Resources
Gene Gomes Elected President for 2021-2022
Gene Gomes was elected president, Stew Thornley vice president, Sarah Johnson secretary, and Jerry Janzen treasurer for 2021-2022. They will join other board members John Swol, Daniel Dorff, and Dave Lande. Outgoing president Dave Lande and outgoing directors Frank Kadwell, Anders Koskinen, and Hans Van Slooten were saluted for their service along with Jim Cox, who served until May 8 of this year.
The new vice president appointed chairs of standing committees: Howard Luloff, Events; Dave Lande and Gene Gomes, Research; Stew Thornley, Membership.
A list of board members, past and present, is at Halsey Hall Chapter: Officers and History.
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More Than 40 Attend Spring Chapter Meeting
The Halsey Hall Chapter held its spring meeting virtually May 8 with the following attendees: Dixie Tourangeau, Brenda Himrich, Gene Gomes, Cary Smith, Doug Ernst, Frank Kadwell, David Hunt, Dave Lande, Paul Hensler, Stew Thornley, Tom Merrick, Joe Niese, Jim Cox, Bob Komoroski, Dirk Lammers, Howard Luloff, Jim McKernan, Ed Wehling, Hans Van Slooten, Rich Arpi, Howard Luloff, Sarah Johnson, Mike Frank, Manley Olson, Roger Godin, Terry Bohn, Pete Hepokoski, Tom Flynn, Anders Koskinen, John Bentley, Dan Levitt, Bill Nowlin, Joshua Burstein, Alan Reifman, Lon Hildreth, Daniel Dorff, Steve Bratkovich, Mike Haupert, Rich Cohen, Molly Pederson, John Swol, and David Peng.
Ed Wehling displayed his collection of baseball jerseys, Joe Niese talked about Zack Wheat, and Hans Van Slooten ran a demonstration of the first computer baseball simulation. During the business meeting, S. Thornley was elected to an unexpired term on the board of directors that runs through June 30, 2022, and Sarah Johnson, Daniel Dorff, John Swol, and Gene Gomes were elected to two-year terms that will begin July 1.
Other Events
Hot Stove Saturday Stroll is resuming Saturday, June 12 at 10 a.m. with the group walking, ambling, or in some other manner such as moseying around Lake of the Isles. Park and gather at 21st and Newton, a block from the lake. The distance around Lake of the Isles is about 2.63 miles.
The Research Committee will meet July 12 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Anyone wanting to participate may contact co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
Research Committee members are Brenda Himrich, Sarah Johnson, Dan Levitt, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Dave Lande, Anders Koskinen, Hans Van Slooten, Gene Gomes, Mike Haupert, and Bob Tholkes.
The Fred Souba Hot Stove Saturday Morning, an informal breakfast gathering for the purpose of talking baseball, will be Saturday, July 17 at 10:00 a.m. at Dock & Paddle at the Como Park Lakeside Pavilion.
The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, August 7 at 10:00 a.m. at Dock & Paddle. The book selection is The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip through Buck O'Neils America by Joe Posnanski.
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 Fall Chapter Meeting will be in-person again, back at our usual spot at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis on Saturday, November 13. Members are invited to submit a proposal to make a research (oral or poster) presentation at the meeting. Proposals must be sent to Research Committee co-chairs Dave Lande or Gene Gomes and include a title and brief outline of what the presentation will consist of with emphasis on the research that will be included. Standard oral 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 will finalize the schedule of research presentations by October 30, two weeks before the meeting, so proposals must be submitted by then.
One presentation slot will be reserved for a first-time presenter until four weeks before the chapter meeting (October 16). New, never-before-presenting presenters are highly encouraged to present.
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 havent yet, Like the Facebook page and Follow the Twitter page and set your notifications to be alerted to new posts.
Also:
Regular Events
Video Archives of Past Events
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Membership
SABR is having a Baseballs Better Together drive in which new memberships are discounted 21 percent in honor of the 2021 season.
