Cliff Kachline Chapter meeting recap – 11/16/2013

The Cliff Kachline Chapter met on Saturday, November 16 in the Bullpen Theater at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Mike Hauser and David Karpinski made a presentation on the long history of Parkhurst Field in Gloversville. Until recently, today’s residents had no idea that this Little League field had a history that stretched back over 100 years, and that Hall of Famers such as Honus Wagner and Chief Bender played there.

Jon Arakaki, a professor at SUNY-Oneonta and a born and raised Hawaiian, gave the history of Alexander Cartwright’s duplicate HOF plaque, first seen in Honolulu and now residing in a sports bar in Garrison, New York.

Mike McAvoy, another member of the Oneonta faculty, gave a detailed analysis of the relationship between performance and salary for the Reds of the American Association in the 1880s.

Bruce Markusen offered up a baseball card mystery, the crowd participating in identifying players and dates related to Lou Brock’s 1976 Topps card.

Jeff Katz shared two stories from the 1981 season and strike from his upcoming book, Split Season, to be released by Thomas Dunne Books in early 2015.

— Jeff Katz