Symposium

Proposals for papers are invited from all disciplines and on all topics. Papers on baseball as baseball are not encouraged. Submission is by abstract (be sure to include complete contact information). Abstracts should be narrative, limited to one type-written page. All presentations should be designed to fit into a 20-minute panel segment. The deadline for submission is December 31, 2022. Please contact Cassidy Lent for a submission form!

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Pre-Conference Workshop (11:00am to 12:00pm)

Who Was That Masked Man? - The Value of the Symposium Experience

Paul Hensler (Freelance Writer)
Jim Gates (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

Keynote Session (1:00pm to 2:00pm)

Moderator: Bill Simons (State University of New York – Oneonta)

How the Negro Leagues Changed the Game and America too!
Bob Kendrick (Negro Leagues Baseball Museum)

Concurrent Session 1: Stats, Innovation, and Controversy (2:15pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: Mark Altschuler (Bergen Community College)

A Statistical Analysis of the Infield Shift in Major League Baseball
James Clark (Southern Utah University)
Benjamin Funk (Southern Utah University)

The Rise of the "Multi-Player"
Wayne Patterson (Howard University)

The Pine Tar Incident - The Missing Backstory
Dan Levitt (Independent Author)

Concurrent Session 2: What Is and What Could Have Been (2:15pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: David Krell (Elysian Fields Chapter, Society for American Baseball Research)

Baseball Team Cardigans: The Intersection of the National Game and Knitting in the Early Twentieth Century
Gabrielle Augustine (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

Hits and misses: Patents, innovation, and discovering how not to make a baseball
Ted Curtis (Lynn University)

A Nod to Six-man Baseball, and What Might Have Been
Kevin Warneke (University of Nebraska - Omaha)

Concurrent Session 3: Baseball on Both Sides of the Color Line (3:45pm to 5:00pm)

Moderator: Tom Hogle (State University of New York – Morrisville)

Peep-hole in the Outfield Fence: "Blackball" Players Teach U.S. History
David Jepsen (University of Iowa)

Bluff City, Black Diamonds: The Memphis Red Sox, Black Owned & Operated
Keith Wood (Christian Brothers High School)

Concurrent Session 4: Baseball Literature – Fiction and Biography (3:45pm to 5:00pm)

Moderator: Brian Carroll (Berry College)

The Patterns Behind the Plots (notes on short form baseball literature)
Kenneth Sammond (Fairleigh Dickinson University)

Inspiring Casey at the Bat
Robert S. Brown (Asnuntuck Community College)

Almost Great Ballplayers and the Possibilities of Biography: The Example of Felipe Alou and Others
John Scanlan (Providence College)

Evening Session (7:00pm to 8:30pm)

Moderator: Cassidy Lent (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

Behind The Scenes At The Antiques Roadshow – Valuing the 1871-1872 Red Stockings Archive For $1,000,000
Leila Dunbar (Leila Dunbar Appraisals and Consulting LLC)

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Concurrent Session 5: Grassroots Baseball – Lost Legacies Reclaimed (9:10am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Ira Cooperman (Chautauqua Institution)

In Search of John G. "Long John" Reilly: A Baseball Player's Hometown Legacy
Virginia Skinner-Linnenberg (Nazareth College)
Daniel Linnenberg (University of Rochester)

Discovering the Lost Life of Clarence Duvall
Keith Spalding Robbins (Independent writer/historian)

The Most Interesting Man in Baseball? Joey Votto, Hegemonic Masculinity, and Baseball's New Statistics
Todd McDorman (Wabash College)

Concurrent Session 6: Women on the Diamond (9:10am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Savanah Williams (South of the Ferry, VA)

Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Murphy Breaking Barriers
Jay Hurd (Warren, RI Preservation Society)

Playing with the Boys: The Significance of Toni Stone, Connie Morgan, and Mamie "Peanut" Johnson in the Jim Crow Era
Sophia Scanlan (Northwestern University)

Edith Houghton: “The Kid”
Kat Williams (Marshall University/International Women’s Baseball Center)

Concurrent Session 7: Rubes, Legends, and Prospects (10:45am to noon)

Moderator: David Krell (Elysian Fields Chapter, Society for American Baseball Research)

Route 66: Mickey Mantle's Road to the Show
Dan Cichalski (MLB.com/Elysian Fields Chapter, Society for American Baseball Research)

Baseball Feels A Draft: Origins of the 1965 Free Agent Amateur Draft
Lee Lowenfish (Independent writer/historian)

