SABR and baseball topics included in this issue:

§        Joint Meeting on Saturday, May 4^th at Lake Elsinore Diamond

§        Summer Regional Meeting on Saturday, July 20^th at Qualcomm Stadium

§        PCL Historical Society Meeting Re-cap

§        “The Fenway Project”

§        Meet John Zajc, SABR’s New Acting Executive Director

§        San Diego SABR Baseball Research Center (BRC) & “Hit a Home Run @ Your Library”

§        Library of Congress Baseball Web Sites

§        PCL Padres Hall of Fame…Lane Field Marker

§        The San Diego Padres Encyclopedia

 

 

A joint meeting with the Los Angeles Allan Roth Chapter has been scheduled at the Lake Elsinore Diamond ballpark, the home of the Lake Elsinore Storm:

§        Saturday, May 4^th

§        2:00 p.m. – meeting starts

§        After the meeting, we will be having an all-you-can-eat barbecue (hamburger, hot dogs and chicken)

§        7:05 p.m. -- California League game between the San Diego Padres Class A affiliate, Lake Elsinore Storm, and Tampa Bay’s affiliate, Bakersfield Blaze.

 

The meeting line up so far:

§        Joe Naiman – “The History of Professional Baseball in Lake Elsinore”

§        Bob Timmermann – “The Padres/Dodgers ‘Rivalry’ "

§        Raffle of a large historic baseball related photograph

§        Trivia Quiz

§        A visit with some of the on-field management of the Lake Elsinore Storm (invited: George Hendrick, Rob Deer, and Mike Harkey).

 

The payment details for this joint meeting are as follows:

§        Adults ($17) and children under 8 ($15) (this amount covers dinner and the evening’s game)

§        Payment is required by April 20, 2002

§        Make checks payable to:

Stephen Roney
19 Pleasanton Lane
Ladera Ranch, CA 92694

(949) 481-7633

sroney@acm.org

 

Directions to the Lake Elsinore Diamond:

            From I-15, take Railroad Canyon Road/Diamond Drive exit.  Head west on Diamond drive for approximately 1 mile and you can’t miss it.   

www.stormbaseball.com          909-245-4487

 

 

Our Chapter’s traditional summer regional meeting will held again at the Qualcomm Stadium Press Box:

§        Saturday, July 20th

§        9:30 a.m. until about 1:00 p.m.

Members of the Arizona Flame Delhi Chapter and Los Angeles Allan Roth Chapter have been invited.  The Arizona Diamondbacks will be in town that evening so we expect that some of our out town SABR members will join us.

 

The program is not set yet, but we have confirmation from Charles Harrington Elster, co-host of the KPBS show “A Way with Words,” that he will attend and speak on the subject of “The Language of Baseball.”  We also expect that our 1^st annual Boynton Baseball Research Award student winner will attend and present his/her paper.  Let us know of any research you have that might be of interest for a presentation.

 

More will follow on the meeting details as we get closer.

By the way, the award contest is still open (to San Diego area high school students) until April 12, 2002. The contact person for questions and to send the report is:

A. Newton, e-mail address:  twsdbaseball@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Largely through the efforts of Ted Williams Chapter member Bill Swank and LA Roth Chapter member (and Society founder) Dick Beverage, the PCL Historical Society’s meeting in San Diego on February 23^rd was a success.  Several hundred people attended the meeting held at the Hall of Champions.  Union-Tribune sports writer Jerry Magee was in attendance and authored an article about the meeting.  Numerous former players were there, too:

Dick Adams          Rugger Ardizoia             Ray Boone            Charlie Brown

Earle Brucker        Billy Capps                  Pete Coscarart      Cliff Dapper

Dick Faber           Bill Glynn                    Rod Graber          Swede Jensen

Ted Kubiak          Gene Leek                   Noel Mickelsen      Irv Noren

Fred Peltz           Rudy Regalado              Herm Reich          Norm Sherry

Charlie Strada       Max West                   Skip Wills

 

Max West, in an informal discussion with some Ted Williams Chapter members at the meeting, went out of his way to express his sincere appreciation for being recognized by the Chapter as one of the 26 Most Influential Individuals in San Diego Baseball during the last century.

 

Have you made plans to attend this year’s SABR National Convention in Boston, June 26-30?  If not, read on…”The Fenway Project” might be the incentive you are looking for.  The following is from Bill Nowlin who is heading up the Project:

The idea for this project grew out of an excellent publication by the Ted Williams Chapter (San Diego) where 8 chapter members attended the May 13, 1998 Padres home game and published a report viewing the game from many angles. Their report was a chapter publication entitled Facets of the Diamond. This is a good example of one research idea fostering another. Everyone who sees a ballgame inevitably sees it differently, because we each have our own unique experiences and perceptions.  A baseball game as seen and reported by 600 fans? That is the goal of the "Fenway Project."   On Friday evening June 28, 2002 upwards of 600 members of SABR will plan to attend the scheduled Red Sox/Braves game at Fenway Park as one of the activities of SABR's 32nd annual convention.  With the participation of many of those, the "Fenway Project" will attempt to present the most comprehensive view of a baseball game ever produced.   Each and every member of SABR is encouraged to attend the game - with scorecard, notebook and any sort of recording device you might care to use at the ready.  Enjoy the game, yes, but share with us your thoughts and observations on the game.   Bill Nowlin, author of the book Fenway Saved and the "Fenway Lives" study for the Library of Congress, will serve as editor for the final report.  He envisions a book - and that even more material can be made available on the SABR website.  The local convention committee for SABRBoston2002 encourages conventioneers to participate as part of SABR32's approach to promoting baseball research.   Bill would like to hear from anyone who is intrigued with the idea and feels they might like to contribute.  His hope will be that a number of people will focus on areas of particular interest to them, while at least a few will offer oversights of the game as a whole.  Everyone who participates could find himself or herself a "published author."  If you are interested in learning more about how you could participate in this project, please contact Bill directly via e-mail at BillN@ROUNDER.COM.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) announced the promotion of John M. Zajc, Jr. to the position of Acting Executive Director, succeeding George Case III. Zajc joined SABR, in June of 1990.