Get more out of your membership experience by checking out SABR Member Benefit Spotlight Series.
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History Day in Minnesota
For the second year, the Halsey Hall Chapter sponsored a prize for National History Day in Minnesota, an annual project based competition for high school students. With a theme of "Communication in History," the prize this year went to Dylan Bergeson, a senior at Bagley High School (near Bemidji), for his exhibit, Baseball: Communicating Integration. His exhibit was chosen from a range of projects involving baseball and other sports. Dylan will receive $150, an invitation to present his exhibit at an upcoming chapter meeting, a complimentary SABR student membership, and information on other student opportunities to get involved with SABR.
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Switch-Hitter Quiz
Ed Wehling put together this quiz related to the 62 switch-hitters in Twins history (as of May 2021)
1. The first person to bat as a switch-hitter for the Twins was the starting pitcher for the very first Twins regular-season game.
2. The last person to bat as a switch-hitter for the Twins is the only switch-hitter on the roster for 2021.
3. The record for seasons played for the Twins as a switch-hitter is 11 by this player.
4. Who has the most playoff plate appearances as a Twins switch-hitter?
5. There were three players who played for the Twins from 1988 to 1990 but did not play on either the 1987 or 1991 pennant-winning teams. One was Jim Dwyer. The other two were switch-hitters. Name them.
Name the player at each position who has played the most games as a switch-hitter for the Twins.
P:
C:
1B:
2B:
3B:
SS:
LF:
CF:
RF:
DH:
PH:
Twins switch-hitters: Wally Backman, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Tom Herr, Terry Tiffee, Sergio Ferrer, Ryan Doumit, Ruben Sierra, Roy Smalley, Robbie Grossman, Rob Bowen, Quinton McCracken, Pedro Ramos, Pedro Florimon, Otis Nixon, Orlando Merced, Orlando Hudson, Niko Goodrum, Nick Punto, Matt Walbeck, Matt Tolbert, Marwin Gonzalez, Marty Martinez, Marcus Jensen, Luis Rodriguez, Luis Quinones, Luis Castillo, Larry Milbourne, Kennys Vargas, Kendrys Morales, Jose Offerman, Jose Morales, Jorge Polanco, John Moses, Joe Mays, Jim Perry, Javier Valentin, Ildemaro Vargas, Glenn Williams, Gene Larkin, Ehire Adrianza, Eduardo Escobar, Doug Baker, Donnie Hill, Denny Hocking, David Lamb, Dave McKay, Dave Hollins, Darrell Brown, Danny Santana, Cleatus Davidson, Cristian Guzman, Chris Pittaro, Chris Latham, Chili Davis, Butch Wynegar, Brent Gates, Bobby Kielty, Augie Ojeda, Alexi Casilla, Al Newman, Aaron Hicks. (Note: Jerry Terrell was briefly a switch-hitter during part of the 1974 season.)
Answers below
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Cow Pies
Dan Levitt spoke to the New York Giants Preservation Society May 20 on his upcoming book, and video of the event is available:
Dan Levitt: Balk! Baseballs Thin Line between Innovation and Cheating
Terry Bohn has written about Ernie Burch and Bill Burdick for the SABR SABR BioProject.
The Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal has an article by Mike Haupert, The Business of Being the Babe. In addition, Mike Kaszuba, a longtime writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune who now lives in Florida, has an article on Dave Nicholson. Also, Dan Levitt co-wrote the bio of Alan Nathan, a recipient this year of the Henry Chadwick Award.
Mike also has a pair of articlesA History of the Chicago Cubs Franchise in the Late 19th Century and 100 Years Ago: The Babe Ruth Bonusin the Spring 2021 Outside the Lines, the newsletter of the SABR Business of Baseball Committee.
