2022 Conference Presentation Guide
Watch this page for the 2022 Presenters Line Up.
Katie Flapjack Baer
Swimming Up”stream”: Navigating the Waters of Digital Presence & Online Engagement with a Salmon
Join Katie “Flapjack” Baer of the Chicago Salmon for a dive into the vast digital venues available to your VBBA club. Katie will doggy paddle through the basics of social media platforms, generating attention-grabbing content, increasing online engagement, and creating and maintaining a club website. She will also discuss her experience developing the well-received Salmon Spectator newsletter, and the takeaways she’s learned this season.
Katie is the Publications Liaison (and 2nd basewoman) for the Chicago Salmon. She holds a degree in Creative Writing from Knox College. She has extensive social media experience and focuses on running both the Facebook page and Instagram for the Salmon (find both @ChicagoSalmonBaseBall), and works with a team to maintain and update the Salmon website, chicagosalmon.org. Along with her husband, Brennan “Sketch” Probst, she created the Salmon Spectator newsletter, which comes out after each match, and can be viewed on the Salmon website.
Eric Squarehead Berg
Prince Honeycutt, Minnesota’s first black professional base ball player (1873) They played barehanded. His story is quite compelling. Eric Squarehead Berg was a member of the Springfield Long Nine Vintage Base Ball Club more than ten years. Most recently he was the team’s captain. Dr. Eric Berg is currently an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bemidji State University. Previously he was a Professor of Philosophy at MacMurray College.
Michael Copado
Umpires as Showmen & Effective Re-enactors
Michael Preacher Copado has umpired at Navin Field and Hamtramck Stadium. He understands and will share what it takes to be both a historically authentic, and an entertaining vintage base ball umpire. He will also share how to be a side line re-enactor at a vintage base ball game. Michael is a Senior Audio Visual Technician, Division of Med Ed and Distance Learning-School of Medicine at Wayne State University. He is also a Freelance Unity Minister, preaching and presiding at weddings.
Southern Michigan (Detroit) SABR
The story of the 1880's Detroit Wolverines and their 1886 world championship.
Jeff Pine Tar Kornhaas
What is a historic base ball bat? How was it swung?
With about a decade of experience as a vintage base ball player, and having thoroughly reviewed the history of the development of the base ball bat and how it was used over the years. Pine Tar will confront the issue of what model base ball bats the vintage base ball clubs should be using to be historically accurate. In addition he will share the evolution of the correct batting stance and swing.
Grant More
21st Century Town Ball
Debra Reid
“Women in 21st Century Vintage Base Ball: Challenges and Experiences”
History collides with contemporary life on vintage base ball fields. Ask yourself…Is this a white man’s game? It became that in the past. Do women play? They did historically. Do non-white players play? They did historically. Who plays on your team? Do you issue an open call for players? Do you stress the historic game as a vehicle to extend your reach and engage broadly, or do you carry along all that white privilege baggage from the past into the 21st century? This session looks at the game as a public program at public sites, and asks what you and your club/team can do to make it as engaging, inclusive, and different from the past as possible.
Can My Vintage Base Ball Team Be Saved?
Vintage base ball sometimes faces problems and challenges of and off the field. Chances are whatever your team might be experiencing, another team has dealt with the same thing. This panel provides a forum for situations your club might have, be it funding, player recruitment and retention, playing field, team morale or other things. 4 experienced team leaders will share their stories and welcome your questions and discussion.
Jim “Glacier” Basala, Deep River Grinders, Hobart, IN: Entering its 31st year, the Grinders club is one of the most successful in the Midwest, regularly drawing 100 or more spectators to its games. Affiliated with the Lake County Park District, the club has evolved through player turnover and other challenges in three decades
Todd “Dutch” Eschman, Belleville Stags, Belleville, Illinois: The Stags club is an independent organization, self-funded and has enjoyed success during its existence. “Dutch” can share how his team met the challenges of self-funding, locating a field, player recruitment, scheduling and surviving a pandemic..
Ryan Pierce, The Milwaukee Grays Club, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Ryan’s team was founded in 2008, an offshoot of the Cream City Club. Ryan can speak to the challenges of founding, growing and maintaining a vintage club in a large metropolitan area.
Ryan Peters, Valparaiso Lookout Club, Valparaiso, Indiana: Ryan took over the club, founded by his father, a few years ago. Originally known as the Sunset Hill Farm Colonels, Ryan will address the challenges and opportunities in maintaining a club through personnel evolutions and other situations.Jamie Wright Images Photographer
Historic Tennessee VBBA Photographer
Jamie is one of many photographers that are encouraged to practice their trade at the Tennessee VBBA events. Their matches all take place at historic Tennessee sites. Jamie is a local Nashvillian and has been shooting for 24 years. You will find him out at Tennessee Vintage Base Ball Association events, photographing all of the action. He photographs special projects, animals, children, weddings, and product.
