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


February 2016

Editor:
Stew Thornley

Spring Chapter Meeting April 9 with Julio Becquer as Featured Guest
Family PhotoJulio Becquer will be the featured guest at the Spring Chapter Meeting will Saturday, April 9 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis. Julio was a guest at the 1988 SABR Convention in Minneapolis and at the Halsey Hall Chapter in 2001. He played in the majors between 1955 and 1963 with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels. In the first game of a July 4, 1961 doubleheader, Julio hit a grand slam with two out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Twins a 6-4 win over the White Sox. He recently coached Lloyd Kepple at the Twins Fantasy Camp (more on that below).

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 (with the understanding they might not know if they’re available until the meeting date is set. 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.

So far, three research presentations have been approved by the committee:

  • Baseball: The Early Years, by Denny Laudel
  • The Nuances of Free Agency: How the Evolution of Collective Bargaining Agreements Affected Team Building, by Dan Levitt
  • International Baseball Competitions: 1857 to Present, by Phil Lowry

Elections for the board of directors will be held during the business meeting. Three members will be elected to the board of directors to succeed outgoing directors Steve Ginader, Jerry Janzen, and Gene Gomes. Anyone interested in running for a two-year term may contact Nominating Committee Chair  Doug Skipper, 612-876-1408.

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Other Big Stuff Coming Up

  • Book Club-Research Workshop Doubleheader February 6

  • Caribbean Series Viewing Party February 7

  • Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning March 5

  • Showing of Hano! A Century in the Bleachers May 14

  • Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in LaCrosse July 7-9

Book Club and Research Workshop
The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet at 9:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville to discuss Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler. In addition, the group will discuss the telecast of Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. The complete game is available for purchase from iTunes or for viewing on YouTube: 1965 World Series, Game 7: Dodgers @ Twins.

In the afternoon the Research Committee will host a workshop at the Minnesota History Center starting at 1:00. The tour is designed to familiarize members with the research resources in the library and microfilm room. Dan Cagley will then lead a special behind-the scenes tour of the center’s archives. Meet in the main lobby of the History Center at 1:00. Early arrivers may want to eat in the cafeteria next to the lobby.

Another Research Committee event will be a presentation by Hans van Slooten, the primary developer for baseball-reference.com. No date has been set, but look for it this spring and keep watching for more details.

Caribbean Series Viewing Party
Tom Flynn has organized a viewing party for the championship game of the Caribbean Series at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 7 at Adelitas Mexican Restaurant, 2405 Central Avenue NE in Minneapolis. If the group is lucky, the game will go into extra innings and last long enough that no one will have to watch the Super Bowl.

Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning
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 5 at Curran’s, 4201 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.

Hano! Documentary
Jon Leonoudakis will bring his documentary, Hano! A Century in the Bleachers, to Minneapolis Saturday, May 14 at 7:00 p.m. for a showing and panel discussion. The film is about Arnold Hano, who wrote A Day In the Bleachers. The event will be held at Minneapolis Television Network, 1620 Central Avenue in Minneapolis. The 53-minute film will be followed by a panel with Jon Leonoudakis, Peter Schillling Jr., John Rosengren, and S. Thornley.

Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
This year’s Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, hosted by SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee, will be held almost within spitting distance, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, from July 7 to 9. The event will likely include a Northwoods League game. The theme for the 2016 conference is Barnstorming in the Negro Baseball Leagues.

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Kepple and Kepple Reach the Finals

Lloyd Kepple was again accompanied by his son, Ben, at the Twins Fantasy Camp in Florida in January. The pair were teammates on Dead Men Walking, which reached the championship game under than the coaching of Bill Campbell, Steve Braun, and Julio Becquer.

Along the way the fantasy campers had activities that included Bert Blyleven presiding over a Kangaroo Court.

Bert Blyleven

Ben Kepple was fined $20 for hitting a camper in her batting helmet, “fortunately, with a breaking pitch,” Lloyd says and adds, “Other egregious offenses such as taking a shower without shower shoes and taking a ground ball in an uncomfortable area were also duly noted with fines assessed.“

Hit in the Nuts

Ben Kepple went the distance in the championship game but fell to the Hrsamskys, who scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth (in a seven-inning game). This was the fourth fantasy camp for Lloyd and the second time he has played with Ben.

Lloyd and Ben Kepple

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New Members

Jacob Carl is from Chippewa Lake, Ohio, spent much of his youth in Iowa, and lived five years in Nome, Alaska, where he met his girlfriend, who is from the Twin Cities. He now lives in Roseville and works as a system administrator for a commodity trading company in Minneapolis.

