SAN DIEGO TED WILLIAMS SABR CHAPTER

http://sandiego.sabr.org

March 23, 2003 e-NEWS, Issue No. 10

** REMINDER – TWO CHAPTER EVENTS COMING UP NEXT WEEK-END**

§ “The Kid” from San Diego: A Celebration of Ted Williams

Saturday, March 29^th

· Lane Field Plaque Dedication

Sunday, March 30^th

“’THE KID’ FROM SAN DIEGO:

A CELEBRATION OF TED WILLIAMS”

Date: Saturday, March 29, 2003

Place: San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, lower level theatre

Time: 9:00 a.m. doors open…9:30 a.m. program starts. The multi-faceted program will continue into the afternoon and will end between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. There will be a break for lunch and it will be on your own. You can eat at the Hall’s cafeteria or bring your own “brown bag” and make use of the Park’s picnic facilities.

Admission: Free

This program is one you won’t want to miss. We will have four panels, two before lunch and two after, plus John B. Holway has been added to the program after the lunch break. Here is a summary of the program:

· “Ted’s Family and Growing Up in San Diego” will be moderated by Bill Nowlin, and include Jay Walker, Dennis Donley, Bob Breitbard, Les Cassie, and Joe Villarino.

· “ ‘The Kid’ – A Variety of Views” will be moderated by Andy Strasberg, and include Fred Rodgers, Ray Boone, Jack Harshman, and Max West.

· “Ted’s Minor League Career” will be moderated by Bill Swank, and include Frank Myers, Dan Boyle, and James D. Smith III.

· “Ted’s Other Pursuits” will be moderated by David Kinney, and include Todd Anton, John Bolthouse, Carlos Bauer, Andy Strasberg, and Roger Engle.

· “The Unknown Ted” will be presented by John Holway. Some of the stories you may never have heard, based on 45 years of interviewing Ted, his teammates, and almost every pitcher who faced him in that wonderful season of 1941, when all hell broke loose around the world. The All Star homer – did he call it? Will we ever see another .400 hitter? – Ted’s surprising answer. And a new statistical study asks: Who was the greatest – Ted, Cobb, Ruth, Mays, Aaron, McGwire, Bonds, or Josh Gibson? A controversial conclusion.

Bill Nowlin, author of the book Pursuit of Perfection, Ted Williams, will be doing a book signing during lunch. In addition, we will have videos and special exhibits on display...and our trivia contest, silent auction and raffle. So, you can see we have a full day of interesting things to see and hear…all related to ‘The Kid’ from San Diego!

Post-event, we will be publishing a summary of the program. Included will be the papers presented on Saturday and a number that have been received from authors who could not attend. We expect that there will be 12 to 15 papers in the final volume.

LANE FIELD HISTORICAL PLAQUE UNVEILING

Date: Sunday, March 30, 2003

Place: At the site of Lane Field…the northwest corner of Broadway and Pacific Highway in Centre City San Diego (adjacent to where the Lane Field right field corner was located)

Time: 12 noon

Join us for the dedication ceremony on the day following our regional meeting. With the assistance of the San Diego Unified Port District, and contributions from many of you, the plaque is ready for unveiling. Sunday, March 30^th is one day before the 67^th anniversary of the first professional ballgame in San Diego…March 31, 1936.

Lane Field

Home of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres

1936-1957

· Named after Bill “Hardrock” Lane, the PCL San Diego Padres 1^st owner

· Seating Capacity – 9,000 (+/-1,000!)

· Distances from home plate – to 1^st row of box seats, 12 ft.;

to 1^st base, 87 ft. (for at least the 1^st several years!)

· 1^st Padres win, March 31, 1936, winning pitcher Herm “Old Folks” Pillette

· 1^st Padres home run hit - April 10, 1936 (1B Ray Jacobs)

· 1^st night game – July 30, 1936

· Ted Williams 1^st at bat – June 27, 1936 (struck out)

· 1^st wedding at home plate – August 27, 1936 (SS George Myatt)

· Roof installed - 1937

· Last game played – September 8, 1957; Grandstands disassembled – March 1958