Resources
Minnesota Native Scott Bush Is New SABR Chief Executive Officer
Scott Bush has been hired as the chief executive officer of SABR and will begin his duties October 1.
Scott is from Tyler, Minnesota, attended the University of Minnesota, and worked for the St. Paul Saints for five years. According to Saints co-owner Mike Veeck, Scott was instrumental in the opening of CHS Field in St. Paul. He then worked for the Charleston (South Carolina) River Dogs, another team owned by Veeck et al. Scott’s wife is a veteranarian and is thrilled to be leaving the humidity of Charleston for the dry heat of Phoenix, SABR’s headquarters.
Past CEO/executive directors of SABR have been Marc Appleman, John Zajc, George Case, Morris Eckhouse, Norbert Kraich, Lloyd Johnson, and Cliff Kachline.
Go to Top
Rob Fornasiere to Speak at Fall Chapter Meeting November 3
Rob Fornasiere, who retired last spring after 33 seasons on the Minnesota Gophers baseball coaching staff, will be the featured speaker at the 2018 Fall Chapter meeting will be Saturday, November 3 at Faith Mennonite Church, 2720 E. 22nd Street in south Minneapolis.
Registration for the meeting is at 8:30 with research presentations beginning at 9:00. A business meeting will be held during lunch with a featured guest to follow. 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.
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 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 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 (which also consists of Dan Levitt, Jim Cox, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Rich Arpi, Dave Lande, Anders Koskinen, and Bob Tholkes) will finalize the schedule of research presentations by October 20, two weeks before the meeting, so proposals must be submitted by then. Proposals for poster presentations may also be submitted to the co-chairs.
Two presentations have been approved so far:
- Showdown: Babe Ruth’s Rebellious Barnstorming Tour of 1921 by Tom Flynn
- Analysis of the Unique Role of the Official Scorer in Baseball by Stew Thornley
Other Upcoming Events:
Research Committee
The Halsey Hall Chapter Research Committee will meet Monday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center 55430. All members are welcome to attend.
Book Club
The Halsey Hall Chapter Book Club will meet Saturday, October 6 at 9:30 a.m. at the usual spot, Barnes & Noble in Har Mar Mall in Roseville. The book selection is The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream by Jim Collins.
Brent Heutmaker organized a list of all the book selections since the book club started in August 2002: Halsey Hall Book Club Selections
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 Saturday, September 15 at Bunny’s Northeast, 34 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis 55413, 612-545-5659 (in what was the keg warehouse of the Grain Belt Brewery).
Keep up to date with chapter activities on social media:
SABR Halsey Hall Chapter Facebook page
Halsey Hall Chapter Twitter page
Regular Events
Go to Top
Play Ball! Sports in Scott County Exhibit Opening September 27
Play Ball! Sports in Scott County opens Thursday, September 27 at 6:30 at the Scott County Historical Society, 235 Fuller Street South, Shakopee 55379.
Explore Scott County’s rich history of Town Ball and High School sports—sit in the dugout, make your own trading card, take a “sports” selfie, and much more. The Prior Lake Players perform the Abbott & Costello classic skit “Who’s On First,” and much more is the description of the event. Roger Godin, longtime chapter member and Minnesota Wild curator, contributed to the hockey portion of the exhibit.
Jim Cox will attend and invites others from the chapter to join him. Jim will talk to the organizers about displaying our banner about Hall of Famers who have played in Minnesota as well as providing information about early baseball in Scott County, part of the Protoball Pre-pro Clubs and Games in Minnesota.
The Scott County Historical Society also has a Beer - Baseball - Bus Tour at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 29.
Go to Top
New Members
Hayden Goethe is a marketing writer in Moorhead after having spent nearly 15 years as a sports journalist with Johan Santana, Travis Hafner, and Tracy Stallard among the subjects of his interviews.
