Baseball Forever Conference November 8, 2006

This 3.5-day conference, free and open to the public, will provide a unique mix of the best of baseball's historians, journalists, broadcasters, and other informed aficionados with a lifelong love affair with the game--all reconstructing the history of baseball in thoughtful and provocative ways.

Frank Deford is the keynote speaker.

Conference Program (most are in the Lane Center)

November 8: Wednesday Evening (7:30)
Welcoming Remarks from FSU President, Jonathan Gibralter
Acknowledgments by Conference Director, John Wiseman

Singing of the National Anthem
Joseph L. Price, Whitter College
Author of Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America

Baseball Tunes Sung by
Totally Vocal Barbershop Quartet
Paul Emert, Joel Shaffer, Kurt Lemmert, Jim West

Narration of "Casey at the Bat"
Keith Schlegel, FSU English Department,
Poet and Walt Wittman Impersonator

"Muggsy and Matty and the Game in the early 20th Century"
Keynote Speaker: Frank Deford,
Senior Editor of Sports Illustrated Magazine
Author of The Old Ball Game (Early 20th Century)

November 9: Thursday Morning (8:30-12:30)

Beginnings, 1846-early 1900s

"The Creation" (8:30-9:10)
Presenter: Bob Wells
Retired FSU baseball coach
Author of forthcoming book, "The Talented Tenth and American Sport: Black Athletes in White Colleges, 1870-1920"

"Baseball in the Civil War" (9:15-9:45)
Presenter: David Dean
FSU Civil War historian
Author of "Breaking Trail: Hudson Stuck of Texas and Alaska"

"The Changes That Made Baseball the National Pastime" (9:50-11:00)
Presenter: Peter Morris
Author of A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball

"The Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s: The Team That Gave Birth To Modern Baseball" (11:20-12:30)
Presenter: Burt Solomon, reporter for the National Journal
Author of Where They Ain’t: The Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseball

November 9: Thursday Afternoon (1:45-5:30)

The New Century

"A Matter of Honor: The Violent Life of Ty Cobb" (1:45-2:30)
Presenter: Ben Rader, Professor at the University of Nebraska
Author of Baseball: A History of America’s Game

Comments by Jan Finkel
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)
Author of Ty Cobb: Poe in Flannels

"Spoke & Smokey Joe: The Baseball Adventures of Tris Speaker and Joe Wood" (2:30-3:15)
Presenter: Tim Gay, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), author of Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend

"Unsung Heroes : Honus Wagner and Jimmie Foxx" (3:15-4:00)
Presenter: Frank Parks
English Professor at Frostburg State University
Author of "Maryland: Unity in Diversity"

Coffee Break (4:00-4:15)

"The History of Black Baseball in Baltimore,
1913-1951" (4:15-5:30)
Presenter: Robert Leffler, Jr., owner of Leffler Advertising, Baltimore and
Author of a Master’s thesis on the Baltimore Elite Giants

November 9: Thursday Evening (7:30)

Presentation of Art Awards for student works of art on baseball
Lane Center, 202

November 10: Friday Morning (8:30-Noon)

Traditional Heroes and New Faces

"Personal Reflections on Lefty Grove" (8:30-9:30)
Presenter: Judge James Getty (Cumberland)
Lifelong admirer of Lefty Grove

Additional comments by Bill Akin,
former Academic Vice-President of Ursinus College and
Author of West Virginia Baseball: A History, 1865-2000

"Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams: Enduring Icons" (9:30-10:15)
Presenter: Dan Rupli, erstwhile major league wannabe,
Frederick, Maryland, lawyer

Commentary: The Mathematical Improbability of DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams' .406 batting average, both in 1941
Lance Revennaugh
FSU Math Department

"Expanding Universe: Rising Latino Power" (10:30-Noon)
Presenter: Tim Wendel, editor of Baseball Weekly
Author of The New Face of Baseball

Comments by Sam Torres
Bishop Walsh High School Baseball Coach

Lunch Break (Noon-1:15)

November 10: Friday Afternoon (1:15-5:30)

"World War II as Watershed" (1:15-2:30)
Presenter: Thomas Cripps
History Professor Emeritus, Morgan State University
Author of Making Movies Black and
participant in dynamics of racial change
in Baltimore baseball (late 40s)

Clyde King, a former Brooklyn Dodger,
Co-author of A King's Legacy,
will add personal reflections from the immediate postwar era.

Comments on Branch Rickey by Lee Lowenfish,
Free lance writer, New York City, and
Author of a forthcoming biography of Branch Rickey

Postwar Dynasties

"The New York Yankees, 1949-1964:
The Price of Dynasty" (2:40-4:00)
Presenter: Henry Fetter, free lance writer, Los Angeles
Author of Taking on the Yankees: Winning and Losing in the Business of Baseball

Questions from the audience

Coffee Break (4:00-4:15)

"The Modern Orioles: The Championship Years"
Presenter: John Eisenberg
Baltimore Sun Sportswriter and
Author of From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles

Comments by Mike Burke
Sports Editor, Cumberland Times-News

November 10: Friday Evening (7:30)

Premiere Performance of "The Lone Star League"
An original drama on contemporary baseball
by Jim Ralston
Drama Theatre, Performing Arts Center

November 11: Saturday Morning (8:30-Noon)

New National Mirrors

"Across the Wide Missouri Into California" (8:30-9:40)
Presenter: Ed Roberts
Retired teacher, San Francisco Bay area

Discussion of "All American Girls Professional Baseball League"
(9:45-10:40)
Participants TBA

"Researching Baseball History in Archives" (11:00-Noon)
Presenter: John Vernon and David Pfeiffer, National Archives
Co-Authors of Beyond the Box Score: Baseball Records in the National Archives

November 11: Saturday Afternoon (1:30-5:30)

"The Golden Voices of Baseball Broadcasters" (1:30-2:30)
Presenter: Ted Patterson
Baltimore Sportscaster and
Author of The Golden Voices of Baseball

"New Perspectives on the Flood Case" (2:30-3:30)
Presenter: Jules Tygiel, Professor at San Francisco State University and
Author of Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and his Legacy

Recent Transformations of the Game (3:45-5:30)

"Personal Observations
on My 62 Years in Major League Baseball"
Clyde King, Co-author of A King's Legacy, and
Former major league player, coach, manager, & general manager

Comments by Jim Riggleman
(former Chicago Cubs manager and
current Cardinal Player Development Director)

General Discussion

November 11: Evening (8:00)

Performance of "The Lone Star League"

Official Website: http://www.frostburg.edu/baseballforever/