Welcome to the 2019 Nine Baseball Conference. As you can see from the presentations listed below, this year’s conference promises to be as lively and dynamic as ever. Former White Sox organist Nancy Faust will join us for our kickoff session; Nancy will play her “greatest hits” and talk about her career with the White Sox. Our Saturday night banquet will feature our keynote speaker, Curt Smith, whose latest book The Presidents and the Pastime was published last year. Curt will discuss, among other topics, the state of the game. Furthermore, two voting members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Barry Bloom and Tony DeMarco, will join us for an evening discussion on the history and future of the Hall. We are also pleased to announce that Jane Leavy will join us to accept the 2019 Seymour Medal. We look forward to seeing familiar faces–and many new ones–for what promises to be a memorable four days of baseball talk in the Valley of the Sun.
Willie Steele, Co-Chair
Lipscomb University
David Pegram, Co-Chair
Paradise Valley Community College
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6
4:30-7:15 p.m. Registration
6:00-7:15 p.m. Cash Bar on the Galleria Patio
7:15-7:30 p.m. Welcome Emcee Steve Gietschier, Lindenwood University
7:30-9:00 p.m. THE CY SEYMOUR 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.
9:00 p.m. This evening, and every evening, informal baseball discussions continue in the hotel’s Kachina Lounge
THURSDAY, MARCH 7
8:00-8:20 a.m. Coffee
8:20-8:30 a.m. Opening: Steve Gietschier
8:30-9:50 a.m. THE ERNEST LAWRENCE THAYER SESSION
Chair: Gary Gershman
Allison R. Levin, “A Glimpse Inside?: The Rhetoric of Player-Selected Walk-up Music”
Jim Gates, “Cardboard Culture: On the Origins of the Great American Baseball Card”
Roberta Newman, “ ‘From the Land of the Sky-blue Waters’: A Bear, Beer, and Baseball”
9:50-10:00 a.m. Coffee
10:00-11:50 a.m. THE PAT JORDAN SESSION
Chair: Jean Ardell
Mitchell J. Nathanson, “From ‘Tell-Some’ to ‘Tell-All’: How We Went from Brosnan to Bouton”
Daniel Anderson, “ ‘The way it should be’: Re-examining Hemingway and Baseball, Modernism and Sports
David Block, “Jane Austen’s Baseball Dynasty”
Ron Briley, “Philip Roth, Trick E. Dixon, and Curt Flood: Baseball as Satire in the Tradition of Jonathan Swift”
1:10 p.m. Field Research: Cleveland Indians vs. Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
Dinner – On Your Own
7:30-9:00 p.m. THE HAROLD BAINES SESSION
Chair: Willie Steele
Lindsay Bell, “Baffling Ballots: The Perplexing First Ten Yeats of Hall of Fame Voting”
Respondents—Steve Gietschier, Lindenwood University, former BBWAA voter; Barry Bloom, BBWAA voter since 1992; Tony DeMarco, BBWAA voter since 1998
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
8:30-9:50 a.m. THE MOSES FLEETWOOD WALKER SESSION
Chair: Allison Levin
Taylor Braun, “Sliding Safely into Home: Father and Son Relationships in Baseball Films from 1984-1994”
Shlomo Weinish, “From Facilitators to Leaders: The Next Stage of Latino Ball Players”
John Harney, “East Asian Baseball Culture in Historical Context”
9:50-10:10 a.m. Coffee
10:10-11:30 a.m. THE MANNY SANGUILLEN SESSION
Chair: Mitchell Nathanson
Steve Treder, “1946: Major League Baseball’s 1491”
Steve Gietschier, “Let’s Play Fantasy Baseball, World War II Style: The War Bond League of 1943”
George Skornickel, “Blue, Gray and Baseball”
12-2:00 p.m. Lunch: On Your Own or join Jean Ardell at noon on the Milagros patio for a Dutch-treat lunch and conversation about the projects we are working on. Everyone at the conference—presenters and their friends, partners, spouses, and relatives – is welcome to attend
2:00-3:20 p.m. THE MEL ALLEN SESSION
Chair: Taylor Braun
Dan Levitt, “They Deserved Each Other: The Tempestuous New York Giants Ownership of Charles Stoneham, John McGraw, and Frank McQuade”
Jason Cannon, “ ‘In Blaze of Glory’: Charles Webb Murphy’s Redemptive Legacy
Robert F. Garratt, “Kenesaw Mountain Landis and the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”
3:20-3:35 p.m. Break
3:35–5:25 p.m. THE EFFA MANLEY SESSION
Chair: Lisa Alexander
Al Piacente, “Yippee! I didn’t choke!: What Steve Sax, Chuck Knoblauch, Mackey Sasser, et al, tell us about sport performance”
Robert V. Bellamy and James R. Walker, “Enjoy Your Beer & Kettle Corn: It’s Spring Training and the Games Don’t Matter, Right?”
Tyler Fleming, “Who/What Were the Zulu Cannibal Giants?: Minstrelsy, Clowning, and the Use of Stereotypes of Africa within Negro Leagues Baseball”
Ed Edmonds, “Roy Face’s Incredible 1959 Season”
Dinner – On Your own
Optional activity: Marcia Huhn is organizing a dinner at the Café of the Desert Botanical Gardens. Please contact her at 614 296-6340 or mdhuhn@insight.rr.com if you would like to join us. Sign-up sheet is at the Registration Table—Seating maximum is 20.
SATURDAY, MARCH 9
8:30-9:50 a.m. THE EDDIE GAEDEL SESSION
Chair: Paul Hensler
Lee Lowenfish, “Major League Baseball and College Summer Leagues: Jack Horenberger, Bill Enos, and Two Tales of Pro-Amateur Cooperation from the 1960s and the 1980s”
Stephanie Liscio, “ ‘The Finest Site for a Stadium in this Country’: The Braves Leave Milwaukee for Atlanta”
Lee C. Kluck, “ ‘What About Harry Dalton?: The Role of Harry Dalton in the Success of the Baltimore Orioles 1960-1971”
9:50–10:00 a.m. Coffee
10:00-11:50 a.m. THE TONI STONE SESSION
Chair: Ed Edmonds
Lynn R. Miller , “Your Success Story: An Innovative Scaling of Major and Minor League Baseball Community Involvement to Enhance Public Perception and Positively Impact Youth”
Judith R. Hiltner and James R. Walker, “Red Barber: Voice of a Century”
Kevin A. Johnson and Jennifer J. Asenas, “The First Amendment and Baseball”
Scott D. Peterson, “Lardner’s Other Bushers: The Probelmatic Bildungs Quests of Speed Perkins, Skull Scoville, and ‘The Yellow Kid’”
1:05 p.m. Field Research: Milwaukee Brewers vs. Oakland Athletics at Hohokam Park
5:00 p.m. THE BILL KIRWIN SESSION
5:00-6:00 p.m. Cash Bar on the Galleria Patio (Bar will remain open until 7:00 p.m.)
6:15 p.m. Banquet in Galleria Ballroom
The 2019 Society for American Baseball Research’s Seymour Medal Award Presentation to Jane Leavy, for The Big Fella
Banquet
Keynote Speaker: Curt Smith
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. His latest book, titled The Presidents and the Pastime, was released in 2018. Smith served as speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and is now a senior lecturer of English at the University of Rochester.