Hooked on baseball as a youth by the 1987 world-champion Twins, Hayden went to his first game the following year, seeing the Twins play the Blue Jays at the Metrodome. Kirby Puckett and Ken Griffey Jr. were his favorites. Hayden has attended games at 14 major-league ballparks, including Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, and PNC Park in Pittsburgh is his favorite. One of his top memories is from attending Game 163, the Twins’ wild win over the Tigers in the tiebreaker game in 2009.
Hayden shares his May 12 birthday with Yogi Berra, Lou Whitaker, Felipe Alou, Lance Lynn, Hank Borowy, Joe Dugan, Lave Cross, Chicken Wolf, Frank Clair, Lawrence Phillips, Burt Bacharach, George Carlin, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Williams, and Florence Nightingale.
Erick Reinikka is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan— specifically, Ironwood, and now manages a training department at Graco Inc. in Minneapolis. He and Kate have been married 23 years and have two daughters, Lily (18) and Ping (16).
Erick grew up playing baseball as a kid and later played vintage base ball for the Quicksteps. His attended his first professional game in 1979 at Wrigley Field. “ The Cubs hosted the Phillies, who were led by Pete Rose. Phillies won 1-0. I most remember the Cubs fans throwing full cups of beer at Rose as he led his team over the catwalk to the visiting clubhouse.”
Erick is working on a novel, Tainted Saints, which is set in St. Paul and follows the 1948 Saints when baseball was integrating.
Erick shares his May 16 birthday with Jack Morris, Billy Martin, Stubby Overmire, Tack Wilson, Heath Fillmyer, Rick Reuschel, Rube Walker, Studs Terkel, Mark “Thunder” Funderburk, Dietrich Enns, Dave Philley, Bob Suter, Woody Herman, Janet Jackson, Liberace, and Oscar Zerk.
Know a potential member? Here are resources for getting that person happily involved in SABR:
Membership application
Have you attended a Minnesota college, and would you be willing to contact it about the possibility of integrating SABR into some departments? If so, please contact Membership Committee Chair Hans Van Slooten.
Hans has written an article on SABR and our chapter for Twins Daily: Interested in Baseball Research? Join SABR!
Go to Top
Twins Fan Bob Kerler Dies
Although he was from Garden City, New York, Bob Kerler was a Minnesota Twins fan. Bob died in August and, according to his sister, Carol, was buried with a baseball in his hands and a Twins pin on his lapel.
Go to Top
Cow Chips
Players Weekend at Target Field allowed players to wear their chosen nicknames on the back of their uniforms, and the participants in the Athletics-Twins series came up with some doozies:
Matt Chapman—CHAPPY
Tyler Austin—TA
Joe Mauer—MAUER
The Twins communication interns also made special nameplates with nicknames for some of the people in the press box:
Dear Mr. Talbert:
Readers of Ball Four may recall a joke that Jim Bouton and others played on Fred Talbot. On July 9, 1969 Talbot hit a grand slam, winning a prize of more than $27,000 for a lucky fan—Donald Du Bois of Gladstone, Oregon. Bouton and his cronies sent Talbot a letter, purportedly from Du Bois, with the news that Donald would be sharing his prize and that “Mr. Talbert,” as the letter was addressed, would soon be receiving a check for $5,000.
SABR member Joey Beretta found this in a Seattle newspaper:
Alas, it appears that Donald Du Bois, who never sent Mr. Talbert anything, is no longer around to enjoy his winnings:
Donald G. Du Bois, 1934-2017
Roy Hobbs?
Another SABR member, Gary Fink, dug up this gem in the August 31, 1952 Minneapolis Tribune (page 4, Sports):
Did You Know?
Washington-Minnesota is the only non-expansion franchise to never have been no-hit at home (according to the 1991 definition of an “official no-hitter,” meaning it was at least nine innings and completed as a no-hitter). Washington, at home, was no-hit by Philadelphia’s Rube Vickers October 5, 1907 in the second game of a doubleheader, which was called after five innings. At home, Washington was held hitless through 9 innings by Chicago’s Death Valley Jim Scott on May 14, 1914, but Washington got a couple hits in the 10th. However, neither of these games complies with the current “official” definition of a no-hitter.
