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Minnesotans in Baseball Book Nearing Completion
Minnesotans in Baseball, a collaborative project of the Halsey Hall Chapter, is being published by Nodin Press of Minneapolis and should be in book stores this spring. Twenty-five chapter members have written a total of 46 biographical sketches of prominent Minnesota natives who have played baseball or been involved in the game in other ways. The biographies will also be placed on the web site for the SABR BioProject one year after publication of the book. In other research news, the chapter’s Research Committee will meet Sunday night, March 22 at 6 p.m. at Perkins in Edina. The committee will be updating its Research Primer. This white paper on online resources for baseball researchers requires updating because of the recent merger between the Minneapolis and Hennepin County libraries. In addition, past issues of The Sporting News are no longer available through Paper of Record. The loss of online access to the The Sporting News as been a blow to all SABR members, and the SABR board is exploring ways to have it available again. There has been ongoing discussion on the topic on an e-list regarding baseball research society policy, a forum open to all SABR members. Although the Halsey Hall Chapter Research Primer is being updated, much of the information on it is still valid, and members are encouraged to make use of it.
Registration for the meeting is $8, which includes lunch. There is also a meeting-only price of $5. Those wanting lunch must RSVP to Howard Luloff at 952-922-5036, hfan77@webtv.net, by April 25. Tickets for the Royals-Twins game are $22 each. To attend the game, send a check payable to Halsey Hall SABR by April 18 to Howard Luloff, 2509 Princeton Court, St. Louis Park 55416. During the business meeting at lunch, four members will be elected to the chapter’s board of directors. Anyone interested in running for a two-year term may contact Nominating Committee Chair Dan Levitt at 612-377-5154, danrl@attglobal.net. Other Upcoming Events: The next Hot Stove Saturday Morning will be March 7 at Bakers Square in Richfield. The book club will meet April 11 at Barnes & Noble in Roseville. The reading selection for the book club is The Politics of Glory: How Baseball’s Hall of Fame Really Works (formerly Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? Baseball, Cooperstown, and the Politics of Glory) by Bill James.
b. Producer of the 2001 movie The Score and a former centerfielder for the New York Yankees.
Ballots for the election will be in an upcoming edition of the SABR Bulletin.. Meanwhile, candidate statements are available in the Members Only section of the SABR web site.
Lloyd G. Kepple is a “purely Minnesota product” (other than four years in New York City), growing up in Albert Lea and now living in the Twin Cities, where he is a real estate lawyer, husband (for 30 years, to Karen), and dad to Kate (age 25) and Benjamin (22). He attended his first game, between the Dodgers and Braves, on June 24, 1960 at County Stadium. “Never forgot it,” he said. “I cheered for the Dodgers before the Twins moved here, and still cheer for them some. Got to the game 2 hours early, and hung at the Dodger dugout. Don Demeter and Norm Larker were playing pepper (never see that anymore) and Norm fouled the ball into the stands. I got the ball. Still have it today. First game, and first MLB ball! PS: Dodgers won 5-3 in 10 innings.” In Minnesota, Lloyd witnessed Harmon Killebrew’s shot into the upper deck of Met Stadium on June 3, 1967 as well as Game Six of the 1965 World Series. He attended Game Six of the 1991 series with Kate (“Priceless”) and Game Seven with Karen. Lloyd enjoys his family, baseball, pheasant hunting, and conservation. He shares his August 10 birthday with Rocky Colavito, Willie Wells, Clint Hartung, Bob Porterfield, Rosanna Arquette, and Herbert Hoover.
Cliff Wexler grew up in Brooklyn and attended his first game, between the Cubs and Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in 1954. He got to experience the period when New York “was the center of the baseball world” and also went to games at Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds as well as regularly listening to the play-by-play of Red Barber, Vin Scully, and Mel Allen. In 1956 Cliff was at the game in which Don Newcombe won his first game of the season (his first of 27 wins that year). The following year he attended the last Dodgers game at Ebbets Field. In 1960 he was at the last game that Ted Williams played at Yankee Stadium. He also watched Jackie Robinson steal home several times, Stan Musial feast on Brooklyn pitching, Duke Snider drop fly balls over the 38-foot-high fence at Ebbets Field, Mickey Mantle blast tape-measure home runs in Yankee Stadium, and Willie Mays make basket catches in center field. Cliff played varsity baseball in high school and college and also played on many fast-pitch softball teams and coached college baseball teams in college, including one that beat a junior-varsity Army team at West Point. He also coached soccer and women’s basketball. Cliff attended college in upstate New York and New Mexico before settling into Columbia County in New York (approximately 130 miles north of New York City and 70 miles east of Cooperstown) in 1969. He served two terms as an elected village official and as a volunteer with the community’s emergency medical services besides teaching college English and Communications for 34 years. In 2004, Cliff and his wife (who have a married daughter and three grandsons) moved to the Lowry Hill neighborhood in Minneapolis, where they are volunteer training managers with the disaster services of the American Red Cross while finding time to hike, travel, and attend sports and cultural events in addition to “whatever piques our interests.” Although he says he is “a reader and not a collector,” Cliff has developed a library of 400 baseball books that made the trip with him from New York to Minnesota. He enjoys reading about “the history, personalities and issues of the game at any level” and has learned about research and how to make contributions to The Baseball Index from Andy McCue. He is focusing on coverage in The Sporting News during World War II. Cliff prefers watching minor-league, college, and amateur games rather than major-league games. In addition to the New York stadiums, Cliff has attended major-league games at Wrigley Field, Three Rivers Stadium, Fenway Park, and the Metrodome and minor-league games Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Albany, Rochester, and Oneonta, New York; Portland and Eugene, Oregon; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cliff shares his July 6 birthday with Omar Olivares, Lance Johnson, Willie Randolph, Jason Thompson, Steve O’Neill, Merv Griffin, John Paul Jones, Pat Paulsen, and former Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush.
The Hamiltons—James IV, James V, and Shane—of Lakeville have been members of SABR off and on since 2002. James IV was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and had 10 children, including James V and Shane, who were born in Davenport, Iowa. James IV went to high school in St. Francis, Minnesota, owned a gaming preserve, and then moved to Hollywood and wrote episodes for a number of television shows, including Bonanza. He also wrote the movie Cross of Iron and has a page on the Internet Movie Database. James IV later moved to the Quad Cities of Iowa and owned a production company and then a chain of video stores. The family moved to Minnesota in 1989 and began operating a wholesale company. James IV was an outstanding pitcher in St. Francis and once threw a pair of shutouts in a doubleheader, including a no-hitter in the nightcap. He attended the first Twins game in Minnesota and every home Twins World Series game. Shane and James V have attended every League Championship Series and World Series game in Minnesota since 1987. All are avid collectors of anything related to baseball, including autographs, cards, comics, box scores, and tickets. “I can speak for all parties here when I say our love of sports stems from the belief that anything is possible,” explained James V. “We enjoy and cherish the moments captured in time. It is not our desire to be the individuals in the field that feeds our love and passion for sports, but rather the way sports manifests itself into our memories and daily lives. “Game 6 was not the game in which Kirby Puckett won the game on a 11th inning home run. It was the first time my brother and I discovered we were best friends. As the ball left the park, we were jumping up and down hugging. We celebrated witnessing one of the most amazing moments in baseball history as best friends. We were no longer childhood adversaries. It was amazing. “This moment and many more like it have inspired us to celebrate and research the game.” James IV has 14 grandchildren and counting. Shane is married with two children, and James V recently got married. James Frederick Hamilton IV shares his April 9 birthday with Graeme Lloyd, Hal Morris, Hippo Vaughn, Claude Passeau, Doc White, Jack Hendricks, Ollie Pickering, and Hugh Hefner. James Frederick Hamilton V shares his April 14 birthday with Greg Maddux, David Justice, Pete Rose, Marty Keough, Don Mueller, Joe Lahoud, Steve Avery, and Julie Christie. Shane James Hamilton shares his January 8 birthday with Jeff Francoeur, Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, Bruce Sutter, Reno Bertoia, Jim Busby, Geremi Gonzalez, Gene Freese, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, and Soupy Sales. Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Mike Hutchison
b. Bernie Williams
March 22—Research Roundtable, Perkins Restaurant, 4917 Eden Avenue, Edina, 6:00 p.m. For more information, contact Bob Tholkes, 763-781-6161, rjtholkes@msn.com. April 11—Book Club Meeting, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., The Politics of Glory: How Baseball’s Hall of Fame Really Works (aka Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? Baseball, Cooperstown, and the Politics of Glory) by Bill James. For more information, contact Tom Dolen, 651-483-8617, or Art Mugalian, 612-721-2825, amugalian@comcast.net. May 2—Spring Chapter Meeting. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036, Hfan77@webtv.net.
Halsey Hall Chapter 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
Society for American Baseball Research: http://sabr.org
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