 

In 1995 John was promoted to Manager of Membership Services, where he focused on servicing and growing the membership, developing alternative sources of revenue through membership annual giving initiatives, facilitating SABR chapter communications and editing The SABR Bulletin. For seven months in 2000, he stepped in as Acting Executive Director while the organization undertook an executive search for a permanent director. In addition to assuming the day-to-day management responsibilities of SABR, Zajc will work closely with the SABR Board as it engages in a comprehensive strategic planning process to determine the needs and challenges facing the organization.

 

"John was the obvious choice for the position," said SABR President Claudia Perry. "His thoughtfulness and knowledge of what SABR is and his knack for strategic thinking are assets the Society can benefit from." Zajc holds a bachelor's degree in English from Ohio Northern University and has completed master's degree coursework in English with a concentration in writing at Cleveland State University. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers, and has served as Trustee & Publications Committee Chair for Cleveland Opportunities to End Hunger (COEH).

 

 

Taking over for Brenda Wegener, our Chapter’s new liaison with the City of San Diego Central Library is Vic Cardell, Public Services Librarian (619-236-5812, vcardell@sandiego.gov). 

 

Vic has indicated that a new national program between the American Library Association and Major League Baseball -- called “Hit a Home Run @ your Library” -- will begin in May 2002 coincident with the first-ever “National Baseball Literacy Day.”  We are planning to promote the program and tie it in with our Baseball Research Center, now entering its 2^nd year.

 

 

Check this out…the Library of Congress has many Web sites about baseball (http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/perform/baseballlinks.html has the complete list).  As a part of their American Memory project, though, they created a searchable database called “Baseball Cards, 1887-1914.”  That Web address is http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bbhtml/.

 

 

PCL Padres Hall of Fame

Little known to most of us, in 1965 the San Diego Baseball Hall of Fame was established to recognize the outstanding performances of former PCL Padres players and executives.  The local Hall of Fame selection committee included these six individuals:

Mil Chipp, Union-Tribune Publishing Co.                    Earl Keller, San Diego Tribune

Jack Murphy, San Diego Union                    Wes Sharp, San Diego Police Chief

Harry Douglas, Businessman                         Al Schuss, Sportscaster

 

The fourth and last class was elected in 1968, the last year of minor league baseball in San Diego.  Here is the PCL Padres Hall of Fame:

Class of 1965

Jim (Tiny) Chaplin (P, 1937-38)                   Dom Dallassandro (OF, 1938-39)

Luke Easter (1B, 1949,54)                            Jack Graham (1B-OF, 1948, 50-52)

Max West (1B-OF, 1947, 49-50)

Class of 1966

Les Cook (C-Trainer, 1936-68)                     Bobby Doerr (2B, 1936)

Steve Mesner (Inf, 1940, 48-49)                Ted Williams (OF, 1936-37)

Class of 1967

Minnie Minoso (OF, 1949-50)                       Rupert Thompson (OF, 1937, 44-46)

Class of 1968

Cedric Durst (OF-Mgr, 1936-43)                Earl Rapp (OF, 1953-57)

Frank Shellenback (P-Mgr, 1936-38)          Harry Simpson (OF, 1950, 60-61)

Bill Lane (owner, 1936-38)                           Eddie Leishman (GM, 1961-68)

C. Arnholt Smith (owner, 1955-68) Bill Starr (C, 1937-39, owner 1945-56)

 

So we don’t lose this baseball heritage in San Diego, perhaps we can resurrect this Hall of Fame in the new Padres East Village ballpark!?  Any other thoughts?

 

Lane Field Marker

Another project that our Chapter is working on is to place a marker designating the site where the original Padres played in downtown San Diego: Lane Field.  We are working with the City and Port District to make this happen.  Chapter member Ron Andreassi is heading up efforts to come up with an appropriate marker and location.

 

 

Chapter member, Joe Naiman, along with David Porter (Professor of History at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa), have combined to author a new book on the history of the National League Padres called The San Diego Padres Encyclopedia. 

 

Quoting from the USA Today Baseball Weekly of March 20-26, 2002 which included it in its list of the best books this season, “What catches the eye about this title is that such a book exists at all.”  However, the review notes that the authors “have catalogued many of San Diego’s sunnier moments, including the team’s pennant-winning seasons of 1984 and ’98.”  It will be available in bookstores this spring, as well as via Amazon and Barnes & Noble web sites.  Joe, and perhaps David, will also be at our July 20^th regional meeting to discuss the book.