§
Baseball Will Be Back in San Diego in a Big
Way on March 29-31
§
“ ‘The Kid’ from San Diego”—Our Next
Regional Meeting Set for Saturday, March 29th
§
PCL Padres Lane Field Historical Marker
Project—Unveiling on March 30th
§
Chapter Web Site Goes
On-Line--http://sandiego.sabr.org
§
Baseball Research Center-Library--New
Acquisition
§
Whitey Wietlemann Padres Box Score Scrapbook
Project—COMPLETE!
§
Baseball Reliquary Exhibit Set for August
2003
§
2nd Annual Boynton Baseball
Research Award—Papers Invited
§
Interested in “Steering” Chapter Activities?
BASEBALL
WILL BE BACK IN SAN DIEGO
IN
A BIG WAY ON
MARCH 29-31, 2003!
First off, we have our regional meeting set for Saturday, March 29, 2003 that will focus on “The Kid”! (More on that below.) Then, on Sunday, March 30th we will unveil our Lane Field historical plaque. (More on that later, too!) Finally, to cap off events, there is Opening Day for the Padres on Monday, March 31st. (OK…we don’t have anything to do with Opening Day but it sure is a nice way to cap off the weekend of baseball in San Diego!)
Our Next Regional Meeting
“
’THE KID’ FROM SAN DIEGO:
A
CELEBRATION OF TED WILLIAMS”
MARCH 29th
Date: Saturday, March 29, 2003
Place: The San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, lower level theater
Time: 9:00 a.m. doors open and 9:30 a.m. program starts…the multi-faceted program will go into the afternoon and tentatively end around 3:00 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: SABR and Hall of Champions members will be admitted free of charge. No RSVPs are required but Hall members are requested to bring their Member ID cards. All others will pay the standard $6.00 daily fee to enter the Hall.
The program is taking shape and will be one you don’t want to miss. Relatives, former ballplayers, friends, neighborhood pals, researchers, and authors will all be part of the program. Contributors already on tap for the program include: Dan Boyle, Dennis Donley, Roger Engle, Frank Myers, Bill Nowlin, Fred Rodgers, James D.Smith III, Andy Strasberg, Bill Swank, and Jay Walker.
We are still interested in hearing from any member with an interest in contributing a paper and/or presentation. Let Tom Larwin know if you have any interest at Lar.11@cox.net.
PCL
PADRES LANE FIELD
HISTORICAL
MARKER PROJECT UNVEILING
MARCH 30th
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2003
Place: 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
Through the efforts of Ron Andreassi the plaque is in manufacture. And, thanks to the Unified Port District and its Executive Director, Bruce Hollingsworth, we have their approval for use of a small piece of property for its installation. The first game played by the Pacific Coast League (PCL) Padres was on March 31, 1936, so we will have the plaque in place for the 67th anniversary of that first professional ballgame in San Diego.
Be sure and place this date and time on your calendar and join us for the unveiling and a recollection of baseball history. Light refreshments will also be served.
In our last e-News we mentioned that we were $850 away from our goal of being able to afford the manufacture of the plaque. Subsequently we have received several more donations and are now $538 short. We could still use your help…if you would like to add your personal contribution to help complete this project then send your donation (any amount will help) payable to “SD SABR” and mail to:
San Diego Ted Williams SABR, 3104 Fourth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103
Through the efforts
of Vic Cardell we have initiated a
chapter web site: http://sandiego.sabr.org. Use the web site for keeping up with Chapter
activities, past projects, and upcoming events. We will also continue to provide some useful links to other
baseball research and information sites.
All of our Chapter’s e-News
are on the site. For improvements and
updates, Darren Munk (darrenmunk@hotmail.com) has agreed to
serve as our Chapter’s webmaster. So,
here is another way to receive your baseball “fix” during the off season. Try it out, and let us know of any other
ideas you have for improvements!
