Agenda

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Pre-Game Reception, optional
205 E. 13th Street
Ottawa, KS  66067

Angry River BBQ and drinks are provided for attendees at no additional charge.

Friday, March 27, 2026

8:00 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m.

Welcome
Andy Hazucha, Conference Coordinator
Bill Tsutsui, Ottawa University Chancellor

8:45 —
9:45 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions A

Session A1: Japanese Baseball
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Doug Ewald, Ottawa University

• “The Untold History of Baseball Mascots in America and Japan”
  • Bill Tsutsui, Ottawa University
• “Lions and Tigers and Carp, Oh My! The History, Culture and Meaning of Japanese Pro Baseball Team Names and Logos”
  • Bob Beatty, Washburn University
• "Men at Work: The Japanese Way of Wa Meets the American Way of Play"
  • Phil Oliver, Middle Tennessee State University

Session A2: Baseball in Kansas
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: Mike Webber, Franklin County Historical Society

• “Organizing the Eagles: Black Baseball and Community in Lawrence Kansas, 1868-1886”
  • Jude Butler, University of Kansas
• “'Wild Bill' Hickok: Baseball Umpire?”
  • Mark Eberle, Fort Hays State University
• "Baseball, Barbecue, and Blues in KC"
  • Dave Smith, Independent Scholar

9:50 —
10:50 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions B

Session B1: Baseball in Fiction, Encyclopedias, and on TV

Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Shannon Dyer, Ottawa University

• "The Sporting Side: Baseball Allusions and a Dodger Plot Device in Raymond Chandler's Detective Fiction"

  • Phil Wedge, University of Kansas

• "Envisioning Baseball's Statistical Narrative in Epic Terms: The Prefatory Poems of Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball"

  • Warren Tormey, Middle Tennessee State University​

• "A SERIES of Fortunate Events: The Conjunction of Classic Television Series and MLB World Series During TV's Golden Age"

  • Jon Jacobsen, Ottawa University

Session B2: Baseball Biography, Memoir, and Dreamscape

Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: Justin Clarke, Ottawa University

• "Dick Cole: A Biography in Progress of a Forgotten Pittsburgh Pirate"
  • Michele Schiavone, Marshall University
• "Touching Bases: A Meditation on Baseball Memoir in a Neofascist Age"
  • Barb Dinneen, Ottawa University
• "RFK Jr.'s Gold Standard: Stealing Home?"
  • Joc Collins, Carson-Newman University

12:00 —
1:30 p.m.

Luncheon and Afternoon Keynote Address:
Location: Schendel Conference Center
Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Tuffy Rhodes

1:30 —
2:30 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions C

Session C1: Baseball Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Carrie Stevens, Ottawa University

• "Joe's Night Off​"

  • Mark Osmack, Independent Scholar

• "Bottom Dwellers"
  • Rachele Salvini, Ottawa University
• "A Reading from A Month of Game Days, a Novel-in-Stories"
  • Scott D. Peterson, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Session C2: Baseball's Muses, Sins, and Sinners
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: Shannon Dyer, Ottawa University

• "Baseball at Fort Abraham Lincoln: From Cultural Bridge to Political Weapon"
  • Eric Berg, Minnesota Twins
• "Pete Rose as Cardinal"
  • Ken Moon, Iowa Western Community College
• "Thank You, Dave Hilton: Baseball and Haruki Murakami"
  • Shawn O'Hare, Carson-Newman University

2:40 —
4:00 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions D

Session D1: Baseball's Halcyon Past, Uncertain Future
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Marko de sa Faria, Ottawa University

• "'One Day the Future Seemed to Be Theirs': Halberstam's The Teammates and the 1940s Red Sox"
  • Dan Anderson, Dominican University
• "Are Dreams Still Played on a Field? Baseball and the Agrarian Tradition"
  • Gerald C. Wood, Carson-Newman University
• ​"Making Baseball Great Again (or at Least Relevant) in a Sophomore Gen Ed Lit Class: A Roundtable Discussion"
  • Ron Kates, Middle Tennessee State University

Session D2: Baseball Business and Economics
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: Murle Mordy, Ottawa University

• "Data Analytics and the Kansas City Royals: Looking Forward to the 2026 Season"
  • Kristen Moore, Ottawa University
• "Race and Productivity during the Black Integration Period of Major League Baseball (1947-1959)"
  • Chris Azevedo, University of Central Missouri
• "From the Reserve Clause to the Rookie Scale: Property Rights, Option Value, and the Timing of Talent Reallocation in Baseball"
  • John Crooker, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
• "Economic Echoes of Old"
  • Russ McCullough, Ottawa University
• "Competitors or Cooperation? The Boundaries of the Baseball Firm"
  • Peter Jacobsen, Ottawa University

4:00 —
6:00 p.m.

Session E: Extra Innings
Happy Hour at Not Lost Brewing (229 South Main Street, Ottawa, Kansas)