WELCOME

Each March, scholars and fans from around the world come to Arizona to share their passion for the game of baseball. The NINE Conference is a multi-disciplinary academic conference, featuring presentations on a wide range of topics, including history, analytics, law, media analysis, literature, architecture, cultural studies, rhetoric, and more. Please join us for this one-of-a-kind event, in the midst of Cactus League Spring Training.

THE 2019 NINE BASEBALL CONFERENCE

MARCH 6-9 HILTON DOUBLETREE RESORT

TEMPE, ARIZONA

REGISTRATION

HOTEL RESERVATIONS

2019 CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Lead-off Session: an Evening with Nancy Faust

For 40 years, Nancy Faust entertained White Sox fans, as the organist at Comiskey Park (both old and new, later known as US Cellular Field). Faust popularized the use of contemporary music, particularly “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” when opposing pitchers left the game. Faust worked closely with Bill Veeck and Harry Caray, and she has earned a number of accolades and honors. Sports Illustrated described her as baseball’s “Most Valuable Organist.” In 2018, she was inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals by the Baseball Reliquary.

Keynote speaker: Curt Smith, author of The Presidents and the Pastime.

Curt Smith is the author of seventeen books, including Voices of The Game, a history of baseball broadcasting, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story, and Mercy! A Celebration of Fenway Park’s Centennial.  Smith served as speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and is now a senior lecturer of English at the University of Rochester.