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

March 2015

Editor:
Stew Thornley

• Spring Chapter Meeting Set for April 25
  
• New Members
  
• Member News
  
• Calendar
  
• Board of Directors
• Resources
  

Spring Chapter Meeting Set for April 25
The Spring Chapter Meeting will be Saturday, April 25 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Registration is at 8:30 with research presentations beginning at 9:00. The featured guest be on at 1:00. A business meeting will be held during lunch. The cost for the meeting and lunch is $10. The meeting only is $5. Those wanting lunch must RSVP to Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036. Howard has succeeded Scott Cummings, who left the Twin Cities to go to school in Duluth, as the chapter’s Events Committee Chair.

Members are invited to submit a proposal to make a research presentation at the meeting. Proposals must be sent to Research Committee co-chairs Brenda Himrich or Sarah Johnson and include a title and brief outline of what the presentation will consist of with emphasis on the research that will be included. Standard 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 (which also consists of Dan Levitt, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, and Bob Tholkes) will finalize the schedule of research presentations two weeks before the meeting, so proposals must be submitted by then.

Elections for the board of directors will be held during the business meeting. A special election will be held to fill the remainder of the term of Scott Cummings, who resigned when he moved to Duluth. The regular election will then be held, and four members will be elected to the board of directors to succeed outgoing directors Doug Skipper, Gary DeSmith, and Leanne Rohrbach as well as the person elected to fill out Scott’s term, which expires on June 30. Anyone interested in running for a two-year term may contact Nominating Committee Chair Stew Thornley, 651-415-0791.

Other upcoming activities:
To celebrate the arrival of pitchers and catchers at spring training, Tom Flynn has called for a gathering of fans at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 20 at Grumpy’s Bar & Grill, 2200 4th Street Northeast (one block east of University Avenue) in Minneapolis, 612-789-7429. (This is just up the road from Mayslack’s, not the Grumpy’s near the recently departed Metrodome.)

Josh Ostergaard will host another Royals Recipe dinner on Saturday, February 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. The event is open to the public, and several Halsey Hall Chapter members plan on attending.

The Research Committee will be meeting Monday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m. the Hennepin County Southdale Library, 7001 York Avenue South, Edina 55435. For more information, contact Research Committee co-chairs Brenda Himrich and Sarah Johnson.

The next Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be at 9:00 on March 7 at Bakers Square in Richfield (66th Street to the east of Xerxes Avenue).

The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club and Vintage Game Video Club will meet Saturday, April 4 at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville to discuss Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick by Paul Dickson. In addition, the group will discuss the telecast of Game Seven of the 1960 World Series. The complete game is available for purchase from iTunes or for viewing on YouTube: 1960 World Series Game 7 Yankees @ Pirates.

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New Members

The January 2015 The Holy Cow! introduced Joe Towalski as a new member, but your crusty editor neglected to include a photo of Joe (on the right) interviewing Kirby Puckett. Here is the photo, taken by Joe’s wife, Dianne.

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Member News
Dan Levitt and Mark Armour have another book, In Pursuit of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball, coming out this spring. In advance of the book’s release, Dan and Mark developed a blog, In Pursuit of Pennants, and counted down the best 25 general managers of all-time.

The list is complete:

25. Andy MacPhail
24. John Quinn
23. John Hart
22. Jim Campbell
21. Brian Cashman
20. Cedric Tallis
19. Lee MacPhail
18. Joe L. Brown
17. Dan Duquette
16. Theo Epstein
15. Walt Jocketty
14. Brian Sabean
13. Al Campanis
12. Sandy Alderson
11. Billy Beane
10. Frank Cashen
9. Dave Dombrowski
8. Harry Dalton
7. Buzzie Bavasi
6. John Schuerholz
5. George Weiss
4. Bob Howsam
3. Ed Barrow
2. Pat Gillick
1. Branch Rickey

Feel free to argue about omissions or the rankings, but be sure and check out the blog for a concise and illuminating profile of each of the general managers who made Dan and Mark’s list. They have also added some additional profiles of those who didn’t crack the top 25.

Joe Niese will be kicking off his latest book, Handy Andy: The Andy Pafko Story at the Boyceville Public Library, 903 Main Street, Boyceville, Wisconsin 54725, 715-643-2106 on Wednesday, February 25 from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. In 1986 a number of Halsey Hall Chapter members went to Boyceville for ceremonies honoring Andy Pafko. Rain moved the event from the athletic field to the high school, and we all passed Franny’s Fun House on the trek between the sites. Joe has promised to provide an update on if Franny’s Fun House is still there.

At least one SABR member attended the annual meeting of official scorers at the Major League Baseball headquarters February 8-9. Commissioner Rob Manfred (above) addressed the group on February 9. In the photo below longtime Chicago official scorer and noted curmudgeon Bob Rosenberg is shown (in front, wearing the red sweater).

Gene Gomes has come up with a couple brainteasers to give you something interesting to think about the next time you’re at a meeting at work:

• Who are the five managers who have never lost a World Series game (among managers who have managed in the World Series)?
• Name pitchers who have won at least 20 games in a season and have four letters in their last name.

Answers will be in the April 2015 The Holy Cow! The 20-game winners with four letters in the last name is a long list, and your crusty editor will attempt to make it an exhaustive one by the next issue. Meanwhile, see how many you can come up with.

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Calendar
    February 20—Informal Baseball Gathering, 5:00 p.m., Grumpy’s Bar & Grill, 2200 4th Street Northeast, Minneapolis, 612-789-7429.

    February 21—Josh Ostergaard Royals Recipe Dinner, 6:00 p.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street, Minneapolis.

    February 23—Research Committee Meeting, Hennepin County Southdale Library, 7001 York Avenue South, Edina 55435, 7:00 p.m. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich or Sarah Johnson.

    February 25—Kickoff for Joe Niese’s book, Handy Andy: The Andy Pafko Story, 1:00 to 6:00 p.m., Boyceville Public Library, 903 Main Street, Boyceville, Wisconsin 54725.

    March 7—Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, Bakers Square, 66th and York, Richfield, 9:00 a.m. For more information, contact Mark Johnson, 952-831-1153.     April 4—Book Club and Vintage Game Video Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick by Paul Dickson, and Game Seven of the 1960 World Series. For more information, contact Art Mugalian, 612-721-2825, and Gary DeSmith, 320-286-5127.

    April 25—Spring Chapter Meeting, Faith Mennonite Church. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.

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