Brenda Himrich organized a bash for her 25th wedding anniversary and received a rose from her husband that was fakebut still spectacular. Said husband was continuing a tradition that started in 1996 when he stopped at a Holiday Gas Station for a cup of coffee on the way to the wedding and saw a bucket of cheap roses, so he bought one and gave it to Brenda. Each anniversary he continued to stop at Holiday for a rose, but this year Holiday didnt have any so he had to buy one at Walgreens instead and didnt notice it was fake (because, you know, hes a guy). Everyone ate well at the anniversary party, which concluded with a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity.
Soon after the party, Brenda revised her will.
A couple of SABR members who compared the distance of Target Field to CHS Field to the distances between other major-league teams and their top affiliates were featured in a St. Paul Pioneer Press article by John Shipley:
SABR Colleagues Used Their Cars to Determine Saints Are Closest AAA Team to the Parent Club
Dane Huber, who now works at the Minnesota Department of Health after a stint with the city of Minneapolis when he took a black light around to places like Sex World and other fine establishments to monitor for stains of concern, is also a baseball fan with like-minded friends, some of whom created this snazzy video:
Twins-Saints Interdependence Cross-Border CATCH
A member with a book about ballparks in the Twin Cities was allowed to do some free shilling about it on the WCCO-TV news May 16:
Minnesotas Deep Connection to Baseball
The June 2021 edition of Keltners Hot Corner, the newsletter of the Ken Keltner Badger State Chapter is on the newsstands:
Keltners Hot Corner, June 2021
All Keltner Badger State SABR newsletters
Blast from the pastNancy Mudge Cato and John Blanchard, special guests at the Fall 1992 Halsey Hall Chapter meeting:
Answers to Switch-Hitter Quiz
1. Pedro Ramos
2. Jorge Polanco
3. Denny Hocking
4. Cristian Guzman
5. John Moses, Doug Baker
P: Jim Perry
C: Butch Wynegar
1B: Gene Larkin
2B: Al Newman
3B: Nick Punto
SS: Roy Smalley
LF: John Moses
CF: Danny Santana
RF: Gene Larkin
DH: Chili Davis
PH: Denny Hocking
Ed adds that 1972 is the only season that no switch-hitters batted for the Twins and that the Twins have seven switch-hitters who batted in 1999, 2014, and 2017. Ed also says, I take full responsibility for any errors, mistakes, or otherwise bad trivia.
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Calendar
June 12Hot Stove Saturday Stroll, 10:00 a.m., Lake of the Isles. For more information, contact Stew Thornley.
July 12Research Committee
meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, contact Dave Lande or Gene Gomes.
July 17Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, 10:00 a.m., Dock & Paddle at the Como Park Lakeside Pavilion, St. Paul.
August 7Book Club, Dock & Paddle at the Como Park Lakeside Pavilion, St. Paul, 10:00 a.m., The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip through Buck O'Neils America by Joe Posnanski.
August 15Halsey Hall Chapter Board of Directors meeting, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom. For more information on attending, contact Dave Lande.
November 13Fall Chapter Meeting, 9:00 a.m., Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
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Board of Directors 2020-2021
PresidentDave Lande
Vice PresidentHans Van Slooten
SecretaryAnders Koskinen
TreasurerJerry Janzen
Gene Gomes
Frank Kadwell
Stew Thornley
Events Committee ChairHoward Luloff
Research Committee Co-Chairs and Co-Chair-in-waitingBrenda Himrich, Stew Thornley, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee ChairFrank Kadwell
Board of Directors 2021-2022
PresidentGene Gomes
Vice PresidentStew Thornley
SecretarySarah Johnson
TreasurerJerry Janzen
Daniel Dorff
Dave Lande
John Swol
Events Committee ChairHoward Luloff
Research Committee Co-ChairsDave Lande, Gene Gomes
Membership Committee ChairStew Thornley
The Holy Cow! EditorStew Thornley
WebmasterJohn Gregory
Ass. WebmastersFrank Kadwell, Hans Van Slooten, and Stew Thornley
Social Media DirectorsTom Flynn, Twitter; Bob Komoroski, Facebook
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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