Sarah

I attended as well and thought it was a great conference - some fun baseball talk during the winter. I only found out about it by accident, maybe if they do it next year it will be advertised better. (Not that it needs to be, it was very crowded but I think part of that was because it was free.) St Thomas seemed like a logical place to hold it since they are now offering a degree in business analytics. Maybe that's how other attendees found out about it?

My sister's famous comment when I showed her the picture of me and Scott Erickson from that event: "He looks like a Ken doll!"

Wow, I have tried to repress some of the names on this list. With apologies to Erickson, we seem to have a problem with guys named Scott because the guy that came to my mind was Scott Aldred. Yeesh. I was pretty young way back when but I remember that Scott Stahoviak was touted as “the next Kent Hrbek.” Well, not quite…

Thrylos, he has interviewed both Cory Provus and Dick Bremer (as well as Ted Robinson, former Twins announcer). They are all great interviews especially the Bremer one - he brings up some stuff I never knew and I've been watching Dick Bremer on Twins broadcasts my whole life. It would be cool if he could get Pat Hughes at some point since he was a Twins announcer way back when. But I'm guessing he's a little busy right now considering he just called the Cubs first World Series victory since 1908!

“Babies for everyone!” was one of St. Paul Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson’s more memorable calls during the 2016 season. (It referred to a hitting tear Saints third baseman Nate Hanson went on after returning to the lineup following the birth of his child.) Throughout the year, sports fans let a few dulcet-toned folks into their lives on a daily basis to bring them the sights and sounds of their favorite pastime. Did you ever wonder who these people are when the headsets are off? Aronson does, and he brings their stories to life with his podcast “The Voice Behind the Voice.”With nearly 40 episodes since beginning earlier this year, the hour-long chats feature broadcasters from all four major professional sports and some NCAA Division I programs. Past guests have included Buck Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays and Bob Davis of the Kansas Jayhawks, as well as local guys such as Cory Provus and Mike Grimm. Aronson says he got the idea from his friend Jamie Flam, a booker at the Hollywood Improv, after he created a podcast titled “The Gatekeeper,” in which Flam takes listeners behind the scenes of his industry. J.W. Cox, the Saints broadcast assistant, helps him with the technical side, and another co-worker designed the logo. He pays a small monthly fee to a podcast service, which distributes each episode to iTunes and other platforms. He only does interviews in person so his guest list depends on who comes to town or where he may be visiting. “So far I’ve had about an 85% success rate for the interviews I’ve requested,” says the Southern California native who called his 1,000th game for the Saints in September and was recently named Minor League Broadcaster of the Year by Ballpark Digest. “Most of the declines are due to time constraints or travel schedules. Yes, I have tried to get Joe Buck – haven’t heard back from Fox on that one. I would also love to get female announcers but there aren’t that many out there. I’m really focusing on play-by-play, not color commentators or sideline reporters.” More than other sports, baseball’s leisurely pace dictates that announcers must have plenty of content to fill sometimes lengthy games. This seems to fit in with Aronson’s approach to his podcast – he estimates spending at least a couple of hours to research each guest and doesn’t shy away from controversial topics, such as his talk with Dave Sims about being one of the few African-American broadcasters in Major League Baseball. “These podcasts are unedited and I’ve never had anyone place any kind of parameters on what I can ask them,” he says. “But I’m not TMZ and don’t have any ‘gotcha’ questions. Everyone has a story and I simply appreciate my guests letting me share theirs.” One of his more memorable moments came when he asked Vikings broadcaster Paul Allen if he ever thought about what he would say when announcing a Minnesota Super Bowl victory. “To my surprise, he said ‘Yes I have, and here it is.’” (You’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear Allen’s response – it’s episode #6.) So who is Sean Aronson, the voice behind the quirky, beloved independent team across the river? “I’m a minor league guy who grew up listening to Vin Scully and have known this is what I’ve wanted to do since I was seven years old. Would I like to get to the major leagues? Of course I would. But I can honestly say I am living my dream.” Be sure to listen to all of Sean's episodes of "The Voice Behind The Voice." Click here to view the article

