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

November 2013

Editor:
Stew Thornley

• Cory Provus Highlights Fall Chapter Meeting
  
• Member and Research News
  
• Calendar
  
• Board of Directors
• Resources
  

Cory Provus Highlights Fall Chapter Meeting

Twins broadcaster Cory Provus was the featured speaker at the Halsey Hall Chapter fall meeting on November 2. Cory grew up as a Cubs fan outside Chicago and attended the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. His first job after college was in Blacksburg, Virginia, doing play-by-play for Virgina Tech and doing 35 sportscasts a day. He eventually went to the University of Alabama, Birmingham before joining WGN for Cubs broadcasts in 2007. He worked two years with the Cubs and three for the Milwaukee Brewers before being hired by the Twins after the 2011 season to succeed John Gordon.

Thirty-one members and guests—Brenda Himrich, Bob Tholkes, Art Mugalian, Howard Luloff, Rich Arpi, Jed Levitt, I.P. Dailey, Bob Komoroski, John Swol, Joe O’Connell, Doug Skipper, John Gallo, Scott Cummings, Doug Ernst, Doug Kenison, Caleb Helmen, Dave Jensen, Tom Flynn, Lee Temanson, Roger Godin, John Rosengren, Josh Ostergaard, Larry Von Kurtze, Gene Zavadil, Dan Levitt, Fred Buckland, Sarah Johnson, George Rekela, Dana Marshall, and Brian Madigan—attended, ably organized by Scott Cummings, and Gary DeSmith showed up from Cokato long enough to drop off soda pop before heading back for a wedding his wife told him about that morning.

Research presentations:

• John Rosengren, author of Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes, talked of how ethnicity is not as significant in baseball today and the anti-Semitism of the years when Greenberg played.
• Bob Tholkes had slides and stories of from former spring-training sites in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which now has 26 plaques after the city created the Hot Springs Historic Baseball Trail.
• Josh Ostergaard talked about and did readings from his forthcoming book, The Devil’s Snake Curve: A Fan’s Notes from Left Field, a history of baseball back to the 1880s with emphasis on war, religion, and facial hair.
• Stew Thornley led the group in an exercise to reconstruct the play-by-play for a 1949 Browns-White Sox baseball game as part of a Retrosheet project.
• Doug Skipper showed numerous photos and provided a great deal of history of Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

Upcoming Events:
The next Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be at 9:00 on November 16 at Bakers Square in Richfield (66th Street to the east of Xerxes Avenue).

The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, December 7 at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville to discuss The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn. In addition, the group will discuss the telecast of Game Five of the 1970 World Series. The complete game is available for purchase from iTunes or for viewing on YouTube: 1970 World Series, Game 5: Reds @ Orioles.

The Research Committee will hold a special meeting and research workshop Monday, November 18 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Hennepin County Southdale Library, 7001 York Avenue South, Edina 55435. The group will perform additional exercises on reconstructing play-by-play for Retrosheet and also discuss the spread of baseball project, which committee co-chairs Brenda Himrich and Sarah Johnson, along with Rich Arpi discussed at the November 2 chapter meeting. Another research workshop at the Southdale Library is planned for Monday, December 9 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Two webpages have information on the spread of baseball, Pre-pro Baseball and Pre-pro Clubs and Games in Minnesota.

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Member and Research News
The Halsey Hall Chapter welcomes new members Tom Ludwig and Mario Vricella.

Anthony Bush has an article, The 1907 White Sox: End of the Northern-Copper Country League on Zenith City Online.

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Calendar
    November 16—Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, Bakers Square, 66th and Xerxes, Richfield, 9:00 a.m. For more information, contact Mark Johnson, 952-831-1153.

    November 18—Research Committee Meeting and Workshop, Hennepin County Southdale Library, Edina, 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich or Sarah Johnson. (A workshop is planned for December 9 at 6:30 p.m.)

    December 7—Book Club and Vintage Game Video Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn and Game Five of the 1970 World Series. For more information, contact Art Mugalian, 612-721-2825, and Gary DeSmith, 320-286-5127.

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