• Member Login
  • Join a Chapter
  • Membership Directory
Society for American Baseball Research

Search the Research Collection

SABR Virtual Analytics Conference

SABR Analytics Conference

Register now to join us on March 10-12, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ.

Learn More
  • The Research Collection
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • Analytics Conference
    • Annual Convention
    • Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
    • Women in Baseball Conference
    • 19th Century Conference
    • SABR Day
    • Ballpark Figures with Shakeia Taylor
  • Community
    • Join SABR
    • Regional Chapters
    • Research Committees
    • Chartered Communities
    • Members’ Home
  • Donate
  • SABR Scholars
  • Publications
  • Latest News
  • Menu Menu

2013 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference

The fifth annual Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference was held April 19-20, 2013, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

As SABR member Bill Francis writes at Cooperstown Chatter:

For the registered attendees from across the country, it was an opportunity to engage with others who share the same unique passion.

“It gives me a chance to hang out with people who care about what I care about, which is the old-time game,” said John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian as well as a moderator during Saturday morning’s panel discussion entitled The Evolution of the Pitching/Catching Battery. “And it’s very convivial and it’s one of my favorite weekends of the year.”

Other programs held during the two days included The Two Faces of Baseball’s Creation Myth, Jimmy Fogarty and the Players Brotherhood, and Beer Tanks & Barbed Wire: Bill Barnie and the Baltimore Orioles of the AA (1883-1891).

“It’s a great opportunity to meet other people who have the same fascination as I do,” said acclaimed baseball historian and author Peter Morris. “We share ideas, hear a lot of new ideas, and hear what people are working on.”

Morris was a member of the Pre-Integration Era Committee that elected umpire Hank O’Day, New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and 19th century player Deacon White to the Hall of Fame in December at MLB’s Winter Meetings. The Pre-Integration Era covered candidates whose most significant career impact was realized from baseball’s origins through 1946.

“It was exciting to have recognition go to players who I think have deserved it for a long time,” Morris said. “Just because the Hall of Fame didn’t start until the 1930s there was a whole generation who never get evaluated by their peers, and there’s no way to get around that, but I think at least now we’ve had a group of historians who’ve looked at them and really given them a fair chance.

“Personally, being part of the Committee was just so rewarding. It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. In preparing for it weeks and months beforehand, and then when it came, it was even more exciting and better than I ever dreamed it would be.”

Also on Saturday, the village of Cooperstown commemorated Bud Fowler Day with a ceremony and plaque unveiling at Doubleday Field, led by Cooperstown Mayor and SABR member Jeff Katz.

Fowler (born John W. Jackson) is recognized as the first African-American player in organized professional baseball, playing for over two decades in the nineteenth century despite facing constant racial discrimination. Fowler was born in nearby Fort Plain but grew up in Cooperstown, where his father worked as a barber on Main Street.

To learn more about Fowler, click here to read Brian McKenna’s SABR biography.

To view the full schedule for the 2013 Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference, download the conference program here:

https://sabr.box.com/shared/static/ljvqrtqidk8ql1rjnp5u.pdf

Read more: SABR, Bud Fowler and A Taste of Cooperstown, by Joe Williams (Seamheads.com)

Listen: A century later, Bud Fowler gets his due (North Country Public Radio)

Here are some photos from the conference, courtesy of Hall of Fame Librarian Jim Gates:

SABRphotos's 2013 Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Conference album on Photobucket

Related links:

  • To learn more about upcoming Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conferences, visit SABR.org/ivor-campbell19c
  • To view coverage of the 2012 conference, click here
  • Who was Frederick Ivor-Campbell? Learn more about the 2003 Bob Davids Award winner here
  • Home page
  • Schedule
  • Who was Frederick Ivor-Campbell?
  • Committee Projects

Support SABR today!

Donate Join

Cronkite School at ASU
555 N. Central Ave. #416
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602.496.1460
Contact SABR

About

History

Meet the Staff

Board of Directors

Annual Reports

Diversity Statement

DONATE

© SABR. All Rights Reserved

Scroll to top