“Babies for everyone!” was one of St. Paul Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson’s more memorable calls during the 2016 season. (It referred to a hitting tear Saints third baseman Nate Hanson went on after returning to the lineup following the birth of his child.) Throughout the year, sports fans let a few dulcet toned folks into their lives on a daily basis to bring them the sights and sounds of their favorite pastime. Did you ever wonder who these people are when the headsets are off? Aronson did, and he brings their stories to life with his podcast “The Voice Behind the Voice.” With nearly 40 episodes since beginning earlier this year, the hour long chats feature broadcasters from all four professional sports and some NCAA Division I programs. Past guests have included Buck Martinez of the Toronto Blue Jays and Bob Davis of the Kansas Jayhawks, as well as local guys such as Cory Provus and Mike Grimm. Aronson says he got the idea from his friend Jamie Flam, a booker at the Hollywood Improv, after he created a podcast titled “The Gatekeeper,” in which Flam takes listeners behind the scenes of his industry. J.W. Cox, the Saints broadcast assistant, helps him with the technical side, and another co-worker designed the logo. He pays a small monthly fee to a podcast service, which distributes each episode to iTunes and other platforms. He only does interviews in person so guests depend on who comes to town or where he may be visiting. “So far I’ve had about an 85% success rate for the interviews I’ve requested,” says the Southern California native who called his 1,000th game for the Saints in September and was recently named Minor League Broadcaster of the Year by Ballpark Digest. “Most of the declines are due to time constraints or travel schedules. Yes, I have tried to get Joe Buck – haven’t heard back from Fox on that one. I would also love to get female announcers but there aren’t that many out there. I’m really focusing on play-by-play, not color commentators or sideline reporters.” More than other sports, baseball’s leisurely pace dictates that announcers must have plenty of content to fill sometimes lengthy games. This seems to fit in with Aronson’s approach to his podcast – he estimates spending at least a couple of hours to research each guest and doesn’t shy away from controversial topics, such as his talk with Dave Sims about being one of the few African American broadcasters in Major League Baseball. “These podcasts are unedited and I’ve never had anyone place any kind of parameters on what I can ask them,” he says. “But I’m not TMZ and don’t have any ‘gotcha’ questions. Everyone has a story and I simply appreciate my guests letting me share theirs.” One of his more memorable moments came when he asked Vikings broadcaster Paul Allen if he ever thought about what he would say when announcing a Minnesota Super Bowl victory. “To my surprise, he said ‘Yes I have, and here it is.’” (You’ll have to listen to the podcast to hear Allen’s response – it’s episode #6.) So who is Sean Aronson, the voice behind the quirky, beloved independent team across the river? “I’m a minor league guy who grew up listening to Vin Scully and have known this is what I’ve wanted to do since I was seven years old. Would I like to get to the major leagues? Of course I would. But I can honestly say I am living my dream.” Be sure to listen to all of Sean's episodes of "The Voice Behind The Voice."

I agree with what you have said about game six, I don't think it was a mistake to use Chapman in that game because of what you said - this was just game six. Who knows, game seven the next day could have gotten rained out. I get your point about Hendricks going through the order for the third time but I still don't understand that move - he was dominating, he was on regular rest and he took him out to bring in a starting pitcher who is on short rest. Also, I thought it was entertaining how the announcers were saying that Maddon had told them before the game he didn't want to bring in Lester in the middle of an inning...and then he brought him in the middle of an inning. I was wondering if Maddon had intentionally said that - I always love it when they ask managers what their strategy is going to be before the game. Yeah, like he's going to tell the entire viewing audience. A lot has been written about how the Cubs won the World Series but the Indians did also blow a 3-1 series lead and they had the last two games at home. But given the state of their pitching (heck, they didn't even really have a starting pitcher for one of their playoff games) I guess it wasn't too surprising. In this era in baseball I didn't really expect Kluber to be able to pitch effectively three times in a seven game series. Yeah, I'm biased because I'm a Twins fan and I still think game seven in 1991 was the ultimate but game seven this year was almost as epic. Maybe this is elementary but it reminded how much the game is the same whether you're watching a town ball game or extra innings in the seventh game of the World Series. When Edwards walked the batter in the bottom of the 10th to bring the tying run to the plate I thought how irritating it is when a pitcher starts walking guys to bring the tying run to the plate! What a great World Series.

