Sunday, November 11, 2012

Update

Greetings,

I am happy to say that I have entered what I consider "phase 2" of my research. My initial goal with the blog was to document my research as I found it. Basically, I wanted to avoid having a pile of research but nothing written down. Recently, as I have discovered additional bits and pieces from other newspapers, the bulk of my work has been updating existing posts. I have done some of this on the blog, and some of it offline in my files.

I have found at this stage that the blog has likely met its limit in terms of helping me with my research. Additional information that I find needs to be put into existing writing. This isn't very conducive to new blog posts. In any event, my research will continue, but updates on this blog will not be common.

If you have interest in the 1897 Red River Valley League, there is still a lot of information on the blog. Feel free to browse the 100+ posts. Use the tags to categorize them by topic, or use the search bar at the bottom of the page. If you have questions or comments, please make use of the comments section on the posts. I will be happy to answer your questions and talk more about this project, which has been a blast for me.

I am confident at this phase of my research that I will put together the story of the 1897 RRVL in published form. I am still in the early stages of this process, but my blog posts have provided at least 75 pages of writing to start from. I am excited to continue to put this information together. In addition to the story of the league, I plan to provide as much of a statistical breakdown as possible for Fargo, and possibly the other league teams. I anticipate an appendix with the Fargo team's schedule and results as well.

There is still research I would like to do. Specifically, there are a few newspaper publications that I hope to peruse. I hope the Crookston Daily Tribune/Crookston Daily Times and Detroit Record will provide some insight the involvement of Crookston and Detroit Lakes with the 1897 league. I'm also interested to see how the Grand Forks Plaindealer differed in its coverage of the Senators as opposed to the Herald. Additionally, I will continue to explore newspaper options in the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area. There was no daily paper for either city in 1897, so I hope to find what I can from the various weekly papers.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Random Fact of the Day (6)

Joe Marshall of Grand Forks, arguably the best RRVL player in 1897 and a future major leaguer, died at Norwalk State Hospital, a mental institution in Santa Monica, California in 1931.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Random Fact of the Day (5)

Bill Zink and Fred Steele reunited as teammates in 1900, playing for the Terre Haute (IN) Hottentots of the Central League. In the 1900 Federal Census, both men were listed as boarders at the Bloomington, IL residence of Albert Kohler, who housed several players that season.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Random Fact of the Day (4)

Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist who spoke in Fargo in the summer of 1897, returned to the Red River Valley in 1898. He was picked up by the Carrington, ND club to play a game against Fargo's team. Neither team was a part of an organized league that summer.

photo

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Best of the Hobos

Just a quick, fun list of some of the best player names featured in 1897 games between the various RRVL teams and a few different groups of hobos:

Hobos vs. Breckenridge - Aug 1897
Water Tank Frank - Pitcher
Holey Peter - Center Field

Hobos vs. Grand Forks Senators (partial squad) - Aug 2, 1897
Rusty Raggles - Pitcher
Bowlegged Pete - Catcher
Pie-faced Charley - First Base
Shorty Swatts - Second Base
Peggy McNabb - Third Base
Bunty Spikes - Right Field