This topic came up after the Twins were held without a runner until the ninth inning against Kansas City’s Jorge Lopez at Target Field on September 8, 2018. Max Kepler led off the last of the ninth with a walk to break up the perfect game, and Robbie Grossman followed with a single. Kepler and Grossman were the only two baserunners for the Twins.
There is an event, related to perfect games, that is much rarer than a perfect game, and it has happened three times in Minnesota. What is it? (Answer at the end of this section.)
Five other times the Twins were held without a hit until the bottom of the ninth:
- Ted Bowsfield of Kansas City had his no-hitter broken up by Vic Power with one out, May 11, 1963.
- Dave McNally of Baltimore had his no-hitter broken up by Cesar Tovar with one out, May 15, 1969.
- Bruce Kison of California had his no-hitter broken up by Ken Landreaux with one out, April 23, 1980.
- Jim Slaton of Milwaukee had his no-hitter broken up by Sal Butera with no out, September 5, 1981.
- Eric Bell of Baltimore had his no-hitter broken up by Tom Nieto with no out, May 5, 1987.
Besides Kepler, Randy Bush is the only other Twins player to break up a perfect game in the ninth inning. He did it in the first game of a doubleheader September 28, 1982 with a single off Jim Clancy at Toronto.
Since 1961 (through Lopez’s near miss), 163 no-hitters have been completed through nine innings; 161 have been broken up in the ninth. (Lost in the Ninth)
Answer to above question: Rarer than a perfect game is a perfect game broken up in the ninth inning by something other than a hit. Minnesota has hosted three games in which a perfect game was broken up by a walk in the ninth inning—Jack Kralick in 1962, Scott Baker in 2007, and Lopez in 2018.
Interesting Find
Jim Cox came up with an original newspaper front page from the August 9, 1928 Bayfield County Press, which includes a box score of a game between the Madeline Island Islanders and Superior Great Northern. The acquisition came on a trip to Bayfield, Wisconsin, and a chance meeting with a contractor who had just removed layers of newspapers from under a linoleum floor. If anyone in the chapter would like the front page, contact Jim Cox.
Articles by chapter members:
Anthony Bush has written on Duluth’s Baseball Beginnings on pages 8 to 10 of the Summer 2018 Edition of Rootprints. The issue also contains a story on a Babe Ruth baseball that was donated to the St. Louis County Historical Society.
Boston Red Sox Team Ownership History and New York Yankees Team Ownership History by Dan Levitt and Mark Armour.
Go to Top
The Fix Is in
The Minnesota Opera will be performing The Fix, about the Black Sox scandal, and chief learning officer Jamie Andrews said they will have an event Wednesday, March 6, 2019 for people who will attend the opera to learn more about the story. Jamie welcomes the involvement of the Halsey Hall Chapter and would like to find someone who can speak about the scandal as well as about baseball at that time. Chapter president Tom Flynn will bring this up at the next board of directors meeting.
Go to Top
Historic St. Paul Ballpark Leads to Information on Early Water Supply in City
Note: This article was written for an magazine serving the water works industry and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
Researcher Cary Smith of the Baseball Hall of Fame came up with this map showing an 1890s baseball park in St. Paul.
Cary Smith, a Minnesota native who works at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, discovered that an 1895 ballpark built in St. Paul had showers installed. “I am trying to figure out if by 1895 that was a common thing or a relatively new and high-tech thing,” he asked.
The ballpark was on the northwest corner of Aurora Avenue, one block south of University Avenue, and St. Albans Street, one block west of Dale Street. Fuller Avenue is to the south.
Known as the Dale and Aurora Grounds, the ballpark was built for a new St. Paul minor-league team—owned by managed by Charles Comiskey—that played in the Western League. A few years later the Western League changed its name to the American League and became a major league. However, after the 1899 season, Comiskey moved the St. Paul team to Chicago. The team still exists, as the Chicago White Sox, and Comiskey is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ben Feldman, a project engineer for St. Paul Regional Water Services, looked into the water history of the area and got drawn into a mystery that required gumshoe work worthy of Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, or even Jim Rockford.
