Agenda

Thursday, April 4, 2024

6:00 p.m.

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

The house is located just north of AdventHealth Ottawa.
Angry River BBQ and drinks are provided for attendees at no additional charge.

Friday, April 5, 2024

7:45 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast

8:15 a.m.

Welcome
Andy Hazucha, Conference Coordinator
Joann Bangs, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost (Ottawa University)

8:30 — 9:15 a.m.

Morning Keynote Address:
Morning Keynote Speaker: Joe Posnanski, author of Why We Love Baseball
Location: Schendel Conference Center

9:30 — 10:30 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions A

Session A1: Baseball in International Theatres
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Jency Wilson, Ottawa University

  • “From a Hurley to a Bat: Irish Hurling and Its Impact on Nineteenth-Century Baseball”
    • Shawn O’Hare, Carson-Newman University
  • “When You Come to the Fork in the Road: Take It! The Crisis in Japanese Professional Baseball of 2004”
    • Paul Dunscomb, University of Alaska Anchorage

Session A2: Baseball and Philosophy
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: George Eshnaur, Ottawa University

  • "Baseball, Sacrifice, and Playing to Win​"
    • Justin Clarke, Ottawa University
  • "Philosophical Absurdity and the Backup Catcher​"
    • Eric Berg, Bemidji State University
  • "Clock of the Mind Always in Baseball before the Pitch Clock​"
    • Ken Moon, Iowa Western Community College

10:45— 11:45a.m.

Concurrent Sessions B

Session B1: Baseball and Its (Dis)contents

Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Lyn Wagner, Ottawa University

  • "Death and Baseball: The Eleventh-Hour Stretch​"

    • Barb Dinneen, Ottawa University

  • "Why I Love Baseball​"

    • Phil Oliver, Middle Tennessee State University

  • "When Bye Means Bye: The Immediate, Unforeseen Impact of a Recent Change to First-Round Playoff Protocol​"

    • Joc Collins, Carson-Newman University

Session B2: Recovering Baseball History

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

  • "Florance Norman: A Chicago Cubs’ Scout​"
    • Dean Karau, Independent Scholar
  • "Creating Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series"
    • Traci Sorell, Independent Scholar
  • "The Life and Baseball Career of Bud Fowler: It’s Complicated—and Important​"
    • Mark Eberle, Fort Hays State University

12:00 — 1:30 p.m.

Luncheon and Afternoon Keynote Address:
Location: Schendel Conference Center
Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Steve Lyons

1:30 — 2:30 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions C

Session C1: Gaming and the Sociology of Baseball
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Shannon Dyer, Ottawa University

  • "Diamonds in the Rough: The Social Impact of Migration Patterns and the Establishment of Negro League Baseball in Kansas City, KS in the Early 20th Century"
    • Andrew Stolarski, Kenyon College
  • "Can Game Day Save Us from Ourselves?"
    • Gerald C. Wood, Carson-Newman University
  • "Ludic Legacies: Tracing Johan Huizinga’s Theories through the Prism of Baseball and Modern Gaming Culture"
    • David Prihoda, Ottawa University

Session C2: The Economics of Baseball
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair: Lyn Wagner, Ottawa University

  • "Non-tuism in Baseball"
    • Peter Jacobsen, Ottawa University
  • "Economic Stories of Baseball Stadiums​"
    • Russ McCullough, Ottawa University

2:35— 3:35 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions D

Session D1: Nostalgia in Baseball
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Jency Wilson, Ottawa University​

  • "ChatGPT Doesn’t Know Zander Hollander! Wait, What?"
    • Ron Kates, Middle Tennessee State University
  • "‘I can’t figure out if he is kidding or in earnest’: Ring Lardner, Authenticity, and Anti-Modernism"
    • Dan Anderson, Dominican University
  • "Baseball Poetry—It’s in the Numbers"
    • Warren Tormey, Middle Tennessee State University

Session D2: Baseball Poetry and Fiction​
Location: Zook Conference Room
Chair:
Mike Webber, Franklin County Historical Society

  • "Ball, Balk, and Bat"
    • Mark Bennion, Brigham Young University-Idaho
  • "Mad for Baseball Novels"
    • Bob Mayberry, California State University Channel Islands
  • A reading of Juan Carlos Chirinos’s “Béisblood”
    • Wladimir Márquez Jiménez, Regis University

3:40— 4:40 p.m.

Session E: Baseball in Literature​
Location: Hasty Conference Room
Chair: Ian Carpenter, Ottawa University

  • “The Rothstein Reader: The Big Bankroll and Blame for the Black Sox”
    • Sarah D. Bunting, TomatoNation.com
  • “The Vulnerable, the Misunderstood, the Despised: E. Ethelbert Miller’s Poetic Depictions of Major Leaguers”
    • Michele Schiavone, Marshall University
    “Encoding and Decoding the Baseball Industrial Complex in 21st-Century Literature from Its 20th-Century Origins to Mass Market Magazines and Ring Lardner’s You Know Me Al
    • Aurora Blanchard, University of Missouri-St. Louis