20th Anniversary of the Flushing Branch of the Queens Library

We took a walk to Flushing Branch of the Queens Library to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the current building.  This is actually the 4th building at the intersection of Kissena Blvd. and Main St. to house a library.  The speakers included:

• Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott
• Congresswoman Grace Meng
• Assemblyman Ron Kim
• Former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman

There was a slideshow of the history of this branch library.  We stayed for a short performance by the Charles Bartlett Quartet.

Dan Ingram Recording from 1975

Since many readers of Bruce's Journal may not be radio enthusiasts, I am posting a recording of his WABC show from 1975.  Enjoy!

My Visit to the International Center for Photography

Today I took a subway ride to the Lower East Side to see what was in the International Center of Photography.  It is a relatively small museum that offered four exhibits:

• Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment.  There were photographs taken worldwide displayed from the 1930s and 1940s.  His influential photobook was described as "a Bible for photographers."
• Elliot Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950 - Back then it was an industrial city.  Obviously much has changed over 68 years.
• Multiply, Identify, Her:  A collage of works by an intergenerational group of woman artists exploring the construction and implications of hybrid and multiple identities.
• RFK Train:  The People's View.  This exhibit is timely since it is the 50th anniversary of his assassination.  There are audio and video remembrances of bystanders who viewed the train with his casket as it traveled from NYC to Arlington National Cemetery.

Sad Radio News - Dan Ingram Passes Away at 83

Photo I took of Dan Ingram on the WABC Cruise

June 2007

I heard the sad news this morning that radio legend Dan Ingram just passed away.  He was absolutely the greatest.  For 20 years he did the afternoon shift at WABC in its heyday as a Top 40 station.  He later did weekends at WCBS-FM.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at the WABC Cruise in June 2007.  Thankfully, many airchecks of his radio shows are available online, so people can listen to him.  My condolences to his family.

An announcement of his death on All Access

Wikipedia entry

Clips of Dan Ingram compiled by Rob Frankel

Final Day of SABR 48

The final day of the meeting started with a panel discussion among Pirate broadcaster Joe Block and former players John Candelaria and Grant Jackson.  They discussed their experiences playing the Bucs many years ago and fielded questions from the audience.  I then attended a meeting the the BioProject chaired by Gregory Wolf.  I have exchanged many emails with Gregory over the years, but I met him for the first time at this meeting.

One major league baseball issue recently has been the length of games.  David W. Smith of Retrosheet.org discussed many factors which result in longer games today.  Changes such as limiting the number of visits by the catcher to the pitcher have not alleviated this situation.  Whether I am at the game or watching on TV slow games can be a drag.

Mark Armour, an active SABR member chaired a session on season-long platoons.  He discussed numerous sets of platoon partners.

The highlight of the day was a discussion of the Pittsburgh Pirate years of Branch Rickey.  My favorite panelist was Frank Thomas who played for the 1962 Mets and set a record for home runs by an expansion team players.  Most of the time he talked about his time with the Pirates.  Another panelist was Jeffrey Flannery of the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress.  He described a forthcoming exhibition called Baseball Americana.  There is much information in his library on Branch Rickey.

My last three talks of the day were:

• Negro Leagues=Major Leagues
• 1961 Perspective of Fricks 61* Ruling
• Research Committee Meeting on Baseball Records

Back home tomorrow.

Busy Day 2 at SABR 48

The first meeting was a media panel where three Pittsburgh Pirate broadcasters discussed their experiences in covering a team from the broadcast booth.  The speakers were:

• Curt Smith - Moderator
• Greg Brown - long time Pirate play-by-play announcer
• Steve Blass - color commentator and former player
• Lanny Frattare - retired Pirate broadcaster
• Joe Block - Pirate play-by-play announcer

From there I attended a talk titled; The Warhol Triple Play Maris Seaver and Rose

The speakers showed drawings that Warhol did of those three baseball stars.  One of them worked at the nearby Andy Warhol Museum.  I wish I had the time to visit, but I'll have to make another trip to  Pittsburgh to see it.

Th next talk was:  In Harmony the National Anthem for the National Pastime

Joseph Price described a cross-country trip where he sang the Star Spangled Banner at 104 minor league ballparks.  He even wrote a book about this trip.

At 12 noon I attended the SABR Awards luncheon.  From there we walked from the hotel across the Roberto Clemente Bridge tp PNC Park.  The SABR group was greeted by Pirate manager Clint Hurdle.  Three Pirate employees spoke to the group about analytics that is used by teams to evaluate players and make decisions during the game.

This session ended at 4 PM so we had to wait 3 hours for the game between the Diamondbacks and the Pirates to begin.  It was a long evening as in 13 innings the Pirates lost 2-1.

Game Recap

Busy First Day at #SABR48

My meeting with the Games Committee started at 7:30 AM.  Chairman Mike Huber gave some statistics:

• 2240 games were assigned.
• 941 articles were completed.
• 353 articles for books were completed.
• 950 games are awaiting publication for a book project.

Len Levin, one of the editors for this project, gave some hint for those writing articles.  I think if Len edited Bruce's Journal he would find many errors.  :)

The next two events were:

• The SABR business meeting
• Opening remarks by Pittsburgh Pirate President Frank Coonelly

There was a one-hour session on the life and legacy of Roberto Clemente who is revered by baseball fans and Puerto Ricans.  There is sentiment for retiring uniform #21 throughout major league baseball.

In the afternoon I attended a talk about the relationship between Branch Rickey and Ralph Kiner when he played for the Pirates.  Of course, Kiner is best known in NYC for his broadcasting years for the Mets.

The next talk considered Hank Greenberg's time with the Pirates in 1947.

I went to a meeting of the Baseball Index Project Committee.  I am interested in indexing SABR documents for inclusion in baseballindex.org.

The last three talks that attended were:

• Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier: His Life and Legacy
• The Humidor and the predictive powers of physics
• Injuries in the Stands: MLB responds with extended netting

I went out to dinner with some of the guys from the Games Project.