What about an Indians-Cubs World Series? Neither has won it in a long time - maybe because I'm a Twins fan but I'm a sucker for fans who deserve some joy...

Joe Simpson (one of the Braves announcers) was just talking the other night about how players with elite vision have a sometimes forgotten advantage on other hitters. Interesting article, thanks Parker.

Ugh, this makes me want to puke. Just go away A-Rod. Always so depressing to see a once great player just hanging on...

Great article, I agree with you about this. I have ticket stubs from many games, performances, museums, etc I have visited. It's a cheap memento and helps you remember when you actually went to something. I am taking my niece and nephews to the Twins game next weekend and I chose getting the tickets in the mail because I like them to have the experience of having their own ticket and handing it to the usher to get in. It's fun!

I was at the game and understand that FSN doesn't broadcast many weekday afternoon games but geez, you'd think they would make an exception for the 4th of July. I remember one year the Twins were off (not even playing) on Memorial Day and when I saw that on the schedule I was like, whaaatt??? Ugh, you should be able to watch the national pastime on a national holiday. That is all.

Thanks for the recap, I wanted to come to this but you can only go on so many trips...the Saints are hosting the American Association All-Star Game in August so that will be fun!

More than 100 years ago Minnesota was home to one of the best baseball teams in the country. The St. Paul Colored Gophers, who in 1909 beat the Chicago-based Leland Giants for the title of “Blackball World Champions,” are just one of the teams highlighted in the new book “They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota” by Frank White. A thoroughly researched addition to our state’s history, this title is also visually appealing with the inclusion of approximately 100 photos, including one of Prince Honeycutt, Minnesota’s presumed first black baseball player who helped form the Fergus Falls North Stars baseball club in 1873, and scorecards from the Uptown Sanitary Shop, a baseball club formed by a dry cleaning business in St. Paul in 1922. The Negro National League, which ultimately included some of the most famous names in baseball history including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, was started by Chicagoan Rube Foster in 1920. When reading White’s book, one question comes to mind: with Minnesota’s prominence in the world of black baseball why weren’t they awarded a team when the league started? Perhaps it was because of an issue that still confronts us today – travel. “It was probably just too financially difficult to have a team in Minnesota,” Frank White told me recently. “Minnesota was considered far away from the other teams.” In today’s over stimulated world of endless varieties of entertainment, another theme of the book is the rise of baseball as America’s game – one picture from 1925 shows a girls team from the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House in north Minneapolis. What was it about baseball that captivated a nation no matter who you were? “It allowed you to walk away from everyday challenges,” said White. “For those who played the game, there was nothing quite as satisfying as the feeling of hitting the ball flush with a wooden bat.” White also includes a personal connection to this slice of state history – his father, Louis White, played with the Twin City Colored Giants in the 1950’s and Buck O'Neil (who gained fame after eloquently sharing his remembrances of the Negro Leagues for the PBS miniseries "Baseball") once tried to recruit him to join the Kansas City Monarchs. The annals of baseball lore run deep and the stories are seemingly endless for those who played for the love of the game. Frank White will be doing a talk at the Hosmer Library in Minneapolis on Monday, June 27 from 6:30 - 8 pm. For more information or for future events, you can visit his website at http://www.minnesotablackbaseball.com

