Resources
SABR A. L. Central Division Event—Part Deuce
Last April, the Southern Michigan SABR Chapter hosted a zoom meeting among chapters in the American League Central Division. John Bonnes, one half of Gleeman and the Geek, provided the outlook for the Twins this season, and John will be back to do a season recap along with representatives of the other chapters. The event is at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 1. It’s free and fun, but you must pre-register, which you can do with the link below.
Registration link
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Fall Chapter Meeting November 18
The Fall Halsey Hall Chapter meeting will be Saturday, November 18 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the program beginning 15 minutes later.
The cost for the meeting and lunch is $10. The meeting only is $5. Those wanting lunch are asked to RSVP to Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036. People can pay by cash (with correct change appreciated) or check at the door.
There will be a featured speaker in the afternoon, and the morning will consist of research presentations by chapter members. Howard will have his Almost New and Improved Jeopardy trivia quiz after the featured speaker along with door prizes.
A full slate of presentations has been approved, and times set for them (with a 15-minute break between each presentation):
- 9:15 to 9:45 Our (Eventual) Hall of Famer: Joe Mauer’s Case for Cooperstown by Sam Sundermeyer. The
presentation will focus on four topics: Baseball Card Review, Sabermetrics, Hall of Fame Comparison, and Hall of Fame Prediction.
- 10:00 to 10:30 Past Speed-Up Attempts in Major League Baseball by Stew Thornley. The pace of games in Major League Baseball has been slowing for more than 35 years. Knee-jerk reactions have focused on added time for commercials, although research indicates that this should not have been a factor in regular-season games. The presenter has done research and analysis on pace of play, particularly with 1995 attempts to speed up the game, attempts that were quickly abandoned.
- 10:45 to 11:15 Sticky Fingers: The City That Gave Us Early Candy and Gum Baseball Cards by Glenn Renick. One city, and the surrounding area, generated the majority of baseball cards produced between 1905 and 1925. This presentation will cover the companies and individuals who distributed these card sets and why this area was the center of their production. Included will be a display of actual cards presented in archival presentation holders (devoid of grading slabs).
- 11:30 to Noon Minnesota Town Ball 2023 State Tournament, by Brian “Bookie” Larson and Armand Peterson, who will talk about the 100th state tournament and past tournaments.
Audience members, please note: The chapter has purchased a wireless amplifier and microphone, which will be passed around to those wanting to ask questions of the presenters. It is necessary for on-line attendees to hear the questions. No longer will audience members be able to shout out questions. They will have to raise their hands and wait to be called on by the presenter or moderator and have the mike passed to them. Note: The equipment purchased is a karaoke machine, so if you can set it to the proper beat, you can ask your questions rapper style.
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Other Upcoming Events
The next Book Club meeting will be Saturday, October 14 at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall at 9:30 a.m. The book selection is Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich. Brent Heutmaker has organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
The next Research Committee meetings, via Zoom, will be October 16 and November 13. Research Committee members are co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes as well as Brenda Himrich, Sarah Johnson, Dan Levitt, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Anders Koskinen, Hans Van Slooten, Mike Haupert, Bob Tholkes, Daniel Dorff, Darryl Sannes, Tom Swift, David Karpinski, Glenn Renick, John Buckeye, Terry Bohn, John Gregory, Art Mugalian, and Bob Komoroski. Let Dave or Gene know if you would like to attend and/or join the committee.
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be at Manning’s at 22nd and Como in southeast Minneapolis on Saturday, November 11 at 9:00 a.m.
Keep up to date with chapter activities on social media:
SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Facebook page
Halsey Hall Chapter Twitter page
Please visit both pages, and, if you haven’t yet, “Like” the Facebook page and “Follow” the Twitter page and set your notifications to be alerted to new posts. (The Facebook page now has 274 members. Bob Komoroski has established rules —essentially, don’t be a dink.— The page is still public although Bob has set up a series of questions for new members to cull out spammers, trollers, and other wankers.)
Also:
Regular Events
Video Archives of Past Events
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SABR 52 Update
The SABR convention is coming to Minneapolis. Are you? The event is scheduled from Wednesday, August 7 to Sunday, August 11, and the Core Four (John Buckeye, Daniel Dorff, Gene Gomes, and a retread) encourages members to indicate your interest to be a volunteer by sending a note to Jessica Smyth, jsmyth@sabr.org.
We can use people on Tuesday, August 6 to assemble swag bags at the hotel, the Hyatt Regency at 13th and Nicollet, and during the convention, warm bodies are needed for a whole plethora-load of things: greeters, timekeepers for researcher presentations, staffers at the registration table. Let Jessica know if you have a particular interest in any of those things or if you’re up for anything.
Mike Haupert is the editor of the the convention publication, which will also serve as the the 2024 issue of The National Pastime, centering on a regional theme on Minnesota and the Twin Cities. Members of the Halsey Hall Chapter are invited to pitch ideas for articles by October 15. After that, the call for articles will open to all SABR members. A proposal should include a paragraph about the topic, why it’s important or relevant to the region, what drew the author’s interest to it, and what resources or sources or sources will be used. Topics should not duplicate the 2012 convention publication The National Pastime: Short but Wondrous Summers, edited by Dan Levitt. The target length for articles is 1,500 to 2,500 words.