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY
SAN DIEGO SABR BASEBALL RESEARCH CENTER (BRC) --
NEW ACQUISITIONS
The BRC has acquired a research treasure: on a CD-ROM are nearly 200 pages of what is generally acknowledged to be the first historical baseball reference on baseball that was ever published. The book, entitled American Pastimes, was published in 1866 and authored by Charles Peverelly. Past President Fred Rodgers has a copy of the book and donated the CD-ROM to the BRC for our research use. In the book, the history of baseball’s earliest organized clubs is documented, including a listing of all team officers and the results of games played from the date of their inception through 1866. The early rules and field layouts are also described.
WHITEY WIETELMANN
PADRES BOX SCORE SCRAPBOOK PROJECT
***COMPLETE!***
On January 14,
2003, 34 Whitey Wietelmann Padres Box Score Scrapbooks were
officially transmitted to the San Diego Public Library and our San Diego SABR
Baseball Research Center (BRC). A big thanks goes out to Bill Swank who
laminated all the pages and made new covers for the collection. Bob Dreher
provided most of the Padres programs used for the covers. Other members pitched in to help Bill with
box scores from 1994 through 2000: Bob Boynton, Andy Aguinaldo, Art
Kaliel and Phil White. Bill
prepared this summary of the event at the Library on the 14th.
Doc Mattei, Jerry Gross,
Broderick Perkins and Randy Jones all appeared and were in rare form. It
couldn't have gone better had it been scripted. Off the cuff and
hilarious. They had 'em rolling on the floor!
I explained the collection
and thanked those SABR members who helped with the missing years (1994-2000)
and the players who contributed financially to offset the cost of
lamination.
The players began sharing
memories of Whitey. My wife was right when she observed there had
never been a funeral or service for Whitey. This was their way of paying
tribute to their grouchy old coach and friend.
Randy described
Whitey's ball cleaning machine and told how the hitters complained about
the "dead balls" during BP. He credited Whitey with being one
of the first to chart pitches and where balls went after they were hit.
Whitey was a great innovator.
He explained that
Wednesdays were always Chili Day and the other team would try to visit the
Padres clubhouse. Whitey would never give Randy the recipe.
Broderick thinks the
secret ingredient was Whitey's sweat! Perk and Randy swapped humorous
comments about Jerry Coleman's tenure as the Padres skipper.
Doc said he couldn't
believe that Randy would show up at any event. Randy came back saying he
wouldn't have missed this presentation because he remembers watching Whitey
painstakingly cut and tape box scores every day in the clubhouse. Doc
told about flying back to Philadelphia to tape Randy's toe for the 1976
All-Star Game. He was constantly giving the needle as the players were talking.
It was hilarious.
I would estimate 40 people
were in attendance which was quite surprising considering the lack
of publicity the event received. Apparently Padres
fans, at the library for other reasons, heard
about the event and wandered in.
Randy teased Doc about
rubbing down his right arm before his first game. Doc admitted to wrapping a
ballplayer's leg with tape. When the player went to get up, his leg was
taped to the leg extension from the table.
Jerry told the story about
how Whitey had his pinky almost knocked off while throwing batting practice for
the Braves. Before the doctor arrived, Whitey had cut it off with a
scissors. He was a tough old bird! Jerry also talked about the
thrill of broadcasting the early Padres games with his hero, Duke Snyder.
He made a similar scrapbook of Brooklyn Dodger box scores when he was a
boy. I was appreciative of his kind words about my efforts to save and
preserve the collection.
We all expressed our
fondness for Whitey. I told how I'd take my son when I'd go to see him
because Whitey was always good to kids.
Tim Scheidt, the founder
of Fantasy Baseball, a math program at the Hall of Champions, said that Bob
Birdsell, a teacher at Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School in Chula Vista
will have his students make the 2003 Box Score Scrapbook. How fitting it
will be for kids to maintain the Wietelmann collection. Whitey would
have liked that. However, we all agreed that even if Whitey was
alive, he wouldn't have attended today's event. He would been happy knowing
that kids will keep his project alive.
The Library’s Director,
Anna Tatar, enthusiastically accepted the collection. Even my wife
agreed the books looked good. She stays out of my stuff and had only
seen 34 black and white spines on the book shelf.
