A could-have-been historian’s notes. And so forth.
For the past few months, I’ve been compiling (or creating, in some cases) electronic rosters for every Midwest League team, organization, and season. I’ve been collecting the basic resources for several years; the recent effort’s been more about getting things into a useful shape than actually acquiring the data. The compilation effort has been–and continues to be–an odd combination of automation and manual handling; it turns out that much of the work is tweaking the data.
Filed under
Baseball CrankSpace
History Scrapbook
Posted on
January 28th 2008
The Midwest League’s 1982 format may be serving as a sort of pilot program the major leagues could consider in future years, should the big leagues opt for three divisions. The Midwest is the only Class A league not playing a split season, its three four-team divisions each crowning a champion at the end of the 144-game schedule, then adding a wild-card club–the team with the best record that did not win a divisional title–for a four-game championship playoff.
Filed under
Baseball CrankSpace
History Scrapbook
Posted on
December 19th 2007
Eber Brock Ward was Michigan’s most famous and most innovative Rich Man for much of the 19th century; his best comp
is certainly Henry Ford, who flourished about 75 years later. I don’t think anyone’s written a full-blown biography of Ward, but there are pieces of him all over my library.
Filed under
History Scrapbook
Mitten State
Posted on
November 28th 2007
I was a season ticket holder in Battle Creek. That’s given me no emotional stake in the successor franchise, Great Lakes–and I rooted against the Springfield and Madison predecessor franchises when they actually existed. I’ve now transferred my loyalties mostly to the Lugnuts, and I root against the Loons.
Filed under
Baseball CrankSpace
History Scrapbook
Rant
Posted on
October 26th 2007
Every campus has a narrative, and that narrative shapes the college culture. These stories may emphasize unimportant details; they ignore entire decades. Macalester’s, like most, begins with a founder, has a key figure who shaped the college, skips lightly through the decades, mentions some key teachers and graduates, describes a major crisis, and looks brightly to the future. To the best of my ability, here’s the Macalester story.
Filed under
Dear Old Macalester
History Scrapbook
Posted on
October 18th 2007
The entire nation had the Railroad Fever in 1869. Michigan was nursing two outbreaks: Promoters were raising money to build a more direct line (an “air line”) between Detroit and Chicago which would roughly follow the route of the Chicago Road, and actual construction was occurring for a line connecting Jackson and Grand Rapids. Both remain interesting, for different reasons.
Filed under
Along the Rail Line
Dear Old Macalester
History Scrapbook
Mitten State
Posted on
October 17th 2007
Great Britain was still reeling from religious wars, and it wasn’t clear that they’d not resume. One of the many fascinations of Pepys’ Diary is the insight it shows into that turbulent time.
Filed under
Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
August 23rd 2005
In June of every year the Corps of Engineers holds an open house at the Soo Locks, and thousands of fans show up to explore the grounds, view the passing ships from an unusual perspective, and look over the exhibits. Yesterday was that day, and Joan and I were among the crowd. Here we see some of the visitors crossing the massive gate which holds back Lake Superior at the the downriver end of the 105 foot wide Poe Lock.
Filed under
History Scrapbook
Mitten State
Posted on
June 25th 2005
One morning, after thirteen hours at the DSTE and on the teletypes, we hit the airbase bar for breakfast and a few drinks, only to discover that the club was planning to run the (then) new Ned Kelly movie. So we stayed and watched, as did a handful of Aussies who were stationed in the vicinity.
Filed under
History Scrapbook
Musicks
Veteran Testimony
Posted on
May 20th 2005
What I think the portrait misses is that Owen’s heavy workload was fairly seamless; I had contacts with him in several of his roles and he was always the same person, working on the same causes, and finding reinforcement from his friends and colleagues as he moved from meeting to meeting. A strenuous life, yes, and not everyone loved Owen Akers, but many did.
Filed under
History Scrapbook
Life's Stories
Politickin'
Yarns and Tales
Posted on
November 15th 2004
