Symposium

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

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

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

TBA

Concurrent Session 1: Remembering Baseball in History and Film (2:15pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: Bob Miller (Mount St. Mary College)

I Love the '80s Baseball Films - Bill Francis (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

The Merkle Aftermath - Two Weeks of Giants Shenanigans - Daniel Levitt (Independent writer/historian)

Concurrent Session 2: Boston baseball history (2:15pm to 3:30pm)

Moderator: Dave Bohmer (DePauw University – Emeritus

Nuf Ced! The Story of Michael McGreevy, Baseball's First Superfan - David Krell (Independent writer/historian)

Boston Youth Baseball during the Great Depression - Karen DeLuca Stephens (Society for American Baseball Research – SABR)

Blackball in Boston: Expanding the Narrative - Robert Cvornyek (Florida State University)(unable to attend) and Douglas Stark (Museum consultant and sports historian)

Concurrent Session 3: Race: Explanatory and Non-Explanatory (3:45pm to 5:00pm)

Moderator: Mike Elk (Payday Report/ This American Life)

Selection Bias - David Shuffler (Independent writer/historian)

Sam Jethroe: Branch Rickey's Big Mistake - Theodore Hamm (St. Joseph’s University NY (Brooklyn campus))

Concurrent Session 4: Tale of Two Cities: Departing Teams (3:45pm to 5:00pm)

Moderator: Joshua Murray (Vanderbilt University)

The Braves Make the First Move - Jeffrey Kraus (Wagner College)

You may get the recipe...but it will never be the same - John McLaughlin (New York Giants Preservation Society)

Social Memory Creation Through the Loss of the Oakland Athletics: Narratives and Stories of a Lost Fanbase - Phillips Lovas (Old Dominion University)

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Concurrent Session 5: Baseball Literature: Profs, Pundits, and Populists (9:15am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Dick Mahoney (OLLI – University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa)

George Will and the Craft of Baseball - Charles DeMotte (Independent writer/historian)

“The Degradation of Sports,” Professor Christopher Lasch’s Perspectives on Baseball and Other Sports Presented in his Famous Culture of Narcissism: A Retrospective and Evaluation after Nearly a Half-Century - Alan Levy (Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania)

Baseball Graphic Novels: Stories in Words & Pictures - Cathy Leogrande (Le Moyne College)

Concurrent Session 6: Baseball and Politics (9:15am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Ted Curtis (Lynn University)

Playing for Time: The Politics of the First Congressional Baseball Game - J.B. Manheim (The George Washington University – Professor Emeritus)

Teddy and Taft: Baseball and a Tale of Two Presidents - Jeffrey Orens (SABR Elysian Fields Chapter)

Democracy at the Ballpark: Protest and Patriotism - Thomas Bunting (Shawnee State University)

Special Session (11:00am to 12:00pm)

Moderator: Kat Williams (CEO, International Women’s Baseball Center)

Skirting the Game: Jean Hasting Ardell’s Women and Baseball - Interview with Amie Cuevas and Meggie Meidlinger

Concurrent Session 7: The Evolution of Media (1:00pm to 2:15pm)

Moderator: TBD

Ahead of Their Times: The Early Pay TV Efforts of the Dodgers and Giants - David Gunzerath (Independent writer/historian)

Concurrent Session 8: The Law and the Game (1:00pm to 2:15pm)

Moderator: Elizabeth Manriquez (University of Wisconsin Law School Library)

Boo (and defame?) the ump!: Libel, slander and baseball's on-field arbiters - Ted Curtis (Lynn University)

Baseball's Role in the Development of Personality Protection and Unfair Competition Laws in the United States - Barbara Lauriat (Texas Tech University School of Law)

The 1994-95 strike: How the NLRB saved baseball (with an assist by Judge Sotomayor) - Barney Horowitz (National Labor Relations Board, 1975-2017)

Concurrent Session 9: Baseball in Black Communities (2:30pm to 3:45pm)

Moderator: Claudia Wolff (Columbia University and NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study)

Barnstorming Black Baseball in Ohio - Leslie Heaphy (Kent State University at Stark)

African American Baseball on Maryland's Eastern Shore: A Rural Perspective - Marty Payne (Independent writer/historian)

Black Baseball, Black Community: The Hattiesburg Black Sox and Palmers Crossing, 1950-1975 - Sean O'Farrell (University of Southern Mississippi)

Concurrent Session 10: Religion and Redemption of a Ballpark (2:30pm to 3:45pm)

Moderator: Ira Cooperman (Chautaugua Institution)

Energy to the Soul and Buoyancy to the Spirit: Antebellum Debates Over Baseball's Religious Meaning - Samuel Young (Indiana Wesleyan University)

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over and Other Theological Teachings of Baseball - John Yeatts (Messiah College)

How to Save a Historic Stadium in Only 26 years: The Trials and Tribulations of Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey - Brian LoPinto (Friends of Hinchcliffe Stadium)

Concurrent Session 11: College Connections Then and Now (4:00pm to 4:50pm)

Moderator: Paul Hensler (Independent writer/historian)

Urbane Roughneck: Remembering the Passions and the Friends of Hall of Famer Frank Frisch, the Fordham Flash (1897-1973) - Lee Lowenfish (Independent writer/historian)

What’s the Worst that Could Happen?: One Professor’s Quest to Find the Perfect Knuckleball - Willie Steele (Lipscomb University)

Concurrent Session 12: Music of the Game: Lyrics and Song (4:00pm to 4:50pm)

Moderator: Cathy Leogrande (Le Moyne College)

From Joe DiMaggio to Cool Papa Bell: Paul Simon on Baseball - Michael Sokolow (Kingsborough Community College, CUNY)