The front and back covers
are from Padre programs and baseball cards. They are very colorful and
the library had them all on display standing on their sides. Hey, I was impressed! I had never seen them on display either.
Thanks to those SABR who
helped. I couldn't have done it without
you...
And, thank you Bill,
for running with the idea and completing this wonderful, lasting tribute to
Whitey.
BASEBALL RELIQUARY
EXHIBIT SET FOR AUGUST 2003
Jay Walker has been
working with Terry Cannon, head of the Baseball Reliquary (www.baseballreliquary.org), to set up an
exhibit of baseball artifacts and memorabilia from the Reliquary's permanent
collection. The date has been set for
August 3-29, 2003 at the Central San Diego Public Library (where incidentally
our San Diego SABR Baseball Research Center is housed). All of the Library's display cases will be
used to display the many items from the Reliquary, along with a few items from
our local SABR members. The Reliquary
is the home of the “Shrine of the Eternals,” honoring great names from the past
who have made a significant cultural contribution to baseball.
As a
special feature, on Sunday, August 17, 2003, at 2:30 p.m. the Reliquary will
put on a 1-hour special program at the Library that will include:
·
A slide show and video tape of unique baseball items and past
Reliquary events, and
·
Anne Oncken performing old-time baseball songs on the piano.
Flyers for
the August Library exhibit will be distributed at our regional chapter meeting
on March 29th. If you're unable to
attend but would like to receive an exhibit flyer anyway, please respond by
return e-mail.
2nd ANNUAL
BOYNTON BASEBALL RESEARCH
AWARDS --
PAPERS INVITED
Do you know of some
high school student with an interest in baseball? Perhaps you have a high school student in your family?
Named after one of our Chapter’s founding
members, Bob Boynton, San Diego
County high school students (grades 9-12) are invited to submit baseball
research essays for the 2003 Boynton Baseball Research Awards. The first prize award is a cash honorarium
of $250. A $100 cash honorarium will be awarded for second prize. The award is sponsored by our Chapter and
seeks to recognize excellence in academic research on the subject of baseball.
The research may cover any topic on the
subject of baseball using a wide variety of research methods. Some possible approaches are:
o
Historical - research/discussion of
baseball in a particular time period or place
o
Biographical - the life of a
particular player, manager or an executive and the impact they had
o
Point
of View -
discussion or defense of a particular opinion, topic or theme with supporting
arguments
o
Statistical - development and
analysis of measures to evaluate player or team performance
o
Game
strategy
- theory, analysis or evaluation of how the game is played
Topics may include, but are certainly not
limited to the following:
o
The Business Side of
Baseball
o
Ballparks
o
Specific Time Periods
o
Specific Leagues
o
Specific
Teams/Cities
o
International Baseball
o
Minor Leagues
o
Statistical
Analysis
o
Umpires and Rules
o
Women and Baseball
o
Baseball and the Arts
Examples
of appropriate research sources are:
o
Primary sources:
original documentation such as correspondence, telephone conversations,
eyewitness accounts, oral testimonies, official documents
o
Secondary sources:
books, magazines, encyclopedias, Internet sites, audio recordings, video
recordings
o
Interviews using
first-hand and/or second-hand information
The
judging criteria for awarding the first and second prizes are:
o
Depth of research and
documentation
o
Well-written
presentation with clarity of thought
o
Factual accuracy,
organization
o
New contributions,
innovations or insights to the body of knowledge of baseball or baseball
statistics
o
Spelling and grammar
It is suggested that
a high school teacher or administrator supervise the research. The prize winner will be invited to present
their research at one of our regional chapter meetings.
The academic
research shall be completed and the report submitted to the Awards Committee by
April 10, 2003. The suggested length for the report should
be 1500 to 3000 words, excluding notes and bibliography. It must be submitted in hard copy,
double-spaced in 12-point font on 8.5” x 11” plain white paper. The report should also be submitted on a
3.5-inch disk.
For additional
questions and mailing information, contact:
A Newton, e-mail address: twsdbaseball@yahoo.com
INTERESTED IN “STEERING”
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES?