The Holy Cow, June 2004

The Halsey Hall Chapter of SABR had a productive board meeting on June 6th and elected the following officers for 2004-2005: President, Stew Thornley; Vice-President, Cary Smith; Secretary, Chuck Blomquist; and Treasurer, Rich Arpi. Stew submitted this statement for the newsletter:

Hello. Your incoming Halsey Hall Chapter board of directors will not assume office until July 1, but we have already had a productive planning meeting.

One of the things we want to accomplish in the coming year is the development of a comprehensive set of procedures for the various offices and functions of the chapter. Following approval by the board, each procedure will be posted to the chapter web site (http://halseyhall.org). We hope this will provide some institutional memory that will bring about greater consistency in how we operate and that will be helpful to future boards and committee heads.

We now have a draft of procedures for the Events Committee with specific direction for the planning and implementation of our semi-annual chapter meetings. The draft has been posted to the chapter’s e-list at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/halseyhall. Click on “files” in the left-hand column and then on “Procedures-Events Committee.doc” If you don’t have access to the e-list, please contact me (651-415-0791), and I will send you a copy of the draft. We welcome comments regarding this and drafts of other procedures that will be posted as they are developed.

Did you know? that Halsey Hall Chapter member Gregg Nelson has a brother who is major league umpire, Jim Nelson? .

Stew Thornley.

Chapter Odds and Ends

Rex Hamann (along with Bob Koehler) announces that their new book has justed been released by Arcadia Publishing. Part of the Images of Baseball Series, the book is entitled “The American Association Milwaukee Brewers.” The 128 page book is full of photos and lengthy captions and contains a bibliography. Orders at $ 20.00 per book can be placed through Rex (763-862-3401 or pureout@msn.com)

The Book Club has decided to read Jane Leavy’s recent biography on Koufax entitled “Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy.” The book was published in hardcover by Harper Collins for $ 23.95 in 2002.

It still should be available in most libraries, if not some bookstores. Tom Swift might be able to acquire several paperback copies for $ 5.21 (includes tax), so if you are at all interested contact Tom at 507-645-2280 or tomswift@nickelcurves.com. The Book club will meet on Saturday, July 31 at the Barnes and Noble at the Edina Gallerina at 9:30.

Chapter News....

Ray Luurs, a former Halsey Hall Chapter president, assumed the presidency of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SABR back in March. Congratulations, Ray and Good Luck.

The Quicksteps....

had two events in May and have two scheduled in June.

On June 13th the Quicksteps will have an exhibition at their normal stomping grounds at Murphy’s Landing in Shakopee with action to commence around 1 p.m.

On Friday June 18th the Quicksteps will have an exhibition at the grand opening of Noble Sports Park in Brooklyn Park at 8 p.m. The park is about three blocks north of the Noble Avenue exit from Highway 610. A parade will be held the night before.

Fall Chapter Meeting....

has been tentatively set for Saturday, October 23rd at the Community United Methodist Church in Columbia Heights.

Guests, agenda, and food choices are yet to be decided upon.

The SABR membership has elected two new members of the board of directors, Bill Nowlin for vice president and Tom Hufford for director.

In a separate issue, the by-laws revision was passed by an overwhelming majority. The amendment corrected a clerical error that was originally incurred while producing the newest by-laws.

Nowlin, a member since 1994, has been an active member of the greater Boston chapter. He served on the 2002 Local Convention Committee, securing all the speakers and panelists. Coming out of that convention, he served as organizer and editor of The Fenway Project, which was published by his book publishing company, Rounder Books and distributed to all 2004 SABR members as a member publication. He has a Ph.d in Education from Tufts University and is the co-founder of Rounder Records of Cambridge, Mass. Among his new duties as vice president, Nowlin will be chairing the chapter development committee and, in this capacity, submitting an annual report to the membership.

Hufford, one of SABR’s founding members, is a retired engineering/planning consultant. Hufford served as secretary in 1976, and has been a member of several research committees, including Biographical Research, Minor League, and Scouts. He is a past president of the Atlanta Braves 400 Club, and was a member of the Atlanta Stadium Design Team. One of the goals in his role of director will be to increase the number of members under the age of 30.

Bob Tholkes, of our local chapter, finished second to Nowlin.

(largely copied from the SABR website)

Those members who would like to receive the Holy Cow in paper form for the 2004-2005 season, should submit $ 12.00 (payable to the Halsey Hall Chapter) to Rich Arpi at the address listed below.

The new board of directors at their first meeting in August will take up the issue of proper fees for the newsletter. Our aim as been to get as many members to sign up for the electronic notification (and thus read or print a paper copy from our web-site thus saving the chapter printing and postage costs). As it stands now, members wishing for a paper copy will be asked to contribute $ 12.00 per year (the current rate) while the board will decide whether to drop the $ 6.00 fee for members wishing for an electronic copy, continue to charge $ 6.00, or reduce the fee somewhat.

Famous First Meetings:

Ted Williams to Vince Lombardi...

“I understand that you can walk on water.”

Lombardi answered, “I understand that you can too.”

from Liegh Montville’s bio on Ted Williams