Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter meeting recap – 4/22/2018
At the SABR Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter‘s Spring 2018 research meeting on April 22, 2018, at the Miller Center in Burlington, Vermont, we heard five great research presentations and had one heck of a trivia contest, which was won by Chuck McGill.
Here is a brief rundown of the meeting:
First, we heard from Professor Scott Roper of Castleton University with “Wobblies, Immigrants, and the Baseball Creed: Constructing and Controlling Textile Field in Manchester, NH, 1912-1916” Professor Roper described the ways in which the Amoskeag Textitle Company, which was the dominant economic force in Manchester, NH, used its industrial league baseball team and stadium to try to discourage labor radicalism among its largely immigrant workforce during the 1910s.
Scott’s book on the subject is available for purchase at Amazon.com.
Then I discussed “Overcoming Adversity: Baseball’s Tony Conigliaro Award” and, more generally, the SABR Biography Project with the group. Overcoming Adversity is available for free download for SABR members.
SABR members interested in learning more about the Biography Project should email me and I’ll point them in the right direction.
Johnny Trutor, Vermont’s Jeopardy champion, hosted a rollicking round of baseball trivia. Today’s Baseball Trivia Contest was entitled “Terry, Mickey, Mickey, and the Dee” in honor of the four April 22nd birthday boys who provided the subject matter for the contest: Terry Francona, Mickey Vernon, Mickey Morandini, and Dee Gordon.
Chuck McGill won the Spring 2018 SABR VT Baseball Trivia Contest, earning himself a pack of 1990 Score Baseball Cards and his named inscribed on a newly hallowed baseball I found in my garage, which will serve as the trophy for the contest. Chuck won a tiebreaker against Larry Granillo, who finished second. Tom Haley of the Rutland Herald placed third in the contest.
Anyone interested in testing themselves on the trivia questions should send me an email. I will be happy to send them a copy of the questions.
Our next presenter was Tom Haley of the Rutland Herald, the Dean of Vermont Sportswriters and a member of the Castleton University Athletics Hall of Fame. Tom told some fascinating stories about Vermonters who nearly made the Major Leagues, including Richmond, VT’s Wayne Mitchell, Bennington’s J.J. Moore, and Hardwick’s John Dimmick.
Trivia contest winner Chuck McGill spoke next, describing the research methods he has used to compile more than 3,500 no-hitters than have been thrown in the minor league. You can follow Chuck’s research by following him on Twitter: @MiLgNoHitters
Our final speaker of the afternoon was Barry Trutor of the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, who showed off his research process as well. Barry has created a project page on VOCA’s excellent website which highlights the graves of the 15 players (that we know of) that are buried in Vermont cemeteries. Check out Barry’s work over at http://www.voca58.org/
— Clayton Trutor