The Impact of California as a "Breadbasket" on Major League Baseball Rosters Since 1967
Stephen Johnson (University of South Dakota)

Concurrent Session 8: Confronting Jackie Robinson in Film, Classroom, and Counterpoint (10:45am to noon)

Moderator: Bob Paskal

Teaching Jackie Robinson in the Age of Black Lives Matter
Rebecca Edwards (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson: The Complicated Relationship Between These Activist Athletes
Peter Dreier (Occidental College)

Concurrent Session 9: The Art of Baseball (1:00pm to 2:15pm)

Moderator: Nancy Cannon (State University of New York – Oneonta)

Snoopy: Baseball’s Top Dog
Melissa Booker (Society for American Baseball Research)

Baseball, Norman Rockwell and the 20th Century!
Thomas Daly (Independent curator)

HIDDEN GENIUS: Sketches from the Game, 1910-1925
Jim Leeke (Independent writer/historian)

Concurrent Session 10: Baseball Essentials – Umpires and Coaches (1:00pm to 2:15pm)

Moderator: Kat Williams (Marshall University/International Women’s Baseball Center)

Hall of Fame Coaches
John Shorey (Independent writer/historian)

The Robopocalypse: The Effects of Technological Advancements in Baseball on Umpires
Caitlyn Pritchard (Syracuse University)

"Just" Calling Balls and Strikes: Umpires and Judges
Mark Pelesh (Independent writer/historian)

Concurrent Session 11: Grassroots Baseball and Black History (2:30pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: Bob Hopper (Chautauqua Institution)

(Local) Black baseball history matters
Brian Carroll (Berry College)

Ralph Bunn and the Brookhaven Town Highway Nine: Baseball and racial integration on Long Island
Fabio Montella (Suffolk County Community College)

Concurrent Session 12: Spanish Speakers Playing and Broadcasting (2:30pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: Willie Steele (Lipscomb University)

Buck Canel: Baseball's Spanish-Speaking Pioneer
Curt Smith (University of Rochester)

Melo Makes the Majors: Ethnic Mexicans and the "Spanish Fantasy Heritage" in Professional Baseball
Alex Nuñez (University of Arizona)

Concurrent Session 13: International Baseball in War and Peace (3:45pm to 4:45pm)

Moderator: Dick Mahoney (Independent freelance writer)

On the Field as Both Civilian and Serviceman: Johnny Wright During World War II
Bob Cullen (Independent writer/historian)

Herb Hunter's 1922 Tour of Japan and the Film that Almost Was
Adam Berenbak (National Archives)

Concurrent Session 14: Baseball and Jewish Identity (3:45pm to 4:45pm)

Moderator: Charles DeMotte (State University of New York – Cortland)

Team Israel and the Jewish-American Fan Base
Bill Simons (State University of New York – Oneonta)

America's Pastime: Baseball and Jewish American Assimilation
Mira Berenbaum (Syracuse University)

Town Ball Game: Cooper Park (5:30pm to 7:00pm)

Hosts: Tom Heitz and Peter Young (Leatherstocking Base Ball Club)

Today’s game of baseball can trace its origins back to a number of stick and ball games played in the American colonies. Weather permitting, local historian Tom Heitz and Peter Young will serve as hosts, instructors, and umpires in this re-creation of a vintage town ball game, circa the 1840s.

All Symposium participants are invited to join in and play. Everyone will have the opportunity to play the field and take a turn swinging the bat. Remember, no gloves allowed. Dress casually and join in the fun. In the event of inclement weather, please use this free time to explore the museum.

Dinner: Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery (7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Host: Cassidy Lent (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

The annual dinner will be held immediately following the Town Ball Game. We will walk over to the Hall of Fame Main Street entrance to enjoy a barbecue chicken dinner.

A vegetarian option is available with an advance request.

Dinner ticket required for this event.