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

Hosts: 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 Peter Young will serve as host, instructor, and umpire 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, catered by Sunrise Catering, will be held immediately following the Town Ball Game. We will walk over to the Museum’s Main Street entrance to enjoy dinner together. Vegetarian options will be available. Dinner ticket required for this event.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Concurrent Session 13: Iconography and Commerce: Stamps and Cards (9:15am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Tim Wiles

From Sandlot to Ballpark – Baseball’s Past Depicted through Postage Stamps and Related Artifacts - Joel Cohen (Independent writer/historian)and Steven Altman (Independent writer/historian)

Take Me Out to the Post Office - From the Babe to Berra, Baseball Commemorative Stamps are the Champs! - Francis Farina (Independent writer/historian)

It was in the Cards: Marvin Miller and Sy Berger and the Topps baseball - Mark McGee (Lipscomb University; SABR)

Concurrent Session 14: Contemporary Issues: Innovation and Debate (9:15am to 10:30am)

Moderator: Tom Brady (Purdue University Northwest)

Tribalism at the Plate: Celebratory Rituals and Group Mentality in Major League Baseball - Lisa Neilson (Marist University)

Saving Baseball, One Rule at a Time - Herm Card (Newhouse Sports Media Center and the Syracuse Mets)

Concurrent Session 15: Global Baseball: China, Japan, and the International Draft (10:45am to 12:00pm)

Moderator: Gerardo Canul (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Anaheim campus)

The Potential Impact of an International Draft - Arturo Marcano (Independent writer/historian)

“A Completely Different Sport”: The Differences Between American and Japanese Baseball as Seen in the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series - Riley Neubauer (College of William & Mary)

Beyond the Game: Cultural Resonance and the Contrasting Trajectories of U.S.-Japan Baseball and U.S.-China Ping Pong Diplomacy - Jiexi Lin (College of William & Mary) and Yuxi Tian (College of William & Mary)

Concurrent Session 16: Voices in Song, Prose, and Verse (10:45am to 12:00pm)

Moderator: Charles DeMotte (Independent writer/historian)

Matilda Sissieretta Jones - Jay Hurd (Warren, RI Preservation Society)

Baseball as Metaphor and Autobiography in the Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller - Joseph Stanton (University of Hawaii at Manoa – Professor Emeritus)

How Casey at the Bat, Slide Kelly Slide and Take Me Out to the Ball Game Influenced the Use of Baseball in American Poetry and Musical Lyrics - Rick Burton (Syracuse University)

Concurrent Session 17: Team and Community Identity (1:00pm to 1:50pm)

Moderator: Steve Wejroch (Archdiocese of Detroit Archives)

“Hit Sign/Win Suit” – Abe Stark and Baseball’s Most Famous Sign - Peter Dreier (Occidental College)

Signing Soto: An Examination of The Cultural Bases of Fan Identification and Communal Rivalry Expressed by Fans of the Mets and Yankees During their Pursuit of Free Agent Juan Soto - Rachel Flores (Northeastern University)and Ronald Flores (Connecticut College)

Concurrent Session 18: The British Connection (1:00pm to 1:50pm)

Moderator: Willie Steele (Lipscomb University)

Remain Cheerful: Baseball, Britannia, and American Independence in the First World War - David Kohnen (T.B. Kittredge Historian, U.S. Naval War College)

Why Has Baseball No Wisden? - Mark Pelesh (Independent writer/historian)

Concurrent Session 19: Across National Borders: Tobacco and Needles (2:00pm to 2:50pm)

Moderator: TBD

The Often Strange Linking of Baseball, Tobacco, USA and Canada - Fred Toulch (Independent writer/historian)

Sharing Needles: The International Spread of the MLB's Steroid Era - John Cornell Polcyn (College of William & Mary)

Concurrent Session 20: 1960s: Of Violence and Heroes (2:00pm to 2:50pm)

Moderator: Bob Paskel

“Who the True Heroes Really Are”: the Men of the MLB & the Conflict in ‘Nam - Kater Miller (National Museum of the Marine Corps)and Kenneth Sammond (Fairleigh Dickinson University)

Concurrent Session 21: 1970s: Norms and Challenges (3:00pm to 3:50pm)

Moderator: Rich Puerzer (Hofstra University)

We're Livin' in a Plastic Land: Baseball Enters the 1970s - Paul Hensler (Independent writer/historian)

Tell 'Em Im a Nixon Fan: Ted Williams and Richard Nixon's Shared Politics - Casey Puerzer (Boston College)

Concurrent Session 22: 1930s: New Deal Baseball (3:00pm to 3:50pm)

Moderator: Bob Cullen (Independent writer/historian)

The Critical Decade: Baseball in the 1930s - Bill Simons (State University of New York – Oneonta)

Why Are We Here (or Why is the Hall)? - Dave Bohmer (DePauw University – Emeritus)

Concurrent Session 23: TBD (4:00pm to 4:50pm)

Moderator: Andrew Medlock (Loyola University Chicago)

Notes From Under the Dugout: Dostoyevsky on the Dangers of Optimization in Baseball and American Politics - Max Lykins (Bowdoin College)

Public Opinion and Our National Pastime - William Blake (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) and Mileah Kromer (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)

Concurrent Session 24: TBD (4:00pm to 4:50pm)

Moderator: Connie Sharpe (Nebraska Baseball History and SABR Sam Crawford Chapter)

“To Reunite a City Torn Asunder”: Baseball as Cultural Unifier in a Time of Trauma, Detroit, 1968 - Judkin Browning (Appalachian State University)

Decolonizing the Major Leagues: Codes of Violence and Psychological Challenges to Baseball Systems of Control in the 1960s - Dr. Doug Leonard (United States Air Force Academy)

Concluding Session (5:00pm to 5:15pm)

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

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.