October 2001
Sarge Upton Honored
Dave Thies Set for Fall Meeting
Cow Chips
New Member: Peter Schilling
Directory Additions and Changes
October Birthdays
2002 SABR Convention Dates Set
Calendar
Board of Directors
Sarge Upton Honored
Mike “Sarge” Upton was inducted into the Quad States Baseball League Hall of Fame in Nordonia,
Pennsylvania, on September 7. Sarge played in the league (then the Tri-States League, covering Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) from late 1973 to early 1981 and played in all 63 games each year from 1974 through 1980. He was a shortstop through 1979—setting a record by once going 132 games without an error—before moving to right field. Playing for the Rock City (Pa.) Rockets, Sarge had a career batting average of .279 with 59 home runs in 441 regular-season games.
A native of East Lake, Ohio, Sarge had a tryout with the Seattle Pilots in 1969 before going into the Army and serving in Vietnam. Despite being wounded, when he was shot four times in the knee, back, and chest in 1970, Sarge came back to play ball in the Tri-States League, largely because of the urging of the Rock City manager, Edward Heland, who had been his high-school coach in East Lake.
Sarge was inducted into the Hall with two teammates from the Rockets, Milton Barry and Bobby Simms, as well as Ohchiin Nu, who compiled a career pitching record of 279-58 in the league.
Dave Thies Set for Fall Meeting
Former Kansas City Athletics pitcher Dave Thies will be one of the featured guests at the Halsey Hall Chapter Meeting on Saturday, October 13 at the United Methodist Church in Columbia Heights. Former Senators/Twins outfielder Julio Becquer will also attend if he’s not in Cuba at the time.
Registration is $5 (includes food) and will begin at 8:30 a. m. The plan (subject to change if the Twins are in the playoffs) is for the meeting to last all day with the group watching the playoffs on television that night at the church. The guests are scheduled to appear at 1:00.
Anyone wishing to make a research presentation may contact Ray Luurs at 763-422-9699 or luurscjg@aol.com.
The Quicksteps vintage base ball nine will hold a planning meeting for the 2002 season following the chapter meeting, at 4 p.m. Prospective participants are welcome.
In other events, the next Hot Stove Saturday Morning will be October 6 at 8:30 at the usual location, Baker’s Square at 66th and Xerxes in Richfield.
Cow Chips
Seth C. “Dr. Fan” Hawkins was featured in a story in the Grand Gazette (a newspaper serving Grand Avenue in St. Paul) for his private museum of Gilded Age decor. Seth spent September preparing to follow Rickey Henderson around so he could be present when Henderson got his 3,000th hit and when Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s career record for runs scored. Then Seth prepared for a trip to Central Europe in October. . . . Brenda Himrich and her husband were granted general license authorization from the U. S. Treasury Department for their trip to Cuba last February, meaning they won’t be facing fines from the government. . . . Glenn Gostick was quoted in Patrick Reusse’s article on town ball in the September 4, 2001 Star Tribune, Newspaper of the Twin Cities. . . . Erin Moore was another chapter member who was at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown in August. Since then, Erin has started teaching English at White Bear Lake High School. . . . Jerry Janzen was at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco to see Barry Bonds hit his 60th home run of the season. Jerry also saw an Athletics game in Oakland the next night and visited nearly a dozen National Park sites, including Sequoia National Monument, the Presidio, Kings Canyon National Park, and Alcatraz.
New Member: Peter Schilling
Peter Schilling, Jr. recently joined SABR and the Halsey Hall Chapter. He is a writer who just completed a novel, Lost,about a baseball player who joins the Navy near the end of World War II, tries to land a spot on the USO Naval baseball team, but instead finds himself on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, which delivers the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian and is later torpedoed on its way to the Phillippines. In addition to his writing, Peter says, “I work part-time at Home Depot to support my other hobbies, like paying the mortgage and eating.”
Peter pays the mortgage in St. Louis Park with his wife, Janice Rideout, who teaches ninth-grade science at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School.
Peter is from Mount Pleasant, Michigan, which is about two hours from Detroit, and describes himself as a “long-suffering Tigers fan.” His first trip to Tiger Stadium, to see Mark Fidrych pitch in the final home game of the 1976 season, was rained out, but it was still a memorable experience. Even though there would be no game, Peter’s grandma was determined to show him the stadium and found a security guard who let them in through a gate in right field. “I stood there, watching the rain tumble off the roof and onto those green seats. It was an awesome experience.”
Peter shares his May 24 birthday with Joe Oeschger, Bartolo Colon, Greg Briley, Carlos Febles, Jim Duckworth, Gary Burghoff, Priscilla Presley, and Bob Dylan.
Directory Additions and Changes
Additions
Peter Schilling
2604 Hampshire Avenue South
St. Louis Park, Minnesota 55426
952-929-0473
schillout@sprintmail.com
Rex Hamann
14201 Crosstown Boulevard NW
Andover, Minnesota 55304
763-862-3401
Pure457@aol.com
Rodger Coauette
714 Birch Street
Crookston, Minnesota 56716
218-281-1645
Changes
John Gordon: 11200 Wyoming Road, Bloomington, Minnesota 55438, 952-942-0206
John Gregory: 775-831-3684
Fred Souba: 952-926-5217
Marc Huganin: sunnyday2@visi.com
Rich Cohen: cohenr@mail.upstate.edu
October Birthdays
5—Tom Tuttle (also Henry Chadwick, Rey Sanchez, Onix Concepcion, Danny Fife, Andy Kosco, Larry Fine, Kate Winslet, Bill Dana, Grant Hill, and Chester Arthur)
18—Richard Cohen (also Willie Horton, George Hendrick, Andy Carey, Martina Navratilova, and Lee Oswald)
19—Fred Buckland (also Three-Fingered Brown, Fred Snodgrass, Joe McEwing, Sandy Alomar, Sr., Walter Bond, and Bob O’Farrell)
20—Mickey Mantle and Juan Marichal
21—Rex Hamann (also Whitey Ford, George Bell, Ted Uhlaender, Ron Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie)
22—Dick Jonckowski (also Jimmie Foxx, Wilbur Wood, Harry “The Hat” Walker, Sammy Bohne, Pete Pihos, Annette Funicello, and Curly Howard)
23—Rich Arpi (also Al Leiter, Jim Bunning, Vern Stephens, Ewell Blackwell, John Castino, Lena Blackburne, and Johnny Carson)
27—Chuck Blomquist (also Buck Ewing, Ralph Kiner, Lee Stange, Brad Radke, Bip Roberts, Bill Swift, U. L. Washington, Pumpsie Green, and Teddy Roosevelt)
2002 SABR Convention Dates Set
The 2002 Society for American Baseball Research convention will be Thursday, June 27 to Sunday, June 30 in the Boston area.
Calendar
October 16—Hot Stove Saturday Morning, 8:30 a.m., Baker’s Square, 66th and Xerxes, Richfieldtour at 10 a.m.
October 13—Fall Chapter Meeting, United Methodist Church, 950 Gould Avenue, Columbia Heights. Registration at 8:30 a.m.
Halsey Hall Chapter
Board of Directors 2001-02
President—Cary Smith
Vice President—Ray Luurs
Secretary—Rich Arpi
Treasurer—Kevin Hennessy
Fred Buckland
Dan Cagley
Dan Levitt
Webmaster—Deano Thilgen
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Holy Cow Extra Editor—Bob Tholkes
Please direct news about chapter events, about
yourself or about other chapter members to:
S. Thornley
1082 Lovell Avenue
Roseville, Minnesota 55113-4419
E-mail Stew Thornley