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Home > Chapter Publications > Holy Cow! Newsletter > 2005 newsletters > August 2005 issue

 

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The Newsletter of the Halsey Hall Chapter
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)


August 2005

Recap of July 31, 2005 Board Meeting
Current Research Projects
Wedding Invitation
Quicksteps
In Other News . . .
New Members: Tim Arnold and Pete Gorton
August Birthdays
Calendar
Board of Directors
 

Recap of July 31, 2005 Board Meeting
The site of the Fall Chapter Meeting on Saturday, October 22 was set for Community United Methodist Church in Columbia Heights, where many of the recent meetings have been held. Those wishing to make a research presentation are asked to submit an outline of the presentation to Howard Luloff (952-922-5036, hfan77@webtv.net) by October 1. The meeting will run during the day, and members and guests are invited to come to the Himrich-Thornley home that night to watch the opening game of the World Series.

Howard also is trying to establish a fundraiser for Frank Bigelow to help with medical and other expenses. Frank is still recovering from a fire in his home in early June. Howard is checking into the possibility of having chapter members staff a concession stand at a Twin Cities sporting event (Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, Wild, Gophers). Contact Howard if you would be willing to help out.

The board continued its discussion of a research committee, which was formed at the board meeting in June. The functions of the committee will be to:

  • Review proposals for research presentations at the semi-annual chapter meetings.
  • Provide general assistance and mentoring to chapter members in their research efforts.
  • Promote research opportunities, such as articles for the SABR Baseball Research Journal and the SABR BioProject.
  • Review research material that goes on to the Halsey Hall Chapter web page.

Anyone interested in serving on the committee is asked to contact Gregg Omoth (763-493-4355, gomoth@worldnet.att.net).
 

Current Research Projects
Tom Swift is working on an article on the language of baseball. “For example,” he explains, “it used to be that pitchers threw great fastballs. Now they ‘bring great velocity.’ Similarly, pitchers used to have control; now they have ‘great location.’” Tom is also working on a biography of Chief Bender, which will be published by University of Nebraska Press.

Dean Thilgen, Rich Arpi, Bob Tholkes, Cary Smith and other Halsey Hall Chapter members are working on the Minnesota 19th Century Base Ball Project, which will culminate in 2007 with the year-long celebration, Sesquicentennial of Regulation Baseball in Minnesota, 1857-2007.

Other research projects are noted on the Halsey Hall Chapter web site at http://halseyhall.org/research.
 

Wedding Invitation
Bill Stixrud and his fiancé, Linda, will be among the 83 couples getting married in the multiple-matrimony ceremony before the Twins-White Sox game on the morning of Saturday, September 17th, and everyone in the chapter is invited to attend. Contact Bill at 612-869-4892 or via e-mail at wjstix@yahoo.com to get the “friend of the groom” discount on tickets.

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Quicksteps
The Quicksteps vintage base ball club has two matches scheduled in August:

Monday, August 1, 7 p.m., Fridley Historical Society, 611 Mississippi Street, Fridley.

Saturday, August 20, 1 p.m., Sleepy Eye Ball Grounds, Sleepy Eye.
 

In Other News . . .
Dan Levitt will be making a research presentation on Yankees of the 1920s at the SABR convention in Toronto.

Seth C. “Dr. Fan” Hawkins was featured in Charley Walters’s column in the July 20, 2005 St. Paul Pioneer Press after having been in Seattle to see Rafael Palmeiro get his 3,000th hit on July 15. It was the 18th consecutive 3,000th hit that Seth has witnessed, going back to Hank Aaron in 1970. He has been present for many other baseball milestones and has also attended a regular-season major league game in 69 different stadiums.

Tom Swift is the editor of Gameday program, which was featured on Minnesota Public Radio in June. The story is also available on-line at: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/06/14_bickalj_gamedaypgm.

The American Association for State and Local History has accepted a submission from Dean Thilgen, Proprietors of the Bat and Ball: Interpreting the National Pastime and its Predecessor Games, for a technical leaflet that will be published in an upcoming newsletter. Proprietors of the Bat and Ball encourages state and local historical societies to use baseball history as a way to draw attention to their museum or society. Dean plans to use this as a stepping stone to a larger project, an eBook for public historians titled Interpreting the National Game: Historic Bat and Ball Games at Open-Air Museums.

Howard Luloff did the public-address announcing for the AAU 12-and-under Division I National Championship baseball tournament in Lakeville that included Ryan Ripken of the Baltimore Buzz. Howard also had the chance to meet Ryan’s dad, Cal.

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New Members: Tim Arnold and Pete Gorton
Born in the Twin Cities, Tim Arnold lived in many places as he grew up, including Chicago, Southern California, Wisconsin, Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is now finishing a degree in history at the University of Minnesota.