How is that a hit?” Most baseball fans have said this after the scoreboard flashes the result on a sharp grounder or botched fly ball. The person in charge of making these hit/error determinations is the official scorer, often an anonymous recorder of stats until his judgment puts him in the spotlight. Recently I had a chance to shadow Stew Thornley, one of the Twins official scorers, to get firsthand insight into this sometimes misunderstood part of the game.At Target Field, the official scorer sits in the first seat in the front row of the press box on the left as you’re looking at the field. When I picked up my media pass I noticed the person who signed in before me was from MBC Korea, one of that country’s three major broadcasting systems. Most of the time the press box was quiet, punctuated mainly by the sound of typing. For the official scorer, the tools of the trade include a laptop, binoculars, a scoresheet plus extra notepads to keep pertinent information close at hand and a TV monitor showing the FSN feed. I realized quickly how useful it was to have the monitor on a ten second delay, not just for the official scorer but also for the datacaster who sits next to the official scorer and is responsible for recording all game action for those following online. There is no specific time the official scorer needs to get there before the game, Thornley said, but it’s his preference to arrive early and get into a routine (routines are not just for the men on the field). When I arrived at 5 pm for a 7:10 start he was already there, double-checking information for that night’s game. As many do, he began his lifelong relationship with the statistical side of the game by keeping score when attending games at Metropolitan Stadium as a kid. When he said that he had a knack for it, he paused and chuckled as he said, “Yeah, I know - why couldn’t I have gotten a knack for something useful, right?” He has previously worked as an official scorer for the Minneapolis Loons and St. Paul Saints and started with the Twins in 2007. He splits the duties with Gregg Wong, a former Pioneer Press sports reporter, and there is also a backup official scorer. (Thornley also has a “day job” as Health Educator with the Minnesota Department of Health.) Official scorers are paid $170 per game and are employees of Major League Baseball, not any specific team. Last year, Marie-Claude Marcotte-Pelland joined the few female official scorers in Major League Baseball history when she worked a Blue Jays-Marlins game in Toronto. In mentioning this, Thornley, a member of the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), also shared the story of Eliza Green Williams, who secretly served as the official scorer in the 1880’s for the Chicago White Stockings or Colts, the team that would be renamed the Cubs in the next century. She would submit her reports as “E.G. Green” so as to not identify herself as a woman. There is a distinct element of “hurry up and wait” in the job as an official scorer, as we casually chatted about the baseball topic of the day until a sharp grounder caused all eyes to turn to the video monitor while the official scorer grabbed the microphone to announce his ruling on that specific play. As the game went along, there were also periodic announcements from Dustin Morse, the Twins Senior Director of Communications, for such things as pitching changes and home run distance announcements. “I was nervous when I first started with the Twins,” Thornley admitted, while he explained the tension between wanting to get the call right and wanting to sound confident and announce the call right away. If players or teams strongly disagree with a call, they can submit it to Major League Baseball for review by the league office. He said he has gotten more complaints from the batting team if they don’t get a hit. Being an umpire would be good practice for becoming an official scorer, he said, because you get really good at being decisive and “taking a lot of crap.” (I’ve also seen the job of an official scorer described as getting paid $5 for scoring the game and $165 for taking the grief that goes with it, but I guess you could say that about any job.) If you don’t like being questioned and having to defend yourself, he said, being an official scorer is not for you. But in comparison to the umpires, he noted that “They are the ones who make the calls that can determine who wins or loses…we do stats.” The evolution of official scoring is an interesting aspect of the history of the game itself, and Thornley chairs a SABR committee that studies and interprets the changes throughout the years. As we looked upon a beautifully manicured grass infield, he reminisced about how everyone was told that the advent of artificial turf meant that you would never have to worry about a bad hop. When the third baseman took up the shortstop position during a shift, I asked him if the sometimes dramatic shifts employed by teams in recent years can get confusing for those recording stats. He professed his love for the teams who put player numbers on both the front and back of the jerseys and said you can often look for other distinguishing features – for example, in the game I attended, two of the Tigers infielders were sporting high socks. “I know it’s easy to sit at home and think you could do it better,” he said. “I have friends who constantly pepper me with questions on why I called what I did, (friends) who have never been an official scorer…and there’re also people who just don’t understand the rules of the game. It does give you respect for everyone in this game who gets second-guessed.” In an effort to standardize scoring, Thornley has attended meetings in New York with other official scorers around the league, where they will review plays and discuss controversies. “It’s always a judgment call with a human element and the line will continue to be fuzzy, not fine. It’s our hope to continue to reduce the level of fuzziness.” Click here to view the article