Ben Feldman of St. Paul Regional Water Services found this 1895 water permit for the ballpark, signed by John Comiskey, the dad of Charles, who supervised some of the construction.
Feldman found that a water main was installed for Aurora Avenue in 1889 and first thought that the city would have brought the service from near the intersection of St. Albans and Aurora to the grandstand of the ballpark.
However, he could find no record of old services in that location. “There are some abandoned services to the east of the intersection that had potential, but the one closest to the ballpark wasn’t installed until 1921. 1899 is the oldest date of those services, but they don’t quite coincide with the stadium construction date. The 1899 dates are not known for sure, but they all indicated having served the north side of Aurora. Again, not likely the stadium service. There doesn’t appear to ever have been a main installed in St. Albans and remains that way today.”
Feldman referred to a 2004 on-line article (Twin Cities Ballparks) that included a photo of the ballpark being used for curling. “The entire field was flooded, which means they had to be getting water from somewhere. Either they were getting it from a hydrant, a service, or a well. Given there was main in the street at the time, it wouldn’t make sense to have drilled a well. There are only two hydrants nearby—one at the intersection of St. Albans and Aurora and one at St. Albans and Fuller. It didn’t make sense to be dragging a hose across the street on Aurora, so it got me wondering if they were using the Fuller hydrant or possibly had a service off of Fuller.”
The photo above (courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society), of a flooded Dale and Aurora Grounds, led Ben Feldman to the answer of where the water came from.
Below: The water service that supplied the 1890s ballpark is still being used for a duplex on the corner of Fuller and St. Albans.
Feldman found that the main on Fuller was installed in 1891. “There are only two services on Fuller installed prior to 1900. One in 1891 to a house mid-block on the south side and one in 1895 right next to the hydrant at St. Albans and Fuller.”
On top of it all, this service is still being used today by a corner duplex now on the site. “It looks like we have quite a few services in the old neighborhoods that date back to the 1880s. Whether or not you had running water in your home at the time probably had more to do with your financial ability and if the city had the infrastructure in place,” Feldman concluded.
Once started on the history of water supply and St. Paul ballparks, Ben Feldman kept digging and found the original permit for water at Lexington Park, used by the St. Paul Saints from 1897 to 1956. The water installation date was December 10, 1917.
This 1952 photo of Lexington Park, looking to the southeast, shows University Avenue near the bottom (parallel to the third-base line) and Lexington Parkway beyond the left-field fence. A White Castle now stands at the corner of University and Lexington. Feldman says the location of the service was approximately at what is now the south edge of the White Castle driveway off of Lexington Parkway. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.
Go to Top
Calendar
September 15—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, Bunny’s, Minneapolis, 9:00 a.m.
October 6—Book Club, Barnes & Noble, Har Mar Mall, Roseville, 9:30 a.m., The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream by Jim Collins.
October 22—Research Committee meeting, 7:00 p.m., Brookdale Library. For more information, contact Brenda Himrich, 651-415-0791, or Sarah Johnson.
November 3—Fall Chapter Meeting, 9:00 a.m, Faith Mennonite Church, Minneapolis. For more information, contact Howard Luloff, 952-922-5036.
November 10—Fred Souba Hot Stove League Saturday Morning, Bunny’s, Minneapolis, 9:00 a.m.
Go to Top
Board of Directors 2018-2019
President—Tom Flynn
Vice President—Frank Kadwell
Secretary—Dave Lande
Treasurer—Jerry Janzen
Jim Cox
Bob Komoroski
Hans Van Slooten
Membership Committee Chair—Hans Van Slooten
Events Committee Chair—Howard Luloff
Research Committee Chairs—Brenda Himrich and Sarah Johnson
The Holy Cow! Editor—Stew Thornley
Webmaster—John Gregory
Ass. Webmasters—Stew Thornley and Frank Kadwell
Social Media Director—Tom Flynn
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
Go to Top
Resources
Go to Top
