Boston Chapter Spring Meeting
Saturday, 26 Mar 2005

SABR-Boston SPRING REGIONAL MEETING

Saturday, March 26, 2005, 11:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Friends Meeting House
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA

The Boston Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research
invites you to our spring regional meeting! In anticipation of the
2005 baseball season we've prepared a program full of speakers and
research presentations to tantalize your baseball appetite. The
program includes a break for lunch.

A $5.00 donation is suggested. Your generous and continued support
makes these meetings possible. Thank you!

Contact Seamus Kearney (seamus@cs.umb.edu) or David Southwick
(soxpapers@hotmail.com) with any questions.

See you on Saturday, March 26!

The Program

Bill Nowlin -- The Kid

There has never been a book like The Kid before; its detailing of the
genesis of a ballplayer represents a pioneering effort.  Inevitably,
baseball biographies spend only a chapter or two on the player's early
years.  The Kid focuses entirely on the first 20 years of Ted
Williams' life -- the years before he joined the Boston Red Sox and broke
onto the national scene.  This book runs to well over 300 pages, and is the
collaborative work of nine SABR members.

Joanne Hulbert -- Boston's Original Opening Day: 
Fasting, Humiliation, Prayer...and Baseball

In the 19th century, Boston celebrated the arrival -- or near arrival -- of
Spring with a holiday that was best described as the opposite of
Thanksgiving.  Joanne will discuss a holiday that strengthened the gene pool
of a multitude of Red Sox fans for generations to come and has since been
transformed into another holiday that dropped the fasting, humiliation and
prayer -- but kept the baseball part.

Cecilia Tan -- Measuring Greatness: Methodologies and Quantification
of An Impossible Subject

In 2003-2004, Cecilia undertook the project of identifying and describing
the 50 greatest games played by the New York Yankees for the book The 50
Greatest Yankee Games.  How did she narrow the list?  What games made
the list and which did not, and why?  How did she rank them?  Applying a
quantitative method produced some odd results. Can greatness, like "heart"
and other sports intangibles, be measured?  How much did fan opinion affect
the results, or the feelings of the players interviewed in the book?
Cecilia will address these in her presentation.

Leigh Grossman -- The Red Sox Fan Handbook:  Everything you need to
know to be a Boston Red Sox fan...or to marry one!

Leigh presents his revised book that has everything you want to know or
remember about the Sox, whether you're a longtime fan or just discovered the
Red Sox Nation during the incredible 2004 World Championship season.
While the cover copy captures what the book is about for the casual fan,
Leigh will talk more about what the book is for the serious fan --an attempt
to explore the folklore of the Red Sox, and get at what it is that makes the
fan experience special and relevant across generations.

Mickey "The Lip" Tangel -- Treasures of a Vintage Base Ballist

Come along with Mickey " The Lip " Tangel, vintage base ball player and 
umpire, as he shares his knowledge of the 19th century National Pastime 
through the use of period music, humorous poetry and stories, audience 
participation and Base Ball "show an tell" props that the audience can enjoy. 
Information about the 2005 Atlantic Base Ball Club, their 1864 rules and 
the Alliance of Historic Base Ball Association will also be discussed. At the 
end of the presentation all members will receive baseball cards.


Mark Kanter's Trivia Quiz
So you think you know baseball? After delivering baseball stumpers at our
Midwinter Regional, Mark is back to test your baseball IQ.  Winners will
receive prizes, and gluttons for punishment are still welcome to compete!

Raffle & Blind Auction
This one-of-a-kind raffle and blind auction offers attendees a chance to win
some outstanding items such as a basket of 2004 World Champion Red Sox
memorabilia (including some unique items from St. Louis), baseball books,
and other great prizes.

Book Signings
Leigh Grossman, Bill Nowlin, and Cecilia Tan will be selling and signing
copies of their most recent books.

Boston Chapter
The program will also include Chapter news and information and
Dave Southwick's update on the 1975 Red Sox Project.

Directions & Parking

Friends Meeting House
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge MA

Friends Meeting House is located off of Brattle Street outside of
Harvard Square in Cambridge.  If possible, it is best to take
public transportation, as parking in Harvard Square is limited.

MASS TRANSIT

Take the red line to Harvard Square station.  Expect the T from
Braintree to take 45 minutes and from Alewife to take 25 minutes.
Transit maps are available at the MBTA web site: http://mbta.com .

Walk to Friends Meeting via Brattle Street.  There is a Brattle 
Street exit at the extreme West end of the T station, beyond the 
indoor bus stops and furthest from where you disembark the train.
Alternatively, from the main exit you are looking across a red brick 
plaza bordered in front of you by Kennedy Street.  Brattle begins
right there across Kennedy; cross the street and walk on the right
hand side of the street and then another red brick plaza.

Go West(WNW) on Brattle to Longfellow Park (5-10 minutes), the mall
across Brattle from Longfellow National Historic Site, a well-marked 
yellow house with white trim on the right side of the street.
    http://nps.gov/long (Longfellow house from the other perspective;
it will be on your right with the mall on your left)
Looking down the mall with the NHS behind you, #5 is the second-last
building on the right, with a small "Friends Meeting" sign in front.

DRIVING FROM MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE, I-90

Cambridge exit to Cambridge Street (Doubletree Suites on right).
Go straight, cross-river to next light (Memorial Drive). Left onto
Memorial Drive (US 3, MA 2) for 3 lights (boathouse on left at 3rd
light). Go straight and make right turn at second street on right
(Hawthorne, not marked) after JFK School of Government to next light.
Left onto Mt Auburn Street, go one street to Willard Street.  
Turn right onto Willard, follow to Brattle.  Turn right on Brattle one
street to Longfellow Park, right onto Longfellow Park.

Longfellow Park is the mall across Brattle from Longfellow National
Historic Site, a well-marked yellow house with white trim on the left
side of the street.
    http://nps.gov/long (Longfellow house from your perspective,
just before you should turn right down the mall)

DRIVING FROM MASS PIKE I-90 or FROM POINTS NORTH I-95/Rte.128
TO LONGFELLOW NHS/HOUSE/PARK/MALL --BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
    http://nps.gov/long/pphtml/planyourvisit.html

PARKING

Some parking is available in the small lot behind the meeting house
(5-6 cars). There is also parking available on Longfellow Park
(10-20 spaces). Brattle Street has some spaces as well, but the side
streets have resident sticker parking. There are two parking garages
in Harvard Square: Charles Square (under the Charles Hotel) and
University Garage. There is also a small public lot under the Harvard
Motor Inn off Mt. Auburn Street, and a small, private lot can be
found on Church Street.