunny’s Northeast.
June 18—Mankato MoonDogs vs. St. Cloud Rox, Joe Faber Field, St. Cloud, 6:05 p.m. (with possible pre-game activities). For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
June 28—Bismarck Larks at Rochester Honkers, Mayo Field, 12:05 p.m. For more information, contact Jim Cox.
August 13—West Michigan Whitecaps at Beloit Sky Crap with Emma Charlesworth-Seiler umpiring. For more information, contact Stew Thornley.
Go to Top
Board of Directors 2021-2022
President—Gene Gomes
Vice President—Stew Thornley
Secretary—Sarah Johnson
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
Daniel Dorff
Dave Lande
John Swol
Events Committee Chair—Howard Luloff
Research Committee Co-Chairs—Dave Lande, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee Chair—Stew Thornley
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Ass. Editors—Jerry Janzen and Brenda Himrich
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
Go to Top
Resources
Go to Top