“How is that a hit?” Most baseball fans have said this after the scoreboard flashes the result on a sharp grounder or botched fly ball. The person in charge of making these hit/error determinations is the official scorer, often an anonymous recorder of stats until their judgment puts them in the spotlight. Recently I had a chance to shadow Stew Thornley, one of the Twins official scorers, to get firsthand insight into this sometimes misunderstood part of the game. At Target Field, the official scorer sits in the first seat in the front row of the press box on the left as you’re looking at the field. When I picked up my media pass I noticed the person who signed in before me was from MBC Korea, one of the country’s three major broadcasting systems. Most of the time the press box was quiet, punctuated mainly by the sound of typing. For the official scorer, the tools of the trade include a laptop, binoculars, a scoresheet plus extra notepads to keep pertinent information close at hand and a TV monitor showing the FSN feed. I realized quickly how useful it was to have the monitor on a ten second delay, not just for the official scorer but also for the datacaster who sits next to the official scorer and is responsible for recording every game action for those following online. There is no specific time the official scorer needs to get there before the game, Thornley said, but it’s his preference to arrive early and get into a routine (they’re not just for the men on the field). When I arrived at 5 p.m. for a 7:10 start he was already there, double checking information for that night’s game. As many do, he began his lifelong relationship with the statistical side of the game by keeping score when attending games at Metropolitan Stadium as a kid. When he said that he had a knack for it, he paused and chuckled as he said, “Yeah, I know - why couldn’t I have gotten a knack for something useful, right?” He has previously worked as an official scorer for the Minneapolis Loons and St. Paul Saints and started with the Twins in 2007. He splits the duties with Gregg Wong, a former Pioneer Press sports reporter, and they also have a backup official scorer. (He also has a “day job” as Health Educator with the Minnesota Department of Health.) Official scorers are paid $170 per game and are employees of Major League Baseball, not any specific team. Last year, Marie-Claude Marcotte-Pelland joined the few female official scorers in Major League Baseball history when she worked a Blue Jays-Marlins game in Toronto. In mentioning this, Thornley, a member of the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), also shared the story of Eliza Green Williams, who secretly served as the official scorer in the 1880’s for the Chicago White Stockings or Colts, the team that would be renamed the Cubs in the next century. She would submit her reports as “E.G. Green” so as to not identify herself as a woman. There is a distinct element of “hurry up and wait” in the job as an official scorer, as we casually chatted about the baseball topic of the day until a sharp grounder caused all eyes to turn to the video monitor while the official scorer grabbed the microphone to announce his ruling on that specific play. As the game went along, there were also periodic announcements from Dustin Morse, the Twins Senior Director of Communications, for such things as pitching changes and home run distance announcements. “I was nervous when I first started with the Twins,” Thornley admitted, while he explained the juxtaposition between wanting to get the call right and wanting to sound confident and announce the call right away. If players or teams strongly disagree with a call, they can submit it to Major League Baseball for review by the league office. He said he has gotten more complaints from the batting team if they don’t get a hit. Being an umpire would be good practice for becoming an official scorer, he said, because you get really good at being decisive and “taking a lot of crap.” (I’ve also seen the job of an official scorer described as getting paid $5 for scoring the game and $165 for taking the grief that goes with it, but I guess you could say that about any job.) If you don’t like being questioned and having to defend yourself, he said, being an official scorer is not for you. But in comparison to the umpires, he noted that “They are the ones who make the calls that can determine who wins or loses…we do stats.” The evolution of official scoring is an interesting aspect of the history of the game itself, and Thornley chairs a SABR committee that studies and interprets the changes throughout the years. As we looked upon a beautifully manicured grass infield, he reminisced about how everyone was told that the advent of artificial turf meant that you would never have to worry about a bad hop. When the third baseman switched places with the shortstop, I asked him if the sometimes dramatic shifts employed by teams in recent years can get confusing for those recording stats. He professed his love for the teams who put player numbers on both the front and back of the jerseys and said you can often look for other distinguishing features – for example, in the game I attended, two of the Tigers infielders were sporting high socks. “I know it’s easy to sit at home and think you could do it better,” he said. “I have friends who constantly pepper me with questions on why I called what I did who have never been an official scorer…and there’s also people who just don’t understand the rules of the game. It does give you respect for everyone in this game who gets second guessed.” In an effort to standardize scoring, Thornley has attended meetings in New York with other official scorers around the league, where they will review plays and discuss controversies. “It’s always a judgment call with a human element and the line will continue to be fuzzy not fine. It’s our hope to continue to reduce the level of fuzziness.”