“While we expect some articles will deal with the best-known teams from the area, including the Twins, the St. Paul Saints, and the Minneapolis Millers, we also welcome articles on 19th century baseball, industrial leagues, church baseball, Little League, college baseball, women’s baseball, and the Negro Leagues,” said SABR publications director Cecilia Tan, who provided additional information:
Writer guidelines are here: The National Pastime Submission Guidelines
To pitch an article, fill out this form: The National Pastime—Pitches, proposals, and abstracts
Type or paste your proposal, abstract, or pitch into the box provided for “Cover letter.”
Where it says FILE UPLOAD please upload a signed Permission to Publish form, which you can download from here: SABR Contributor Release Form
Blasts from the Past:
Minneapolis has hosted the SABR convention in 1988 and 2012. One of the highlights of the 1988 bash was the presence of Joe Hauser, who was on the player panel and attended all activities. He even put the moves on my mom (he apparently liked younger women).
Joe Hauser strikes out with Phyllis Thornley
A chapter group pulled a major upset in the team semi-finals of the trivia that year and advanced to the final round before being incapable of another upset. Our chapter has had some trivia champions since then, Cary Smith once winning an individual title and Jim Wyman being part of a champion team captained by Ron Liebman, who told team members to be ready for the final round by not having sex the night before. The strategy of “Chastity” Liebman (so dubbed by Bob Tholkes) was successful, and he proved to be a role model for that approach, winning many individual and team titles before he died.
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Membership
Our chapter has welcomed 10 new members since our previous chapter meeting and has 174 members.
Know a potential member? Here are resources for getting that person happily involved in SABR:
Membership application
Get more out of your membership experience by checking out SABR Member Benefit Spotlight Series.
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Dave Lande’s Award Winning Quiz
The September Research Committee meeting included a quiz submitted by Dave Lande.
- Four catchers have won two or more Most Valuable Player awards. Name these four catchers. For extra credit, name the only one of these catchers who was a first ballot Hall of Famer.
- Gaylord Perry, Roy Halladay, Max Scherzer, and Randy Johnson have each won at least two Cy Young awards. What do each of these pairs of Cy Young awards have in common?
- Name the first player to win a second MVP award.
- Of the 28 players who have won multiple MVP awards and whose names appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot, only one player was dropped from the ballot after not receiving the minimum percentage of votes. Name this player.
- One player won an MVP in both the American and National Leagues. Name this player.
- One player won multiple MVP awards while playing for the same franchise in two different cities. Name this player.
- Ten players have won three MVP awards. Only three of these players were elected to the Hall of Fame on their first time appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot. Name these three players. (Hint—Their first and last name initials are either S or M.)
- Three pitchers have won multiple MVP awards. Name these three pitchers.
- Two pitchers won their second Cy Young award seven years after winning their first Cy Young award: Tom Glavine (1991 & 1998) and Roy Halladay (2003 & 2010). Only one pitcher had a longer span of years between his first and second Cy Young awards. Name this pitcher and the years of his first and second Cy Young awards.
- While playing for the same team in different years, these two players each won three MVP awards and each finished second in MVP voting on four other occasions. One is in the Hall of Fame and one is not. Who are they?
Quiz answers below
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Cow Chips
Terry Bohn has written an article on Joe Cantillon for the SABR BioProject.
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Answers to Dave Lande’s Award Winning Quiz
- Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Mickey Cochrane, Johnny Bench. Bench elected on first ballot.
- Won in different leagues, first in American and later National.
- Walter Johnson
- Juan Gonzalez
- Frank Robinson
- Willie Mays
- Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Stan Musial
- Hal Newhouser, Carl Hubbell, Walter Johnson
- Justin Verlander, 2011 and 2019
- Stan Musial (Hall of Fame), Albert Pujols (not in the Hall of Fame)
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Calendar
October 1—SABR American League Central chapter recaps of 2023 season, 6:30 p.m.
October 14—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich.
October 16—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
October 22—Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 7:00 p.m. For more information on attending, contact Rich Arpi.
November 11—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 9:00 a.m., Mannings’s, Minneapolis.
November 13—Research Committee meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
November 18—Fall Chapter Meeting, 8:45 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036, or Bob Komoroski.
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Board of Directors 2023-2024
President—Rich Arpi
Vice President—Bob Tholkes
Secretary—Daniel Dorff
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
John Buckeye
David Karpinski
Howard Luloff
Events Committee Co-Chairs—Howard Luloff, Bob Komoroski
Research Committee Co-Chairs—Dave Lande, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee Co-Chairs—Stew Thornley, John Buckeye
Committee to Be Named Later—Gene Gomes
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Ass. Editors—Jerry Janzen, Brenda Himrich, and John Buckeye
Webmaster—John Gregory
Ass. Webmasters—Frank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
Social Media Directors—Bob Komoroski, Facebook; Hans Van Slooten and Tom Flynn, Twitter
Halsey Hall Chapter Web Page
Past issues of The Holy Cow! are available on-line.
Chapter History
Chapter Procedures and By-Laws
Society for American Baseball Research
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Resources
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