“Baseball has interested me for as long as I can remember,” he says. “I have always had an interest in the history of the game, particularly the post-war era. This interest in history often superceded any interest as to what was happening during the baseball season of the time.” When he was 14 and living in Southern California, the Angels and Dodgers held very little interest for him, Tim said, adding, “I was more interested in going to our local library and checking out as much as I could on baseball’s rich past. I remember really liking Mickey Mantle’s bio, The Mick. The fact that I thought it was a rich read at 14 may hold some clue as to the literary merits of the book, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Like most people my age, much of my baseball memories are linked with the rise of the cable networks. Living in Ft. Wayne and not having a MLB team close by, I soon became enamored with the Cubs of the mid-to-late 1980s. Now I consider myself a Twins fan and wait and hope and pray that the stadium plans come to fruition. And lastly, I had a brief baseball career. In 1998 I had a job as an intern and clubhouse manager (clubbie) for the Clinton Lumberkings, the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. It was long, difficult, hot, and actually not a very idyllic situation. But I got to see a bunch of kids play there hearts out, usually watching from the dugout, for 140+ games.”

Tim’s other interests are film, music, and reading. He and his wife, Heather, have a dog, Bailey, that they rescued from the pound.

Born in 1973, Tim shares his September 2nd birthday with Mel Behney, Nitchie Cadreau, Albert Spalding, Peter Ueberroth, Rick Manning, and Marv Throneberry.

Peter William “Pete” Gorton is a presentation services coordinator with Faegre & Benson Law Firm, where he does legal communications. He is also involved in sports and news production as a free-lance television journalist. “I have ‘retired’ from television several times to take ‘legitimate’ jobs,” he says. “I always find myself back at the Dome for batting practice and interviews with the team. I still do live shots periodically for ESPN or Fox.”

Pete is particularly interested in the career John Donaldson and wrote a chapter on Donaldson for the anthology, Swinging for the Fences: Black Baseball in Minnesota. He has developed a network of researchers to gather statistical information on Donaldson.

Pete attended his first game in 1977. His baseball highlights including scoring a no-hitter “quite by accident.“ He also has one career home run.

Born in 1969, Pete shares his November 4th birthday with Bobby Wallace, Carlos Baerga, Eric Karros, Tito Francona, Dick Groat, Carl Sawatski, Walter Cronkite, Will Rogers, and Laura Bush.

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August Birthdays
    4—David Fairbairn (also Jake Beckley, Roger Clemens, B. J. Surhoff, Cleon Jones, Dallas Green, Luke Easter, Louis Armstrong, and the Queen Mum)
    9—Jim Bastian (also Deion Sanders, Julian Javier, Ralph Houk, Troy Percival, Ted Simmons, Bill Campbell, Tommie Agee, Claude Osteen, and Brett Hull)
    16—Deano Thilgen (also Puddin’ Head Jones, Jinho Cho, Roger Cedeño, Gene Brabender, Buck Rodgers, Gene Woodling, Bob Fothergill, Baby Doll Jacobson, Tiny Bonham, Fess Parker, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Frank Gifford, Kathie Lee Gifford, Madonna, and Julie “The Catwoman” Newmar)
  18—Dean Urdahl (also Roberto Clemente, Burleigh Grimes, Bobby Higginson, Buck Weaver, Joe Azcue, Max Lanier, Elayne Boosler, and Rafer Johnson)
  21—Bob Karn and Rob Muellerleile (also Craig Counsell, John Wetteland, Felix Millan, Murry Dickson, Owen Wilson, Cannonball Titcomb, and Wilt Chamberlain)
  22—Mendal Mearkle (also Carl Yastrzemski, Paul Molitor, Ned Hanlon, Urban Shocker, Happy Felsch, Hipolito Pichardo, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Pam Borton)
  27—Steve Roberts (also Peanuts Lowery, Buddy Bell, Jim Thome, Joe Cunningham, Lyndon Johnson, Pee Wee Herman, Ed Herrmann, and Ed Gein)

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Calendar
    August 13—Book Club Meeting, Barnes & Noble, Edina, 9:30 a.m., Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life by Richard Ben Cramer, Tom Swift: 507-645-2280, tomswift@nickelcurves.com, http://halseyhall.org/bookclub.html

    August 27—Hot Stove Saturday Morning, Bakers Square, 66th and Xerxes, Richfield, 9:00 a.m., Mark Johnson: 612-822-9638, mjohn@mr.net

    October 22—Fall Chapter Meeting. For more information, contact Howard Luloff: 952-922-5036, hfan77@webtv.net.
 

Halsey Hall Chapter
Board of Directors 2005-06
President—Bob Tholkes
Vice President—Gregg Omoth
Secretary—Chuck Blomquist
Treasurer—Rich Arpi
Howard Luloff
Gregg Nelson
Cary Smith

The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Webmaster—Deano Thilgen  

Halsey Hall Chapter Web Page: http://halseyhall.org

Halsey Hall Chapter E-list/Message Board: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/halseyhall

Past issues of The Holy Cow! are available at http://halseyhall.org/pubs/holy.html

  

Chapter History: http://halseyhall.org/officers_history.html

Chapter Procedures and By-Laws: http://halseyhall.org/bylaws.html

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