Friday, June 3, 2022

Concurrent Session 15: Baseball on Campus and in Community (9:10am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Bob Cullen (Independent writer/historian)

Miracle on Beech Street: A History of the Holyoke Millers, 1977-1982
Eric Poulin (Simmons University)

The Grand Ole Guitar: Music City/Baseball Town
Demetria Kalodimos (Lipscomb University)
Lipscomb University undergraduate students (Lipscomb University)

Why Syracuse University Baseball Matters: Revisiting a Storied Program's History 50 Years Later
Michael (MP) Geiss (Syracuse University)

Concurrent Session 16: Baseball Music and Our Teams (9:10am to 10:10am)

Moderator: Virginia Skinner-Linnenberg (Nazareth College)

Straight Up NYC, Like a Mets Fitted: How the New York Mets Influenced Hip-Hop Music and Culture
Jemayne Lavar King (Virginia State University/Johnson C. Smith University)

The Brooklyn Dodger Sym-Phony Band: An Exploration into the Music of Ebbets Field
Philip Galati (Syracuse University)

Concurrent Session 17: Fans in the Stands (10:45am to noon)

Moderator: Dan Sargeant (Lasell University)

Jackie Robinson and Parasocial Interaction Theory into the 1950 biographical film, "The Jackie Robinson Story: The Amazing Legend of the Pride of Brooklyn
Herman Howard (Angelo State University)

Drones in Major League Baseball
Raymond Bruno (Lasell University)

Concurrent Session 18: Going Deep – Theoretical Interpretations of the Game (10:45am to noon)

Moderator: Bob Miller (Mount Saint Mary College)

He's Coming: Insights about Organizational Change from the Integration of Major League Baseball
Todd Harris (Bridgewater State University)

Take Me Out with the Crowd: Baseball & Loneliness in a Culture of Creative Destruction
Christian Sheppard (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)

Baseball as Sport, Business, and a Reflection of Society: The National Pastime in the Writings of Red Smith
Ken Campbell (Monmouth University)

Concurrent Session 19: Authors of the Game (1:00pm to 2:00pm)

Moderator: Daniel Linnenberg (University of Rochester)

Anti-Pastoral and Anti-Exceptionalism in Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel and American Pastoral
Christopher Bell (University of North Georgia)

Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and his love of baseball
Mark Alberstat (Editor, Canadian Holmes)

Concurrent Session 20: Endorsements – Tobacco and Babe’s Underwear (1:00pm to 2:00pm)

Moderator: Ira Cooperman (Chautauqua Institution)

Babe Ruth's Underwear" The Wealth of Baseball and the Invisible Hand of Promise
J.S. Moore (Radford University)

The Inextricable Linkage of Baseball and Tobacco
Fred Toulch (Concordia University)

Concurrent Session 21: Baseball Commissioners (2:15pm to 3:15pm)

Moderator: Paul Hensler (Freelance Writer)

Landis, Cox, and the Scandal of 1943
Charles DeMotte (State University of New York - Cortland)

(Re)Telling the Truth: An Analysis of Commissioners' Memoirs
Willie Steele (Lipscomb University)

Concurrent Session 22: Shoebox Treasures (2:15pm to 3:15pm)

Moderator: Melissa Booker (Society for American Baseball Research)

Putting Library Collections in the Game
Hanna Soltys (Library of Congress)

The Seminal, Unique, and Prescient Laughlin Negro League Baseball Card Sets
Richard Puerzer (Hofstra University)

Concurrent Session 23: Heroes, Villains, and Masculinity (3:30pm to 4:30pm)

Moderator:

Archetypes in Baseball: Heroes & Villains on the Field and in the Dugout
Cathy Leogrande (Le Moyne College)

Long Island’s Fashion Race Course and the Development of Early Baseball
John Staudt (Hofstra University)

Concurrent Session 24: The Giants and Dodgers Go West (3:30pm to 4:30pm)

Moderator:

The Giants Move West
Jeffrey Kraus (Wagner College)

Dodg(er)ing History: The Battle of Chavez Ravine and What It Can Teach Us About Eminent Domain's Impact on Minority
M. Alexander Pearl (University of Oklahoma College of Law)
Robert Sherwin (Texas Tech University School of Law)

Concluding Session: Closing with Poetry, Pose, and a Remembrance (4:40pm to 5:40pm)

Moderator: Bill Simons (State University of New York – Oneonta)

Remembrance of Thomas E. “Porky” McDonald: An Original Poem
Joseph Stanton (University of Hawaii - Manoa)

The Man Was Stan: A Sequence of Six Musial Poems
Joseph Stanton (University of Hawaii - Manoa)

Pinstripes: A Novel
Peter Rutkoff (Kenyon College)

Public Notice

The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture is a unique forum, sponsored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the State University of New York – Oneonta, which provides academics and researchers with a platform to present and discuss a variety of topics concerning the game of baseball and how it relates to our culture and society. All opinions delivered during the program belong to the presenter, and do not represent the policies or practices of either host institution.