He became interested in baseball while in college. “ Playing many hours of Baseball Mogul got me interested in the game and got me into playing softbal, which made me appreciate the game even more. My first game was at Jacobs Field in 1997, which was a great year for the Indians until game 7 of the World Series. I am a big Jim Thome fan and got to be in attendance when he hit his 600th homerun!”

Born in 1986, Jacob shares his May 2 birthday with fellow chapter member Ray Luurs as well as Eddie Collins, Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Clay Carroll, Larry Cheney, Gates Brown, Ed Bressoud, Keith Moreland, Felix Jose, Baron Manfred von Richtofen, Bing Crosvy, David Beckham, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Hedda Hopper, Ben Spock, War Admiral, Yung-lo, and Jerome Jerome.

Kathy Gorman was born in Los Angeles and still has all her family out west. A lifelong Dodgers fan, she grew up listening to Vin Scully and still does thanks to mlb.com. She saw Fernandomania up close, Steve Garvey’s consecutive-game streak end in San Diego, and, as a Padres season-ticket holder while living in San Diego, the end of Tony Gwynn’s career.

Kathy is now a history professor at Minnesota State, Mankato, and is teaching a baseball history course for the first time.

Born in 1963, Kathy shares her October 28 birthday with Joe Page, Johnny Neun, Jeremy Bonderman, Frank “Piano Mover” Smith, Nate McLouth, Johnny Rigney, Juan Guzman, Lenny Harris, Bob Veale, Sammy Stewart, Julia Roberts, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlie Daniels, Jonas Salk, Elsa Lanchester, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bowie Kuhn.

Also new to the Halsey Hall Chapter: Daniel Wilson, Tom Rooney

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Member and Chapter News

John Swol has a website, Twins Trivia, loaded with information about the Twins and their history. A recent addition to the site is a rundown of the team’s disabled list history. It also has information on the Twins and the Rule 5 draft, the minor leagues, and books on the Twins.

Jeff Bozovsky has a book, Divorcees, Barmaids, and Cranks: The 1897 Red River Valley Baseball League, coming out soon, and it is available for pre-ordering now.

Cover of Jeff Bozovsky's new book

Doug Skipper organized another successful Halsey Hall Chapter table at Twinsfest. Those who staffed the table were Doug, George Rekela, Gene Gomes, Steve Ginader, Howard Luloff, Rich Arpi, Joe O’Connell, Jerry Janzen, Jeff Lehtinen, and S. Thornley.

Doug Skipper at Twinsfest

Kyle “V-Man” Traynor and another chapter member were in New York in January for the annual meeting of the Major League Baseball official scorers. The scorers had the chance to visit the room used for video review of umpire calls that are challenged by teams during the season.

Kyle Traynor

The History of Baseball in Minnesota, a presentation developed and often presented by a Halsey Hall Chapter member, is being held several times over the next few weeks.

  • Wednesday, February 17, 6:00 p.m., Plymouth Library, 15700 36th Avenue N., Plymouth 55446
  • Saturday, February 20, 1:00 p.m., 565 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie 55344
  • Wednesday, February 24, 6:00 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis 55401
  • Tuesday, March 1, 1:30 p.m., Plymouth Library, 15700 36th Avenue N., Plymouth 55446

The one-hour presentation will be followed by discussion and questions. The presentations are free to attend.

Another chapter member, Frank White, will be talking about black baseball in Minnesota at the Roseville Library, Hamline Avenue and County Road B in Roseville, on Tuesday, February 23, at 12:30 p.m. and that evening at 7:00 at the Minnesota History Center.

Frank has presented on this topic at our chapter meetings and has a book about the subject, They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota, coming out soon. Minnesota Historical Society Press is the publisher.

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Calendar

    February 6—Book Club and Vintage Game Video Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler and Game 7 of the 1965 World Series.

    February 6—Research Committee Orientation and Tour of Minnesota History Center, 1:00 p.m. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich or Sarah Johnson.

    February 7—Viewing party for the Caribbean Series, Adelitas Mexican Restaurant, Minneapolis, 2:00 p.m.

    March 5—Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, Curran’s, 42nd and Nicollet, 9:00 a.m.

    April 9—Spring Chapter Meeting, Faith Mennonite Church. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.

   May 14—Screening and panel discussion for Hano! A Century in the Bleachers, Minneapolis Television Network, Minneapolis, 7:00 p.m.

  July 7-9—Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, Hampton Inn, LaCrosse.

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Board of Directors 2015-2016
President—Steve Ginader
Vice President—Tom Flynn
Secretary—Frank Kadwell
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
Gene Gomes
Lloyd Kepple
Doug Skipper

The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Webmaster—John Gregory 
Ass. Webmaster—Stew Thornley
Social Media Director—Tom Flynn

Halsey Hall Chapter Web Page

Past issues of The Holy Cow! are available on-line.

  

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