“I know that guy had an extra RBI in 1954.” Minnesotan Hans van Slooten gets these inquiries daily as the primary developer for Baseball-Reference.com. The Halsey Hall chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research invites you to join us at the Roseville Library on Monday, May 16 as we welcome Hans to give a presentation on this popular site that has become an indispensible resource for statheads, casual fans, current and ex-players, baseball researchers and everyone in between. Van Slooten will provide a brief history of the website, reveal some of the lesser known corners of the site and provide a tutorial on the site’s play indexes. He will also answer questions and run any play index queries requested by the audience. While some may consider spending their day working with baseball stats a dream job, van Slooten told me recently with a laugh, “It’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.” The main office is in Philadelphia so he works normal business hours (“on east coast time”) from his home in St. Paul. A typical day may include fixing bugs on the site or developing new features. “I spent a lot of time earlier getting ready for the new season,” said van Slooten, who has a degree in computer science. Another big responsibility is responding to daily inquiries – “A lot of the historical questions get forwarded onto Retrosheet but I also get emails from former minor leaguers saying, ‘Hey, you spelled my name wrong.’ And I can’t just take their word for it, I have to verify that they are who they say they are before I can correct it.” With the sheer amount of information on the site, it’s easy to get lost in a mountain of data. “Sometimes I forget everything we have on the site,” van Slooten says. “It’s fun to search for random stuff like a Hall of Famer’s worst game or guys who played one major league game.” The site is 15 years old so it has its bugs and the work is ongoing – continuing projects include speeding up the site’s loading time and improving the mobile capabilities. So if you’ve ever wondered how many complete games Old Hoss Radbourn had in 1884 (73 – take that, Bert Blyleven), join us for an evening of stats, baseball history and random information that every baseball fan needs filling their brain on a daily basis. An Evening with Hans van Slooten Monday, May 16, 2016 7 pm Roseville Library 2180 Hamline Avenue, Roseville, 55113 Hamline Avenue and County Road B This event is free and no RSVP is required.

Thanks for the recap Seth, I've always wanted to attend this but it's a little out of my price range.

I still have that one too Swain Zag - hopefully someday I will get them all to sign it!

Glad I'm not the only one feeling old today. :-) Maybe the Twins can bring him back to be the permanent host of Baseball Unplugged! Best wishes to him.

Could we check and see if Scott Klingenbeck is available?

He has done a great job from the home run on his first pitch in the majors - the interview with his dad was priceless. "Hey Guayama, Eddie Rosario first home run!" Reminds me of when Cristian Guzman was with the Twins - triples are really fun to watch.

I was also at the last game of the season, kind of ironic that I ended up going to the first and last games of the season. It was a beautiful night and aside from their loss in the playoffs obviously it was a great first season for them at CHS Field. Already looking forward to more beautiful nights for baseball next year!